2004 29,000 miles, oil around vanos gasket, Beisan vanos rebuild, quotes

[heinzboehmer]

Been rotating the engine by the cams for years. I've done like 15 valve adjustments that way. Again, more fear based opinion.

Eh, I don't know. The hex cast on my cams is already not perfect from just setting timing. I wouldn't trust it for rotating the engine. If anyone is going to do this, at least take out the spark plugs.

Thank you all!

Currently the car has no codes for misfires, vanos (intake or exhaust) related.

Is seeing "some" oil around the engine head where vanos is, "normal" ?

Or, should that area be bone dry when everything is working as expected?

As far as where oil can leak, only two areas i can think of at the engine head area is, from valve body sealing plate and vanos gasket.

I'm going to grab some pictures also.

Oil should all stay inside the engine

Common sources of oil weeping around that area are —like you said— VANOS gasket and valve body sealing plate. Grab a mirror and look around, you should be able to see where it's coming from. If it's too grimy to tell, clean it up first, drive it around and then check with a mirror.

For reference, this is what my (most recent) VANOS gasket leak looked like:

[gixxer]

Common sources of oil weeping around that area are —like you said— VANOS gasket and valve body sealing plate. Grab a mirror and look around, you should be able to see where it's coming from. If it's too grimy to tell, clean it up first, drive it around and then check with a mirror.

For reference, this is what my (most recent) VANOS gasket leak looked like:

Good grief,

S54 Vanos Procedure (E46 M3) – Beisansystems – Shop

To complete to the end of step to "Removal of vanos", wholly molly..............

Then, place the vanos gasket on vanos (or place on engine head) ...

So many steps

And so many steps to screw up on

[gixxer]

I see few forum members posting they replaced vanos gasket.

Am i right in saying the vanos gasket cannot be replaced without first removing the vanos solenoid with sealing plate first?

Looks like one cannot get to the bottom 3 bolts without removing the vanos solenoid.

As suggested might as well clean the solenoid while at it.

Good grief, it's year 2023 and i feel like i'm first in the world having to deal with vanos.

[heinzboehmer]

Looks like one cannot get to the bottom 3 bolts without removing the vanos solenoid.

You can, there's access holes for those in the solenoid pack. If you don't undo the hub bolts, you won't mess up your timing either. Would just need to remove VANOS, replace gasket and reassemble.

[gixxer]

You can, there's access holes for those in the solenoid pack. If you don't undo the hub bolts, you won't mess up your timing either. Would just need to remove VANOS, replace gasket and reassemble.

That's good to know, the part about removing the VANOS without messing up the timing, in order to replace the VANOS gasket.

[gixxer]

Okay, i see, the camshaft locking/alignment bridge is not needed if not removing these hub bolts.

[heinzboehmer]

Okay, i see, the camshaft locking/alignment bridge is not needed if not removing these hub bolts.

Exactly

[gixxer]

Exactly

If done correctly, then could these bolts be replaced without removing the hubs hence avoiding the extra work of having to mess with timing?

[gixxer]

Never mind, looks like replacing these hub bolts, even if done one by one (i suppose) means messing with timing. urgh...

[Cubieman]

The hubs must come off to replace those bolts.

Honestly if you follow the Beisan instructions and take your time and have the correct tools you should be fine, it seems super intimidating but once you get rolling it's not all that bad.

[Slideways]

I'd build up to a DIY like this. At a minimum, good to get comfortable doing a valve adjustment first and then move on to VANOS work.

[tlow98]

Agree on both points above. It’s not too bad, but you definitely want a level of comfort dealing with this. Precautionary steps that keeping you from dropping a bolt into the never-land working of the engine are always good. Stuffing rags into crevices where parts can go missing, etc.

[maupineda]

Leave it alone

[Cubieman]

Leave it alone

That's some good advice.

I more or less just wanted a project and it turned into a more frustrating larger project one for various reasons! That said I'm glad I have the uprated cam bolts and disc with smaller holes.

[gixxer]

Following picture taken from the pelicanparts page seem to have better representation of what i saw around the engine head with endoscope.

I'm assuming this front of the engine needs to be bone dry, free of any oil unlike this photo, right?

What sort of mishaps could have oil flung to leave marks like in this photo, if not leak from vanos (seals, bolts, o-ring, etc.)?