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Robotson

100k miles on clock - do I really have to change vanos seals?

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I've been reading a lot on this forum and others about vanos seals and how they apparently perish. I've even seen some websites saying they should be done after 60k. But my friend has been a BMW technician at a dealership for over 10 years and he says he's never come across the problem yet in an m54 engine and thinks its b******s. Is it just one of those overhyped problems, or have people actually had malfunctioning engines because of them failing?

I'm planning to get my oil separator valve & all connecting pipes, & the cam cover gasket changed all together soon, and if there's anything else that should be done at the same time with an engine with 100k, I'd like to get that done too. But only if it's definitely worth it and won't cost too much more!

Anyone got any firs hand experience of vanos seal related problems?

Cheers.

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If its done 100k chances are it may have been done by previous owner. Speaking to the mech i use who did something like 20 years at bmw says he's changed 2 that he can remember out (they just change the unit) when i did mine the seals were crushed but they could have been worse 133k

Forgot to add i didnt have any problems. But car felt nicer to drive later - probably just my imagination tho

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Edited by the_driller
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If its done 100k chances are it may have been done by previous owner. Speaking to the mech i use who did something like 20 years at bmw says he's changed 2 that he can remember out (they just change the unit) when i did mine the seals were crushed but they could have been worse 133k

Forgot to add i didnt have any problems. But car felt nicer to drive later - probably just my imagination tho

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Haha ok, so the seals were damaged on yours but it might not have been affecting the car.

Theoretically whats the worst that can happen if they go badly wrong?

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If you're changing the cam cover gasket, I would personally also change the vanos seals.

It is about an hour or so extra labour and the parts are only £30.

Thanks. What were the symptoms of them going in your cars? any experience of them actually causing issues?

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mine was on 173k when I sold it and theyd never been done.

Wowsers. Are you sure no previous owners had done them though?

I think the majority of symptoms I'm getting in my car (lots of oil use, occasional lumpy starts, occasional stalls when coasting up to traffic) are going to be the CCV. I'm pretty sure this is clogged up, as when I take the oil cap off when the car is running it sucks it back to the cam cover. So it must be sucking oil into the intake.

I'm planning to get the cam cover gasket done at the same time as the CCV, so I'm in for a big bill, so I'd rather not add another £60 labour for something that probably doesn't need doing.

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Think the main symptom is lack of low down power.

I did mine at 110,000 miles and to be honest it felt no different after. Although mpg improved by a couple.

I only changed it as I was doing the cam cover gasket and it seemed like a no brainer.

Thanks. Does doing the cam cover gasket make the vanos seals easily accessible then? So shouldn't be much more in labour time/costs?

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Yes, they are more accessible. It took me an extra hour and half to replace the seals.

Remember, if you don't do the seals now but decide to in the future, you will need to take off the cam cover and replace the gasket again.

Really? So does the cam cover gasket have to be changed every time the cam cover is taken off?

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Yes, they are more accessible. It took me an extra hour and half to replace the seals.

Remember, if you don't do the seals now but decide to in the future, you will need to take off the cam cover and replace the gasket again.

Really? So does the cam cover gasket have to be changed every time the cam cover is taken off?

Not necessarily, but you would need to clean all the oil off it and resilicone it.

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There is a lot of sales style mumbo jumbo on there to sell their product

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What parts of it are sales mum I jumbo then?

I think the relevant parts are true.

The material the seals are made from isn't up to the job, this is documented on a few forums including fanatics.

The new seals are made from a more temperature resistant material.

BMW do only sell you a new/refurbished vanos.

My car actually has a lot of the sysmptoms its describes and apart from Vanos seals everything else is newish. ccv, maf, cam sensors fuel filter.

There are lots of people who have changed them and report a noticeable differnce.

I will be changing mine soon.

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You dont have first hand experience of changing them so your not in the best place to comment. Go and speak to a bmw tech of many years. If my mechanic did two in the time he was there i doubt they go wrong after 20k km

But of course what they say us technically correct but i think they overstate the issue on the m54 to sell there kits.

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mine was on 173k when I sold it and theyd never been done.

Wowsers. Are you sure no previous owners had done them though?

.

nothing in the service history about them. never had an issue with starting use of oil etc apart from cam sensor issues. which once I used oe dealer ones never looked back

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You dont have first hand experience of changing them so your not in the best place to comment. Go and speak to a bmw tech of many years. If my mechanic did two in the time he was there i doubt they go wrong after 20k km

But of course what they say us technically correct but i think they overstate the issue on the m54 to sell there kits.

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Where did I say I hadn't changed vanos seals?

I have changed the vanos seals on my old M52 323 (e46) which is the same unit.

I guess that means I can comment then.

You have a wierd old attitude. I post a link to a site containing vanos information that includes a "how to" on changing seals......in a thread asking about vanos seals and you say it's sales mumbo jumbo.

Of course there is a sales pitch, it's the site they sell the seals on, it is factually correct, it is a well documented failure regardless of what you say.

You seem to presume a lot and hold a lot of value in name dropping about having a bmw tech friend.

Worst service I have ever came across has been by BMW trained technicians so excuse me if I dont go ask one of them about a vanos.

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Sorry maybe i was a little brash in my reply and wrongly assuming you haven't changed them before

Paul wasnt the first person to say they dont need changing ive seen it mentioned by other bmw techs too. Fair enough i agree i dont really trust garages they do tend to rush jobs a bit sometimes.

Best i can say is. Id still do them because im an enthusiast. Hence the fact ive changed so much on the car that didnt really need changing but i wanted it to be perfect but the ordinary person wouldnt notice or care

I guess what im trying to say is. Dont expect a massive difference but if you want it running spot on then by all means do them.

No hard feelings buddy :)

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I think the driller is right about their web page - its almost certainly over doing it/using scare tactics to sell the parts.. *however* I think B0B is giving good advice, and with my car also having some of those symptoms and having done 100k I might as well get em done at the same time as the cam cover gasket for peace of mind.

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Sorry maybe i was a little brash in my reply and wrongly assuming you haven't changed them before

Paul wasnt the first person to say they dont need changing ive seen it mentioned by other bmw techs too. Fair enough i agree i dont really trust garages they do tend to rush jobs a bit sometimes.

Best i can say is. Id still do them because im an enthusiast. Hence the fact ive changed so much on the car that didnt really need changing but i wanted it to be perfect but the ordinary person wouldnt notice or care

I guess what im trying to say is. Dont expect a massive difference but if you want it running spot on then by all means do them.

No hard feelings buddy :)

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk 2

No hard feelings at all chap :)

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