Vanos bolt recall

[cwlo]

The dreaded vanos bolt problem reared its head. Not sure I am still in the extended warranty period. With that said, the exhaust vanos has 3 loose bolts, and one with its head missing. According to the BMW Tis, they would want the vanos sprocket/actuator replaced when bolts are loose or missing.

Does anyone have any understanding on why to replace the actuator? Does it get internally damaged or anything? Considering I might have to pay for it out of pocket, I would prefer not to have to buy the vanos part for $500, and just put the new bolts in.

[spidertri]

Did you have symptoms of the issue or did you discover them when doing a valve cover gasket? What year/engine?

Check out this site:
http://www.bmw-rp.com/production/bmw...bmw_portal.nsf

When I put in my car's VIN it still shows that it qualifies for the VANOS bolts reimbursement. Mine still has the original bolts though.

If you look up the VANOS actuators in RealOEM the current part numbers do supersede the old ones starting in 2009, so something was redesigned on them.

[cwlo]

I had a check engine light, with vanos codes, as well as a very prominent diesel like engine sound, that was originating from the front area of valve cover. Despite the missing bolt head and remaining loose ones, everything else looks ok. Hopefully the bolt head will turn up in the sump, and be accessible without dropping the pan.

I talked to BMW and they said the extended vanos warranty expired for my car 3 months ago.

I'm waiting to hear from the reimbursement group, and hope I can get a new vanos, but I just ordered the bolts, and at this point, I will put them all in and see how it sounds.

[spidertri]

Ah, that's too bad.

Yeah, the recall procedure says it's okay to swap just the bolts if they aren't found to be loose or broken but they do say to replace the actuator if the bolts are.

It also says that when the bolts break, there are internal oil leaks which won't let the vanos adjust fast enough. Most likely, once the bolts break there is no consistent way to ensure the new bolts will stop the leakage.

[cwlo]

Good info. Thanks.

Talking to BMW, warranty is 10 years or 120k miles..whichever first.

So I'll replace the bolts, and see if any codes pop up, and run the inpa diagnostics on it. If so, I'll replace the exhaust vanos then. I caught it fairly early, so I'm hoping the existing vanos will work out.

So lets tally it now.....I had an e46 m3 that had sheared a few camshaft bolts, an N55 that needs new valvetronic adjuster and maybe shaft, and now N52 with bad vanos bolts. The added complexity always comes at a price!

[markslc1]

Dang. Mine is an 08 and not part of the recall. But maybe I should inspect these when I do the vcg when I install my milvs. Would it be ok to retorque the bolts to be sure?

[cwlo]

I think you pre-date the problem. Earlier models did not have the bad batch of bolts. Wouldn't hurt to inspect when you have the valve cover off, but I don't think I'd touch them if they look fine.


https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...45283-5967.pdf

[spidertri]

The new bolts are pretty inexpensive, I have 8 of them on hand when I pull my valve cover to just swap them out, one at a time, to make sure they're good to go.

P/n: 11 36 8 602 263, need 8 of them.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/201...4V176-2716.pdf

The recall PDF has the step-by-step procedure. Torque is 6Nm + 60°