VANOS Gear adjuster or cam seals 2D54 2D60 2D61

[Tallicia]

tl; dr right up front:
Who can add info in determining a situation with VANOS adjuster gears or cam seals misbehaving?
1. VANOS gear assembly is failing/bad
2. cam o-ring seals are leaking
3. oil viscosity has become to low at temp
4. VANOS solenoid is leaking/bad
5. cam sensor is failing/bad


Here's some background.

I am getting 2D54 BMW code when I stop and restart the engine when the oil temp is over 210'F

Codes 2D60 and 2D61 will occasionally occur when the engine RPMs are under 2500rpm for roughly more than 30 seconds and it is over ambient 70'F and the oil temps are over 220'F. I've had a few times the past couple weeks where idling at a stop light and suddenly the engine surges as it goes into limp mode with 2d60 or 2d61.

Clearly something with the exhaust VANOS. Adjuster gear, or solenoid, or oil pressure, or cam sensor, or something else.

A dealership has supposedly done the recall for the VANOS bolts, but honestly I am highly skeptical. I've had so many issues with dealerships, I don't trust them not to cause more issues every time they are near a car. They left motor mount bolts out, numerous finger loose bolts on transmission to engine, intake ducts loose af, razor blades and tools on cabin filter tray, left goop/vaseline in electrical connectors. It's truly obscene, but that's another story.

The car runs good other than these 2 scenarios. Cold start in the morning, no issue at all. Driving when it's not "hot" and low rpm, is fine.

2D54 Variable camshaft timing control (VANOS), exhaust, cold start not controllable
2D60 VANOS, exhaust: control fault, camshaft stuck
2D61 VANOS, exhaust: Control fault, position not reached

Parts of the equation are as such:
1. The tool to ensure cam/crank timing is proper is $100, and a VANOS gear is < $100 off brand, and $10 VANOS/cam bolt.
2. The tool to remove the exhaust cam and exhaust cam upper and lower trays is almost $400, and the cam seals are under $30.

I installed new VANOS solenoids last fall. And I also reversed them initially to see if the issue would move to the intake, to test the solenoids. It stayed on the exhaust. That makes me think the solenoids are ok.

I can't find anything that really points to the cam sensor.

I also had an oil pressure sensor that was leaking through apparently and the plug was oily. I replaced that last night, hoping that might help some. but still the behavior is the same.

The temps make me think it's related to oil pressure and the cam seals. I am going to change the oil this weekend and see if this helps with the behavior. I was planning to do the OFH gaskets and bolts to be safe and clean the intake valves this weekend.

I need to monitor oil pressure to see what it looks like in this cases, but JB4 doesn't show this, so I'll have to see if MHD, or something can help me monitor this conveniently.

I recently replaced the valvetronic motor and eccentric shaft, and it was actually* not too bad. the intake retainer spring tool was fun to familiarize myself with and show those springs who runs the world. The eccentric shaft was probably fine. The bearings and movement was good, but while I was in there, went ahead and swapped it. the motor is likely the only thing that was truly needed. the worm gear and teeth were ok.

This is on a N55 10/10 build, UN73 E88 N55B30A, about 95k miles, a fair amount of fun usage, and idling too, though the top end looked great when in there last weekend, the intake valves were last walnut blasted 30k ago, and were quite yucky.



Has anyone else encountered something like this? Was it the VANOS gear adjuster or was it the cam seals? or maybe something else?

[Dmak]

Looks like you done your research. Its great that you post with such detail. I m sure you know its only down to the exh cam gear or the cam seals(cam bearings). The only way to know now is to take them apart. From what i remember only eariler model n54 has the cam seals that would wear into the cam bearings, but that doesnt mean it wont happen even with updated cam seals. My "guess" would be the cam seal/bearing are worn just enough that only when oil gets thin(hot), it would leak enough oil pressure to cause the vanos system not work correctly.
What oil or oil weight you use currently? One thing you can try is to run heavier oil which should "delay" or lessen the fault from coming up.

[Tallicia]

I run Castrol 0w-40 with a Lucas synthetic oil stabilizer.

It ended up being the exhuast solenoid. SMH. I used an old BMW one I had on hand, and no more issue.

She's purring great now!

Shows sometimes even a third part replacement is worthwhile, especially before dealing with the cams and VANOS units.

[Walker16]

Sorry to revive a old thread but I’m having the same 2D61 issue. Cleaned, tested and swapped both solenoids and fault is still on exhaust. Even tried replacing the exhaust solenoid with a aftermarket one but no luck. Since the fault didn’t follow the solenoid I kinda ruled that out as a issue. Tested both cam positioning sensors and the both function correctly. I can run a function test in ISTA/D and when the engine is cold it will pass the test for that fault and when the engine is up to temp it only passes about 1 out if 5 times and usually fails to reach the correct timing in time. I have updated the DME using ISTA/p version 3.67. I have changed the oils multiple times and currently running Royal Purple 5w-30. Oil filter cap is in good condition and I just replaced the filter housing gasket. I feel like I’ve done all the easy fixes and looking for any advice on what could be next. Also vanos bolts were fixed under the recall a while back and I had work done on the vanos gears less than 10k miles ago.