Just been reading on the M buyers guide thread about the vanos and getting the bolts changed etc. Can this be done under warranty still and is it worth getting a stealer to do it under warranty? Mine has hit 67,000 miles and not had them replaced afaik unless done on a service and didn't know about it. Just wondering what everyone has done and would advise to do. I'm a bit scared of letting a main dealer near the car after recent experiences but if it's a warranty item i feel they should stump up the money to do it unless it's not going to be the better solution.
I'm not sure if BMW would still do it under warranty but its worth asking your local dealer to check with BMW. Its not a big job and I think is DIY but you have to remove the fan. I checked mine was done by asking my local dealer to print off a warranty report on my VIN (any dealer can do this unlike service history which is franchise specific). You can identify the job by the part numbers and description. They may have done it at a service without telling you as the charge would have been back to BMW. Its basically just removing the screws on the front of the VANOS and replacing with longer ones (the original ones rotate loose with vibration with catastrophic oil loss)
I believe they gave M owners the option to have them done for free, it would say on your service papers if it was done. you should have it done and change the small filter on the side of the vanos. A good mechanic will do the job and its possible to do it yourself but i didnt.
I'll find out if it's been done, I suspect not, knowing the dealership but hopefully I can be pleasantly surprised. I can always go back to them and ask why they didn't as it went to the same one for many years If they flat refuse then I'll have a word with my new found specialist as they will be clued up I'm sure, more so than the dealer.
One reason why I think it wasn't done is they never asked if I wanted the tyre inflator swapped out for the new one and as such it still has the original in it. Other things like that which if I hadn't asked about I don't think would have been done. They did the welds in the boot under warranty about 4 or 5 years ago when i prompted them so worth a shot if it's not been done.
the kit is available from steve at mr vanos for approx 50 pound. it about 1-2 hours labour. mark ps i would get it done asap
I'd just check they are tight at this stage rather than worry about them too much, they have been fine for 10 years !
Yeah I picked it up when it had just turned 5000 miles on the clock so it would have been done in my time if they have. I'm sure all this is on .net but in the interest of building up the info here does anyone have any pics of the bolts etc. that they wouldn't mind posting? I'll add it to my checklist to do then the closest stealer is about a mile from me so I'll get the report on the car. Worth having for the records if nothing else. Thanks everyone for the advice
