Who has actually suffered a Vanos failure on E36 M3 EVO?

Last Saturday night the Vanos on my 44000 mile full dealer history M3 Evo failed resulting in all my recent Castrol TSW oil lying on the road. Two bolts on the Vanos inspection plate sheared off . I read earlier on this thread that there was a recall on the bolts, if so my car certainly never got them!!! Any way to cut a long story short i am now out of pocket by £2570 and i am picking the car up tomorrow. I have written to BMW UK asking why this has happened to a car with such a low mileage and massive main dealer history, i have also asked them to help with some of the costs i have incurred. I wont hold my breath on that one though, but i think i am entitled to some sort of explanation and i am waiting for their response. Really fed up!!!

^2nd one up^ - I understand your disappointment, but how old's the car? The last Evos are coming up to 9 years old now, so whatever the mileage, it's a bit much to expect BMW to pick up the flack for a failure. FSH is OK, but doesn't describe how it's been used - if some old dear's been creeping to church every Sunday, now you've bought it & started to use it normally, then that's bound to through up issues. That's life, I'm afraid, things get old & break - I doubt you'll get much more than commiserations.

Its a Dec 96 car and i bought it off the original owner 3.5 years ago with a mileage of 37000 miles, it has now done 44000 careful miles.

I asked today regarding the bolts recall to the sevice manager and he told me that it didn't apply to my chassis number, i will be digging deeper into this!

The only reason i take it to the main dealer for servicing is to keep the service book up to date, in the last year i have renewed all of the suspension with Bilstein items and genuine Schnitzer springs, renewed all the discs/pads and trailing arm bushes not forgeting a main dealer oil inspection in Nov (£200 alone)

I have spent a fortune on the car and i do love it, but seriously thinking of selling it in the near future as i am totally fed up at the moment.

Someone will get a good car at my expense.

Part numbers for bolts and filter

07.11.9.900.677 x8 (bolts)
11.36.1.401.973 x1 (filter screw)
07.11.9.963.073 x1 (sealing washer)

32Evo, I am sickened/saddened by your treatment by BMW.

How long had your car run for once the bolts sheared and the oil came out of the Vanos? If it was not very long, there would have been no damage to the vanos other than maybe solenoid o-rings, or the solenoids themselves. Max cost £250 + £5 for new "improved" bolts.

The only reason they replace the whole unit, in my opinion, is to scare older BMW owners into getting rid, and buying a shiny new BMW, with resultant large profit for the Stealer.

I have read there was a product recall for Vanos bolts on the Dual Vanos E36 M3's, I don't have any hard evidence of this, maybe some-one can corroborate this. Since yours is a 1996 EVO, it has a dual Vanos, and would need the 'improved' longer bolts. Mine (1997) had a recall for a Vanos, and had a new one fitted in 2004, note, I say a new one fitted, so this is what makes me doubt the bolt recall, because it would be cheaper for them to just replace the bolts.

As I didn't own my car in 2004, I cannot say why the whole vanos was replaced, maybe because of excessive noise.

Unfortunately 32Evo, you're a victim of the low-mileage issue, strange as it may sound. If your car had done average mileage, chances are, it may have had it's vanos changed due to excessive noise by now. However, this brings me to another point. I rang the stealer about mine when the vanos failed (electrically) on mine last year. They confirmed it had been in, as part of a recall, for new vanos in 2004. If you can get them to admit that yours has not been in for its recall, surely you can quiz them as to why this has not been done, since it's fully dealer serviced.

You're due a repair under recall!

MarkwG - I don't believe your comments to be helpful to this particular forum. If you read all the information on here and other sites about the M3Evo vanos, you will see that we, as consumers have a valid grievance to be made against BMW for the excessive repair cost of damaged vanos's which have proven design faults. The fact that they nearly always opt for a complete replacement of a unit, at an average cost of over £2000, when, in most cases this is not necessary, as has been proved by specialists and DIY'ers, is an insult to us as educated motorists. The replacement Vanos's they fit are made from sub-standard materials (the piston o-rings) and will eventually operate at reduced efficiency, and effectiveness.

It has been proved by enthusiastic diy'ers and specialists, that properly cared for and maintained vanos's can last for the lifetime of these cars, yet BMW are failing to apply the proper maintenance of the units, at a huge cost to the consumer.

BMW's inspection I & II services are extremely expensive, and for this we, as consumers, expect a duty of care.

I won't take my M3 near a BMW dealer!

End of Rant!!

Here is the email i got back from BMW, i have now asked why my car was not recalled regarding the bolts and i want the contact details of the managing director. Nothing back so far!!!

The bolts sheared about 1/4 0f a mile from my house, no oil light came on so i was lucky in that respect. I must admit the car is driving and sounding superb now. Car now on ebay, i have spent thousands on it considering the time i have had it and the miles it has done.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...

The letter from BMW............





Thank you for your online enquiry dated January 22, 2009. I am sorry to learn of the problems that you have experienced with your BMW M3. I can appreciate the frustration that this matter has caused and your disappointment with the repair costs involved.



We take great pride in the build quality of all our vehicles and it is extremely concerning to receive correspondence of this nature. Although we are confident in the design and manufacture of our vehicles, we appreciate that due to their electrical and mechanical nature, occasionally components can fail unexpectedly. It is for this reason that we supply all our new vehicles with a comprehensive three year manufacturer’s warranty with the option to extend this before it expires. This policy is in place to protect our customers against the cost of any repairs that may be required as the result of a manufacturing related fault.



As a vehicle’s age and mileage increase, the possibility of issues arising with the certain components can increase. In order to obtain further information regarding this matter, I have been in contact with Mr Brian Bailey, Service Manager at Calterdon. He has confirmed that your vehicle was inspected and that they diagnosed a fault with the seals within your vehicle’s Vanos unit.



I acknowledge your request for a contribution towards the cost of this repair, however, had their been a manufacturing related fault with this particular component, we would expect it to have manifested prior to the vehicle reaching over twelve years of age. This being the case, I can confirm that we would not consider contributing towards the cost of this repair.



I am sorry that you have had cause to write to us under such circumstances and I trust that this information clarifies our position on the matter. I have noted your comments and concerns under case number 172181, should it be required for future reference.



Yours sincerely



BMW Group UK

Simon Jack

Customer Service Executive

Ellesfield Avenue

Bracknell RG12 8TA

Tel: 0870 5050 160

Fax: 0870 5050 205

Email: customer.service@bmw.co.uk

URL: www.bmw.co.uk

The car maybe 12 years old but the fact it has never missed a main dealer service its entire life should stand for something??!!
In my mind not a good business call at all by MR Simon Jack, hardly inspiring.

They should make some contribution ,was the steering knuckle replaced on a recall ? If it was then why was the vanos not refurbished at the same time?

I am also very sorry to hear of this failure, the reason I started this thread was to show that these cars are actually very good value for money ???!!Even after reading of your problem I still beleive that in most case's they are plus IMO your post promotes the idea of a good indy over the Main dealer.

Again sorry to hear of the problems as you are obviously a genuine enthusiast

Bit of an update, I got hold of another idle control valve (£40) and put everything back together. On starting the car it ran beautifully... until I took it out onto the road where it started running rough again. I think ordering a Dr. Vanos kit is the way to go as it is likely that it is the main O ring inside the Vanos that has gone, and BMW did report a vanos failure on the exhaust side (which I tried to fix with the solenoids). I'm thinking about doing some of the work myself. Apart from Andy (email sent), anyone have experience of the good Dr?

As an aside, the Evo felt very fit up the top of the rev range, and skidded just beautifully after 4 months in a Panda 100hp (which is a right giggle).

No problem with printing my reply, it was a bit brief as I was typing on my I-phone which takes forever and then crashes.

Basically Munich legends put my recon vanos on and the car now idles and runs fine. However there are a couple of strange noises which seem to have developed. The first of which is at tick over there's sometimes a slight knock / tap. I'm unsure if that was there before the vanos went as it would idle and the noise seams to go above say 1k rpm. Munich legends though it could be a loose gudgen pin but I would have thought this would have knackered the boar causing the engine to smoke and am reluctant to pay £100's to take and engine apart on a hunch.

I hoping to take the rocker cover off and check the valve clearances in case this is the problem as a few people have suggested it could be.

The vanos gears at idle are generally quite quiet although not silent, but at 4k rpm and above there is quite often a second noise which sounds like a clatter, which could be the vanos gears although as I not sure if they are related to the first I am not suggesting that the Dr vanos unit is to blame as I don't think that’s fair until I know for sure. Its sounds like worn gears running against each other but I maybe wrong as my vanos which I took off didn't sound bad so I can't compare it to anything. I'd be interested to know if anyone has bad vanos gear noise at and over 4k rpm.

Either way it cost be around £450 fitted rather than over £2k from bmw. I'll respond again once I've had a chance to find out what my engine knock is, hopefully nothing too serious as I've booked a trip to the ring and SPA for June/July so need the car to be working 100%.

Sorry I could give it the 100% thumbs up at this time as I'd like to help people find an alternitive to paying £2k for a brand new one. Hopefully once i've sorted a few other problems I'll be able to say yep it's fine.

32Evo - What frustrates me and i'm sure is more frustrating for you is that BMW must know the Vanos unit to be a known issue on this car otherwise we simply wouldn't all be here talking about it.... and i know we're not the only people on the net to raise the issue of the Vanos units - even when the cars were still new in 99 you can read about problems on the Vanos.

If BMW are so proud of their quality blah blah blah why does this unit fail on a pretty "regular" basis for a car that would have cost £45k new?

Why does the V-Tec system work so reliably on the Honda's?

It seems wrong to me anyway, i know a lot of people have had no problems but having seen the way my MINT 36k Evo blew the Vanos when it was just 6 years old i will never be convinced that the design of this twin Vanos unit isn't flawed in some way - if one or two had gone over the years i would agree but i'm sorry, it's far too common a fault for such an expensive "well built" car, even if it's only 1 out of 50 or 1 out of 200.