E91 Straight Six Bearding

[zippyonline]

stevesingo said:

I had VANOS valve related issues. I tried cleaning (ultrasonic) and swapping to no avail. I replaced with two new valves from BMW and the issue was cured.

There is also a Non-return valve for each VANOS valve. It won't do any harm to clean/replace those also.

No 7; http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/E90/Europe/330i-...

If you swapped VANOS, the code should follow the banks. (I had one vanos solenoid a bit slower, and this caused the fault to throw a couple of times).

But those check valves are definetley worth pulling out and cleaning every so often / changing for new ones given the cost. You can get to it them the wheel well fairly easily.

[MajorMantra]

zippyonline said:

If you swapped VANOS, the code should follow the banks. (I had one vanos solenoid a bit slower, and this caused the fault to throw a couple of times).

But those check valves are definetley worth pulling out and cleaning every so often / changing for new ones given the cost. You can get to it them the wheel well fairly easily.

In a straight six, there's only one bank of cylinders though! If one of my solenoids is faulty, I'd have expected my P0015 ('B' camshaft) to turn into a P0012 ('A' camshaft) after swapping them over:

https://www.obd-codes.com/p0012
https://www.obd-codes.com/p0015

...but I've only ever had P0015s.

[Edited as I got A and B mixed up.]

Edited by MajorMantra on Tuesday 5th June 14:58

[zippyonline]

MajorMantra said:

zippyonline said:

If you swapped VANOS, the code should follow the banks. (I had one vanos solenoid a bit slower, and this caused the fault to throw a couple of times).

But those check valves are definetley worth pulling out and cleaning every so often / changing for new ones given the cost. You can get to it them the wheel well fairly easily.

In a straight six, there's only one bank of cylinders though! If one of my solenoids is faulty, I'd have expected my P0015 ('B' camshaft) to turn into a P0012 ('B' camshaft) after swapping them over:

https://www.obd-codes.com/p0012
https://www.obd-codes.com/p0015

...but I've only ever had P0015s.

Yeah, sorry got my terminology wrong - you've got it nailed. Didn't mean banks, meant camshafts!

Worth looking at the check valve then. They're something like £8 each to replace iirc, but tbh, a clean would do the trick in the ones I've seen on the internet any my own. I may have some photos I can dig up.

[ferrisbueller]

Is there anything in Carly or similar which lets you manually drive the VANOS or gives a live read out of position?

[bmwmike]

MajorMantra said:

In a straight six, there's only one bank of cylinders though! If one of my solenoids is faulty, I'd have expected my P0015 ('B' camshaft) to turn into a P0012 ('B' camshaft) after swapping them over:

https://www.obd-codes.com/p0012
https://www.obd-codes.com/p0015

...but I've only ever had P0015s.

The six is split into two banks of 3 FYI. I know the DME works that way, for o2 monitoring etc.

[BornRageFree]

gizlaroc said:

Needs a black grille to finish it off.

It's got one now, reread the blurb matte black grille, probably change it to gloss or wrap it at some point but it still looks better than it did!

[stevesingo]

ferrisbueller said:

Is there anything in Carly or similar which lets you manually drive the VANOS or gives a live read out of position?

You can manually drive the cam position using INPA.

[bmwmike]

stevesingo said:

ferrisbueller said:

Is there anything in Carly or similar which lets you manually drive the VANOS or gives a live read out of position?

You can manually drive the cam position using INPA.

I always wondered about this but was never brave enough to try ! If it's done with the engine running presumably it affects running somehow?

[Patrick Bateman]

gizlaroc said:

Needs a black grille to finish it off.

One thing I've always thought spoilt a BMW personally.

Easily changed either way at least.

[stevesingo]

bmwmike said:

stevesingo said:

ferrisbueller said:

Is there anything in Carly or similar which lets you manually drive the VANOS or gives a live read out of position?

You can manually drive the cam position using INPA.

I always wondered about this but was never brave enough to try ! If it's done with the engine running presumably it affects running somehow?

There is a function to raise the idle speed. Without doing this first, it gets a little lumpy. When testing you can add in 10deg steps or swing through predetermined positions. I found that my cam position was slow to respond to the target value and this caused a hesitation between 1600-2000rpm.

To make things more interesting, my INPA was in German. I don't speak German!

[ferrisbueller]

stevesingo said:

bmwmike said:

stevesingo said:

ferrisbueller said:

Is there anything in Carly or similar which lets you manually drive the VANOS or gives a live read out of position?

You can manually drive the cam position using INPA.

I always wondered about this but was never brave enough to try ! If it's done with the engine running presumably it affects running somehow?

There is a function to raise the idle speed. Without doing this first, it gets a little lumpy. When testing you can add in 10deg steps or swing through predetermined positions. I found that my cam position was slow to respond to the target value and this caused a hesitation between 1600-2000rpm.

To make things more interesting, my INPA was in German. I don't speak German!

Assumed it's possible, I've seen it on similar systems. I guess lazy response equals new solenoid(s)?

[stevesingo]

ferrisbueller said:

Assumed it's possible, I've seen it on similar systems. I guess lazy response equals new solenoid(s)?

After cleaning solenoids and check valves, mine was no better. Changed the solenoids and it was fixed.

[zippyonline]

stevesingo said:

ferrisbueller said:

stevesingo said:

bmwmike said:

stevesingo said:

ferrisbueller said:

Is there anything in Carly or similar which lets you manually drive the VANOS or gives a live read out of position?

You can manually drive the cam position using INPA.

I always wondered about this but was never brave enough to try ! If it's done with the engine running presumably it affects running somehow?

There is a function to raise the idle speed. Without doing this first, it gets a little lumpy. When testing you can add in 10deg steps or swing through predetermined positions. I found that my cam position was slow to respond to the target value and this caused a hesitation between 1600-2000rpm.

To make things more interesting, my INPA was in German. I don't speak German!

Assumed it's possible, I've seen it on similar systems. I guess lazy response equals new solenoid(s)?

After cleaning solenoids and check valves, mine was no better. Changed the solenoids and it was fixed.

I pulled my two VANOS solenoids out and put a voltage across it (can’t remember how many V from memory!). You could see one was sluggish, despite cleaning. Changed the sluggish one, all was good. Similar story, slightly different methodology.
I do have INPA, I just need to learn to use it rather than just guess - I've not really looked into it in much detail. I also don't read/speak German so I tend to sit there with live view google translate overlaying the laptop screen!

[2 GKC]

Mine was the alternator in the end. 55 plate with 89k.

[ferrisbueller]

Does the ECU record when the service indicator is reset through a car's life?

[BaronVonVaderham]

Patrick Bateman said:

gizlaroc said:

Needs a black grille to finish it off.

One thing I've always thought spoilt a BMW personally.

Easily changed either way at least.

I would agree. Worse yet is the addition of m colour stripes on the grille.

[ferrisbueller]

Each to their own. Never been a fan of lots of chrome, especially if the rest is shadow line.

[lord trumpton]

ferrisbueller said:

Does the ECU record when the service indicator is reset through a car's life?

Yes I know on the carly app you can reset various service requirement stuff and there is a historical count

[lord trumpton]

BaronVonVaderham said:

Patrick Bateman said:

gizlaroc said:

Needs a black grille to finish it off.

One thing I've always thought spoilt a BMW personally.

Easily changed either way at least.

I would agree. Worse yet is the addition of m colour stripes on the grille.

Agree on the stripes - look proper council

[BornRageFree]

lord trumpton said:

BaronVonVaderham said:

Patrick Bateman said:

gizlaroc said:

Needs a black grille to finish it off.

One thing I've always thought spoilt a BMW personally.

Easily changed either way at least.

I would agree. Worse yet is the addition of m colour stripes on the grille.

Agree on the stripes - look proper council

Good opinions, all valid. Taste is different to each! I changed out the chrome because it was the only silver bit of trim on the whole car. Everything else was shadow chrome, even the wheels have been resprayed darker. I'm putting shadow side repeaters on for the same reason I'll get a fresh picture tomorrow if I have a chance, let everyone fight over appearances a bit more