n54 vanos issue?
Discussion
My n54 engined car went into reduced performance under hard acceleration but otherwise ran fine, I was kindly pointed on here to the vanos solenoids being a likely cause. I bought two new ones off eBay but they made it run terribly, so I made a complaint and got my money back (the packets were open and the seals were missing so they may have been used/rejects passed off as new). I bought two more from a different supplier and fitted them today. I drove very sedately to visit my mother in hospital and the reduced performance and now the EML come on. This time the cars runs OK bit reduced performance. I'm going to put the originals back in again tomorrow but does anyone have any suggestions?
Sounds like boost solenoids if it only happy under load. The consensus with the N52 seems to be that OE VANOS solenoids are the best bet.
They died on my 335i; it was fine until you accelerated hard. The yellow engine management light would come on, power would be reduced but the car would drive ok. Turn it off and on again and it’d be fine until under load.
The solenoids are easy to change (front, left side of the engine). Pierburg are the OE manufacturer, I paid £60 per solenoid rather than £110 each for the same part in a BMW box. The BMW part number was ground off.
However, as others have said I’d have the codes read before changing parts.
They died on my 335i; it was fine until you accelerated hard. The yellow engine management light would come on, power would be reduced but the car would drive ok. Turn it off and on again and it’d be fine until under load.
The solenoids are easy to change (front, left side of the engine). Pierburg are the OE manufacturer, I paid £60 per solenoid rather than £110 each for the same part in a BMW box. The BMW part number was ground off.
However, as others have said I’d have the codes read before changing parts.
I read the codes prior to buying the solenoids and it showed a fault with the thermostat. It was running a touch warmer than normal but I doubt the thermostat would cause the issues I had, A couple of gents on here mentioned the symptoms I had were classic VANOS solenoids so thats why I went there first as they were cheap and easy to replace (and were probably due for replacement as they tend to have a 70k lifespan. Replacing them made the issue worse.
megenzo said:
yes, each time the original solenoids go back in the car drives ok apart from hard accelerations, with the replacement solenoids (both sets) the EML and reduced performance came on with normal driving.
Have the codes been read recently?It sounds just like my overboost issue caused by dying boost solenoids.
megenzo said:
I've only just around to dragging the codes off the car from an OBD2, it is coming up with
P2088 - camshaft position actuator control - circuit low (bank 1)
P13B4 - no description
P0015 - camshaft B position timing - over retarded (bank 1)
Any ideas from the collective brains?
Have you tried googling the codes?P2088 - camshaft position actuator control - circuit low (bank 1)
P13B4 - no description
P0015 - camshaft B position timing - over retarded (bank 1)
Any ideas from the collective brains?
The camshaft sensor isn’t too expensive. I think VDO are the OE manufacturer. They’re relatively easy to get to as well.
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