VANOS issues on E46

[roland breadner]

Hi,

Some of you may have read my threads before on here. I want to know if anyone has had any problems with their VANOS unit on a E46. My car is quite noisey on start up and over the last 20,000 miles it started to get noiser. I've contacted a couple of specialists both said that VANOS replacements were uncommon on the E46 cars. One said they'd never actually changed one. Has anyone on here suffered from a problem where it's 'ticky' when started and on tick over. I have suffered no loss of power or seen an engine warning lights, infact the car runs as well now as it ever has. It's now done 80k, apparently they just get louder with age. I am going to get the specialists to have a listen to it at the weekend, Snows my local dealer will no doubt want to replace the VANOS unit.

Any thoughts?

[Ayrton4ever]

...this may sound a bit pedantic but how have you come to the conclusion that the noise comes from VANOS?

[< FORZA WEST]

The vanos units on E46 have been preety much fault free.Have replaced 2 since its launch due to oil leaks but thats it.

Snows will probably tell you the same.

These can be prone to tappet wear,so it maybe a simple case of having them adjusted.

[roland breadner]

Thanks for the posts. I took it to E-Tech in Havant, within 10 seconds of listening to it their analysis was that it was fine.

It's been an education, I am sure the dealer would have replaced both VANOS units.