V8 E39 Vanos

[peaktorque]

I have been trying to trace the source of the 'diesel' noise on tick-over on my '99 535 for a while now. I had come to the conclusion that the timing chain tensioners are at fault.

But I happened to stumble across this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDy2ikMsLLI&fea... ,which is the exact same noise as my M62 engine is making . The engines are pretty much the same from what I understand, single vanos etc.

Does any-one have any experience of this problem?
What sort of job is it to renew the vanos on these engines? (mine is the later type lump with vanos fitted)

Thanks in advance!
James

[Neil.D]

Neilbabylon in the comments is me! My alter ego on youtube.
Yes the vanos on these cars can get noisy as per the video. Changing the timing chain tensioners will have no effect at all. The small heli-gears deep within the unit are the ones making the noise.

As long as you have no EML light or fault codes, lack of performance and the noise goes away as soon as the revs are a little faster than tickover then there is nothing to worry about. My M5 makes a really loud grumble when starting warm. It is just a trait that you learn to live with im afraid.
Short of changing the entire vanos and timing chain and all associated gears, you are talking GGG's here, you will not be able to reduce the noise. Even if you did the noise would 99.9% return within a few thousand miles.

Neil

[< FORZA WEST]

The M power had an oil pressure problem to the vanos..this was fixxed by fitting a one way valve in the high pressure line.

2 problems spring to mind with the m62 which i have come across;

1, water pump failure...this was really common a few years ago but less so now as the specialists now see them.
2, Oil pump bolts become loose!! when i started with BMW in 2000 I saw 4 of these in the first 6 months.The noise was a really hard knock and also the top end including vanos rattled...It only seemed to be the 535 with the problem.
To check,the lower sump pan needs to be removed (fairly straight forward) and the three 6 mm allen key bolt checked for tightness.

[peaktorque]

Great thanks for the replies chaps!
I,v heard of this oil pump thing before, I will check this when there is less rainage! Assuming that the bolts are tight, would it be fair to say that it is Vanos and continued use of vehicle would not be a problem?

This noise has been apparent for some time now and hasn't really got any worse. And I can rule out water-pump as I renewed this a couple of months ago.

Thanks
James

[Neil.D]

It is an oil pressure accumlator. You should see something like this...
(the black thing on the left)

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/attachment.php?at...

[peaktorque]

Neil.D said:

It is an oil pressure accumlator. You should see something like this...
(the black thing on the left)

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/attachment.php?at...

Tell me more!
Is this what I need to cure the noise? Where does it live?
Going to have a look at oil pump bolts ASAP first.

Thanks again

James

Edited by peaktorque on Tuesday 1st April 19:52