Loud VANOS Unit on E46 M3

[bread1981]

I've got one loud VANOS unit on my E46 M3, at tick over it's very tappy. Everyone comments on it, and I frequently refer to it as an M3 diesel. I took it to a dealer who wanted to replace the whole unit, the estimate was close to £3,000. I then took it to E-Tech who are my local BMW specialist, they concluded that the noise was due to VANOS wear although replacing it would only make the car quieter and it was safe to continue using it in it's current state. E-Tech had never replaced a VANOS before, it seems that I have the only E46 in the country which has this type of problem.

At some point I'm going to need to get something done about it as I think I'll struggle to sell it in it's current state. I could trade it in and get peanuts for it, but other then this I think it's a great example.

Has anyone had a problem with a VANOS or a noisey M3 at tick over?

Any help, in a minute I'll end up forking out the £3k just to sell it.

[Stu R]

loads of people have had vanos problems, search for it

[Broccers]

Enjoy your car until it breaks then pay to fix it.

Too much worry and not enough smiling these days.

[scz4]

Spend £50 on additional sound proofing for the bonnet, problem sorted

[bread1981]

I've tried searching before, seriously I'm the only person in the world with a dodgy VANOS on an E46.

The only thread I could find which related to it, was mine from a few months ago.

I'm going to upgrade the sound proofing that was a sensible suggestion.

[Darranu]

No your not alone it's a common fault.
I had to have mine replaced on my E36evo which set me back £2200 although if i had the work done at an indy the cost would of been closer to £1500. When i had mine done the local dealer let slip that they were replacing roughly 1 a week but i'm going back 5 years

[Rags]

Darranu said:

No your not alone it's a common fault.
I had to have mine replaced on my E36evo which set me back £2200 although if i had the work done at an indy the cost would of been closer to £1500. When i had mine done the local dealer let slip that they were replacing roughly 1 a week but i'm going back 5 years

Read the thread, he states e46 m3.

Get on Mtorque and there are a few threads.

Thanks.

[Darranu]

Rags said:

Darranu said:

No your not alone it's a common fault.
I had to have mine replaced on my E36evo which set me back £2200 although if i had the work done at an indy the cost would of been closer to £1500. When i had mine done the local dealer let slip that they were replacing roughly 1 a week but i'm going back 5 years

Read the thread, he states e46 m3.

Get on Mtorque and there are a few threads.

Thanks.

There basicaly the same engine in both the e36 and e46 and the vanos issue was a common fault on both you prick

[Vixpy1]

Darranu said:

Rags said:

Darranu said:

No your not alone it's a common fault.
I had to have mine replaced on my E36evo which set me back £2200 although if i had the work done at an indy the cost would of been closer to £1500. When i had mine done the local dealer let slip that they were replacing roughly 1 a week but i'm going back 5 years

Read the thread, he states e46 m3.

Get on Mtorque and there are a few threads.

Thanks.

There basicaly the same engine in both the e36 and e46 and the vanos issue was a common fault on both you prick

Not such a common fault on the E46, though it does happen.

[Frik]

You missed out the aggressive insult at the end of your post there, vix.

[Vixpy1]

Frik said:

You missed out the aggressive insult at the end of your post there, vix.

fk off

[bread1981]

Thanks I'll take a look at Mtorque, it's not a common problem on the E46. Most of the independents won't take it on as they've never changed one on an E46 before.

[Dave 321]

i know of 3 E46's with new vanos units over here.. Nowhere as common as E36 prob, but it does exist

[T-bagger]

Hi,

What model year E46 M3 is it? A small amount of growling is quite normal and doesn't cause any problems (BMW released details on this) but the noise they spoke about is pretty quiet - most wouldn't notice it.
The noise you detail of though sounds as if it may be of a different nature.
VANOS unit failures on the S54 are pretty uncommon considering the number out there and the abuse many of them get.
The reason I ask the age of the car is because there are isolated cases of the 6 bolts that hold a splined location plate (for the VANOS plunger) onto one of the camshafts coming loose. I have seen this and if caught fairly early can be remedied by removing the VANOS, replacing the loose bolts and refitting everything - not an expensive job parts wise.
Got a pic here somewhere i'll post it in a moment.

[T-bagger]

Here is a pic with two of the bolts completely removed, they were all loose though. It appears that these bolts hold the sproken on, but they don't it's just the way it looks!




And here is one of the bolts, notice how the threads have been damaged by the movement.

[JNW1]

Dave 321 said:

i know of 3 E46's with new vanos units over here.. Nowhere as common as E36 prob, but it does exist

Agreed, vanos failure on the E46 is nowhere near as widespread as with the E36 but it still happens; I had to have the unit replaced on my E46 CS last year and at the time the car had covered less than 15k miles! However, my local dealer said it was the first E46 where they'd had to replace the vanos and BMW also came out to inspect the car before authorising the work under warranty (apparently because such failures are so rare with the E46).

I guess that means that if you suffer a vanos failure on your E46 you're part of an unlucky minority; mind, I imagine that's no consolation whatsoever if you're left with a four figure bill because your car's out of warranty....

[Rags]

Darranu said:

Rags said:

Darranu said:

No your not alone it's a common fault.
I had to have mine replaced on my E36evo which set me back £2200 although if i had the work done at an indy the cost would of been closer to £1500. When i had mine done the local dealer let slip that they were replacing roughly 1 a week but i'm going back 5 years

Read the thread, he states e46 m3.

Get on Mtorque and there are a few threads.

Thanks.

There basicaly the same engine in both the e36 and e46 and the vanos issue was a common fault on both you prick

Steady on mr, you obviously have no idea what you are talking about.

The e36 vanos can get very loud and has all sorts of issues with Solenoid failing and also the units shearing off the front of the engine. There were many e36 m3 S50 Vanos issues

The e46 m3 is certainly not renowned for its Vanos issues and the S54 remains a generally vanos free world for some.

Get your facts straight and watch your tone.

[bazking69]

I suspect that time will tell whether or not the Vanos units on the E46 will become as notorious as they have on the E36...

[Frik]

Given it was a well known fault on the E36 you'd expect BMW to have made a decent job of re-engineering the system for the E46, despite being a rather complex system.

I would seriously doubt it was as much of a problem - it's enough of an exaggerated problem on the E36 after all.

[CRACKIE]

Darranu said:

Rags said:

Darranu said:

No your not alone it's a common fault.
I had to have mine replaced on my E36evo which set me back £2200 although if i had the work done at an indy the cost would of been closer to £1500. When i had mine done the local dealer let slip that they were replacing roughly 1 a week but i'm going back 5 years

Read the thread, he states e46 m3.

Get on Mtorque and there are a few threads.

Thanks.

There basicaly the same engine in both the e36 and e46 and the vanos issue was a common fault on both you prick

There is no need to be abusive ~ many would disagree with the statement that they're " basically the same engine "

The following is not definitive and was taken from the BMWMREGISTRY site but states that they share few major components and differ in many areas. Note it refers to the M coupe's S54 rather than the M3's.

"What are the differences between the S50 and S54 engines?
The S54 powerplant of the later M coupes is technically an evolution of the iron-block S50 B32 unit used in all European-spec M coupes built through June of 2000. Although the peak power and torque of the S54 (325 hp at 7,400 rpm and 261 lb/ft of torque at 4,900 rpm) are barely increased compared to the S50 B32 (321 hp at 7,400 rpm and 258 lb/ft of torque at 3,250 rpm), they share few major components and differ in many areas including:
-Increased cylinder bore to 87mm (from 86.1mm) for a new total displacement of 3,246cc (from 3,201cc)
-Modified camshafts
-High pressure Double VANOS continuously variable valve timing system with faster operation at high rpm
-Increased compression to 11.5:1 (from 11.3:1)
-BMW/Siemens MSS 54 engine management control
-Finger-type rocker arms for reduced reciprocating mass and friction
-One-piece aluminum head casting for lighter weight
-Scavenging oil pump to maintain pressure during heavy cornering"

Regarding OP ~ my brother in law had the Vanos changed under warranty on his 55 plate E46CS at 11K miles !!. It was an Ex-Demo bought at 8K miles ; had probably been nailed from cold during test drives though

Edited by CRACKIE on Tuesday 19th August 15:07