Vanos tool kits a sham. Did my vanos today.

[zajapoolala]

Iv got an 93 e36 with the b20tu engine and I did my vanos today. I did it in about an 1 hour and 45 min. no 4 hours... also without the special tools... So they offer this tool kit with a crank shaft pin a timing chain pin cam gear tool and a cam gear locker deal for 110 bucks. I didnt buy it and its real easy to do the vanos.

Took my valve cover off.
Loosened the front bolts on the vanos cover
Pulled the vanos back far enough to get the 5 bolts off the back of the vanos (kind of a tight fit, Did it with an open end wrench)
pulled the vanos cover off the vanos leaving the vanos assembly on the engine.
Cut the rubber and tefflon rings off the vanos assembly (while its still attached to engine)
Installed new rings
Slid vanos cover back on and put bolts back on (once again a tight fit)
put bolts back on front of the vanos cover
Put valve cover back on
Done deal... Runs like a champ.

Could do it in probly an hour if I was to do it again.

[flyfishvt]

THat's pretty good. I am looking at doing my vanos seals very soon. I have the parts just waiting for warmer weather.

I'll have to give your meathod a second look. So instead of removing the entire vanos unit you just pulled the cover off the piston then slid the cover back on? Cool and very creative.

[jmo69]

Wish you would have taken some pics. I have never had my vc off, so I can't picture how you did it. edit Just read through Beisan Systems DIY and now yours makes sense.

[walker7182006]

i did/bought everything i needed from Beisan Systems. for my car i when it came to the axle play i had to take the rattle ring and sand it down at a local machine shop to take out the axle play. but like you said after i did the engine per'd like a cat. no vibrations or nothing. until i cleaned the engine and got water in the spark play whole but other then that she was and still is 100. except for some other bs body problems I'm having right know. nothing a little mig welder cant handle

[lukee36]

Well I have my valve cover off right now and am ready to pull the VC. But it looks like the fan needs to be removed to do that. Did you lock your timing and remove your fan when you did it?

[flyfishvt]

If you do it the way the OP says then you don't need to lock the flywheel. Just don't let the vanos cylinder come out all the way. Like he said....its a tight fit getting to the vanos cover bolts once you slide it out a bit but there should be just enough room to get an open end wrench in there.

[lukee36]

I'm assuming your didn't replace the vanos cover gasket. And also how did you stop oil from leaking all down your belts? and it seems like theirs no room against the coolant overflow tank to pull it away. I tried to remove my fan to do it the proper way, but my belts are to loose, so I can un-seize the fan nut. :S

[flyfishvt]

Make sure you have a bunch of rags under the vanos banjo bolt when you take it off. It leaks quite a bit as you can see. If the expansion tank is in your way just lift up on the tab that is holding it in place and move it out of the way.

I took my fan off a long time ago so its not in the way. Removing the clutch fan is 2 mintues tops. Just remember it is reverse thread. Turn the nut clockwise to loosen it.

Yes you absolutely should replace the crecent shaped vanos gasket. They are only a couple dollars each.

[Auto Parts Guy]

Someone post up some pics..

[cjbechtel]

Just did the job my self also. It's not much harder to just take the unit off. Then you can replace the gasket. Took around 2.5 hours. As for tools I would only suggest the cam locks. There is a drawing going around that shows what the dimensions need to be. I had one punched at my work.

[kart57]

This post deserves a bump. Forget the tools. I just did this and it was easy. Remove the fan. Remove the clips that hold the shroud in place so you can move the coolant tank out of the way slightly. Then the Vanos unit pulls back about an inch and the bolts can be removed. I put some paper towels underneath the cam gears so nothing would drop through. I also put some rags over the belts but not much oil came out anyway. Thanks for posting this.

[SenorFookH56]

I need to do this soon!

[fun2drive]

Plus 1 for ingenuity. However to say VANOS tools are a sham couldn't be farther from the truth. You didn't do anything but a short cut. You never replaced the gasket and have no idea the condition of your VANOS internally.

I would speculate that your VANOS is fine but you don't know that and since you never pulled the unit or rebuilt a head or replaced cams you would be hard pressed to do it without VANOS tools.

Tell me how you are going to pull the VANOS gear into the intake cam without that lollipop tool?

Like I said great ingenuity but get your facts straight first.

Your post should be more like "How to replace the VANOS seal and O ring without VANOS tools".

[MpowerE3666]

what characteristics were being displayed by car to lead you to replace the vanos seal's?

[kart57]

In my case it has engine vibration at around 3K. The car has 200K and I had a coolant hose fail recently and it overheated. It started vibrating after the engine overheated. I have been changing out the usual suspects in hopes of fixing it. I did a short drive after changing the Vanos seals and it seemed better but not cured. According to the instructions that came with the seal kit it takes a few hundred miles to break the new ones in. Maybe it will get better over time. I just handed this car down to my 17 year old son so I'm just trying to keep it on the road for a few more years. I doubt I will want it back after he's done with it.

[Rahra]

Hey I been doing forum reads. I was wondering when you pulled off the vamos and place it back to remove the vamos cover, did the timing get affected, or the vamos just slid back in place, please help me out my vamos seals are bad, rough cold idle start and descriptions of bad vamos seal is presented.