Vanos timing help

[cpandrewschmidt]

Hi all,

Couple months or so ago I did a Vanos reseal. I have a lightweight flywheel which doesn't have a pin to lock the flywheel. I made some CAM locks myself and proceeded with the job. During the job my locks slipped a bit. I realigned with the head as best I could and proceeded. When done verified TDC on flywheel and all looked good through several rotations.

Since then I've been battling the P1108 code. I've replaced all known issues for that; plugs, coil packs, o2 sensors, fuel filter, smoke test, etc. I planned to do all those anyway as routine maintenance as the new owner so that's fine. However, I'm still getting the code. So, that brings me back to my Vanos job as the only other variable that's changed. More I read I see people talking about it being off a "tooth" Are they referring to the splines when re-inserting the Vanos? After watching some video's I'm not 100% confident I had that in correctly. So, I'm re-doing it to double check my work. After seeing a few techniques on youtube i'm more confident I'll be sure it's right.

I'm at the point to lock the CAMs (with real cam locks this time). Here's a picture of my exhaust cam. Crank is TDC, lobes pointed at each other upfront and intake cam is pretty flush. Exhaust is off by a bit. I'm told to wiggle the CAM with a 24 mm wrench so it sits flush but I'm afraid of other things moving. I plan to have a friend hold a wrench on the crank to insure that doesn't move, but am I ok to wiggle that CAM around? I didn't want to take the Vanos out without knowing that first.

Thanks for any advice for those that have done this.
Andrew

[pbonsalb]

Yes you can move the cam a little. When you are trying to get the tdc perfect, rotate the crank only in the direction of rotation. Not backwards. There is a little play that can throw you off if going backward. When done timing, test by rotating the crank twice and then drop the blocks back on. If they fit perfectly you are done. If not, try again.

Tooth off usually refers to the vanos spline not the sprocket tooth. Hard to be a tooth off on the sprocket.

I line up the exhaust cam arrow with the top of the head. This helps get the job started.

I just put my finger in the tensioner hole to take up chain slack for the exhaust sprocket. There is a special tool for this.

There is an advanced way to test vanos advance using compressed air and triggering the solenoid.

[ScotcH]

You need to loosen all the bolts and nuts on the exhaust and intake sprockets, then adjust the cams to be perfectly in line and the blocks fit. When the cams re unlocked (ie, loose bolts and nuts), it will only rotate the cams, and won't affect your crank. Once you have the bocks on, recheck the TDC, and tighten your nuts/bolts on the cams. Then rotate 2 times and recheck.

However, having said all that, you might still have the vanos installed incorrectly, and it will keep throwing codes. I would just remove the vanos and redo it from scratch ... it's only a few additional nuts at this point.

[Mless5]

I just put my finger in the tensioner hole to take up chain slack for the exhaust sprocket. There is a special tool for this.

There is a good technique described in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRnqy-7dT28&t=3s

[pbonsalb]

I think the lower tensioner trick is at the beginning of the 2nd video:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=23jXHhkpV_I