Vanos solenoid removed

[Shawnk111]

Hello everyone. New e46 owner here. Doing a head gasket repair. I removed the actual vanos unit from the front of the heads. I was not at TDC when I did this. (I had not yet touched the sprockets or gears, just the main unit)... Afterwards I rotated the engine clockwise to be a TDC...I understand the process for timing the double vanos unit with the cam shafts.. So my question is this... after reinstalling the cam shafts and getting the everything times back up, would the engine need to be in the exact same position it was when I removed the main outer vanos unit? Or am I okay to just put it on as long as I have the timing correct? Thanks in advance

2001 325xi

[Sapote]

The post title is misleading. Why asking vans solenoid?

Anyway, if you are going to lift up the head enough to get the new CHG in there then you have to remove the chains and sprockets, and that would erase all the old timing of the cams. Even without touching the VANOS internal parts, bolting it back will not get the cam timing correct unless you got the winning lotto ticket.

See my VANOS without special tool for the info.

[Shawnk111]

New to the vanos system. I do understand that the timing is controlled by the chains attached to the cam shafts. But the external part that has the wires and stuff attached to it is what I'm talking about. I marked everything really well as far as position of camshaft goes with the sprockets and I zip tied the chain to the sprockets as well... I do also plan to use the camshaft alignment/timing tools as well... My only concern was with the external piece u have to take off before you can touch the chains and sprockets. It was wires going to it so I assumed it had some kind of solenoid or something in there to make adjustments of some kind. Can I simply get the camshaft and double vanos timing done and then just bolt the external cover part back on? I have obviously hand cranked the engine over several times since it was removed and I wasn't sure if it had to be aligned or adjusted in some way as well. Thanks ��

[Sapote]

The vanos controller which has two solenoid with electrical wires attached. Removing the controller and bolted it back has no effect on the cam timing. But removing the chains and components before the sprockets requires retiming them or you will get codes. Read my vanos instructions

[Shawnk111]

Thank you. The controller is what I was talking about. Exactly the answer I was hoping for.