Vanos done!

[jcommare]

Hey folks...

about 6 hours to do it all including thermostat and tensioner pullys while i was in there. Had an issue where I overstretched the gasket a bit but the guys at Beisan picked up the phone on a Saturday morning and talked me through gradually re-sizing it down until it was small enough to work. Pretty cool.

The only thing I would add to the instructions is that the rubber gasket that goes over the spark plug holes under the head cover is really brittle and little pieces of stuff go flying all over the place when you try to remove it. The rubber hardens into almost plastic and shatters. I had to fish a few pieces out from inside the valve area. So put a towel over everything and have a shop vac standing by.

Don't really notice a change yet but feel good about tackling it and the car starting up nicely with no CEL lights.

Again, thanks to Beisan and everyone who has posted encouragement.

Joe Commare
Sturbridge, MA

[OGM3]

Good work. It is a very rewarding job.

Yes, huge respect for Beisan for developing the seals. My car never ran better.

[rocketwagon]

Nice job, man! Glad to see you got the issue with the stretched gasket figured out. Wish I could have joined you yesterday, but with it being Mother's Day and all, there was no way I could have gotten out of the house to play with cars. :-)

So if I order the stuff, will you come help me do mine?

[jcommare]

Absolutely....

In order to minimize time spent hunched over the car, I broke it up...

Friday night I took the left side cabin air filter assembly off and the fan and shroud and then the valve cover. This all took about two hours. I then rewarded myself with a beer.

On Saturday morning, I took off the Vanos unit, did the gaskets and then put it all back together. My back would not have held out for 6 straight hours.

Let me know when you ant to do it..and let me know what tools you're missing and I'll bring them.

best...

Joe

[PJB]

When you say you "overstretched the gasket a bit," are you referring to the new o-rings/teflon seals that go into the VANOS pistons, or are you talking about the disposable metal gasket that fits between the VANOS unit itself and the engine block? I wouldn't know how to overstretch the metal gasket so I assume you're speaking on the seals themselves.

And props to Rajae for not only diagnosing and fixing the problem but for giving excellent customer service. He answered the phone at 1am local time on a Tuesday morning to answer my questions!

I would suggest you register at the VANOS forums and post the observations for your car, and then post again after the ~500 mile break-in period. Yes, you have to register for yet another forum, but every data point counts and Rajae needs them for statistical information.

[cpatstone]

When you say you "overstretched the gasket a bit," are you referring to the new o-rings/teflon seals that go into the VANOS pistons, or are you talking about the disposable metal gasket that fits between the VANOS unit itself and the engine block?

I was wondering that too... how did you overstretch them, assuming it wasn't the friday night beers, and an impromptu "vanos seal bandana" idea?

Either way, congrats!

[jcommare]

There is the rubber O-Ring and then the square-profiled seal that goes on top of it...when I got to putting the seal on, I was stretching it to get it over the piston and it just over-stretched...and I felt it as it was happening.

It was the last one of the 4 and I was thinking how "home free" I was...but imagine it almost being there and then stretching an extra 1/8th inch. I thought the worse and called Beisan on a whim...never expecting someone to pick up the phone on a Saturday.

He calmly talked me through the re-sizing procedure and gradually it returned to its normal size.