Vanos Clinic

[Scott Pettit]

On May 30 and 31st, I am hosting a Vanos clinic in Modesto, CA. This free clinic will allow the Z3 and Z4 owner the opportunity to change the rubber seals on their Vanos unit under the guidance of Luca Paindelli. Any Z8 owner who would like to learn about Vanos (even though you will not be servicing your car) are more than welcome to attend. We will be doing 3 clinics-Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. BBQ will be served both days and lots of cold beverages will be on hand.

Also, we are planning to have a detailing service whom I have used on multiple occasions and a PDR (Paintless Dent Repair) guy who came highly recommended by East Bay BMW.

I am also throwing a few cars on the lift to get at their trannys.

If you are interested in joining us for this free event, please email at:

scottpettit@sbcglobal.net

[macfly]

Sounds great, thanks for the invite, but I'm doing Supercar Sunday that Sunday.

[briandilley]

I have a question. My Z8 was born on 04/00 so it is one of the first and most likely has the VANOS concern. I have official service records that show a BMW dealership looked at the car for the VANOS recall, but found nothing wrong. Great news and the car runs great, just the minor pinging when the car is started after after about 4 or 6 weeks.

Is this unit going to fail? If it does fail - I am guessing the engine is shot? Is this an official recall? Will BMW still honor the recall? or other facts would be great.

Just trying to have something fixed that may have been missed. Any clarifications to this would be great and I will check the threads, but am looking what the current BMW stance is on recalls for these cars.

[macfly]

I would take it to a very experienced BMW shop with a lot of M5 & Z8 experience, and have the Vanos seals & sensors/accumulators replaced, that is not too costly, maybe $1,200 or so, but if the Vanos fails it is $15-18,000. There is a lot of Vanos info in the PDF's to download area (http://www.bmwz8.us/vbb/showthread.php?t=163&referrerid=2).

[Scott Pettit]

In this case, I agree with Andrew.

If you are in Northern California, and want to learn about Vanos and eat, drink and be merry, come on over on the 30 and / or 31st and hang out. I'll probably have some Speed TV on the tube in the garage so if the chatter gets boring, folks can zone out in front of the boob tube.

[briandilley]

Man, I have got to move to California if I am going to keep this car. The West Coast and Texas Z8'ers seem to have the life style down. I am stuck in MD and may be one of 3 in the state and Cal Ripken isn't hanging out with me.

Scott, if I was in CA, I would be there - that sounds like a perfect Saturday. So I guess I got to find a great BMW mechanic that can do this. Again, another MD scavenger hunt, but sounds like a cheap fix to an expensive problem, just like the PP was for me. Thanks for the advise and a target budget.

[macfly]

I's suggest going to the M5 board (http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39-m5-e52-z8-discussion/) and see if there are any local recommended shops with good S62 (our common motor) experience in your area.

[briandilley]

Just got confirmation from BMW NA that on June 4, 2002 the VANOS system on my car was replaced under warranty. that is great news, but I still have a ticking noise - is that normal?

Also, I found out that all warranty items listed on this site were fixed, so the previous owners really kept up on the car.

[Scott Pettit]

The question "is that normal" is loaded.

The Vanos can cause a ticking / tapping sound until they are well lubed, so the noise should go away after it is driven a few miles. If it is does not, I would have it looked at. Another source of a ticking sound is a vacuum leak or valves or....

If it were my car, I'd have it diagnosed and repaired.

If you are in Northern California, you are welcome to come to the Vanos clinic and get the opinion of a ton of people who are great at rendering opinions and tossing back beers. Oh, and some of us are good with a wrench HOWEVER we will only give you an opinion and leave the repair of an EXPENSIVE car to the pros.

[briandilley]

Found out my car had the VANOS upgrade performed in June 2002 and the ticking noise is the valves tapping after sitting for over 3 months. So once primed, the ticking goes away and it is good to go. BMW states that this is normal.

However, I did learn that the VANOS issue when going bad is more of a rattling noise instead of a ticking noise. So ticking is good (for a little bit) and a rattling noise is bad (VANOS is probably failing).

Just what I have learned in this process.

[Charles]

I am looking at buying a 9/00 to 11/00 car. My local BMW dealership says that the vanos kit for it (Part No. 11 36 7 832 858) and the kit for up to 9/00's (Part No. 11 36 7 832 855) have been discontinued. Are they correct?

[macfly]

I'd double check with Dana at Peter Pan - 650-204-7550

[Charles]

Thanks, Andrew. I called Dana and he was very nice to talk with me even though I am far away in Dallas. He is every bit the supporter of the cars you have said he is. He said the kit was no longer availble, but you can get the individual parts. It is good to know that this major difference between the 9/00 - 11/00 2001's and the later models is an easy fix. He gave me the following prices as of today:

Parts - $453.61<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
Labor – 2 hours<o:p></o:p>

[Norcal]

That sounds very reasonable. And yet another confirmation that BMW will honor the "50 year Parts" commitment.

PS: we're already 10 years into it!

[thegunguy]

Which dealer are you working with in Dallas? If you're not already, Pat Arnold at Classic BMW in Plano is the Z8 authority in the area. If you're on the Fort Worth side, I'd still work with Classic for specific issues, but Trent Cole at Lone Star Bavarian is a great independent shop that maintains more than a few Z8s on the west side.

Also, if you haven't already, hook up with Routineer. He can be found here on the board. He's probably the leading Z8 enthusiast in the DFW area.

[Z8Mania]

#1 Dana is the man
#2 the fellas (and ladies?) here are The -uh- People :D
#3 I bet though they wont ever say it that BMW will support the car long after the 50 years run out- its a special car- as we all know.

[Charles]

I have usually worked with BMW of Dallas, but that is a good tip for Pat Arnold at Classic. Pandaman recommended him to me to today as well. I will check out Routineer too. I was not very impressed with the two Southern California dealerships in their inspections of a car I looked at out there.

[thegunguy]

Out of courtesy, I'll save my frank comments on BMW of Dallas, but I will say that you can save a lot of time and frustration in dealing with Pat at Classic.

[macfly]

I was not very impressed with the two Southern California dealerships in their inspections of a car I looked at out there.
Thats why I head 400 miles north to Peter Pan, there isn't a dealer in the southland I'd trust with my car. Some are really bad, some just mediocre, and none are good.