Vanos problem...an obvious problem which dealer says aint there..help needed - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

Adam · 24th July 2002, 14:30

I need to draw from the whole board on this one.... We have the Vanos problem..the rattle diesel sound from a cold start up. The car is not right anyone can tell that. Our dealership after having the car for the day phones to say that there is no problem. I ahve done many searches on the board re: Vanos but i needed to know how if you had the problem your dealer fixed it. So basically I (a 16 year old) can spell it out to them. There is no doubt in my mind it is the Vanos problem even though the car is a 01..
Any help/advice would be greatly recieved
all the best
adam

Vince5 · 24th July 2002, 15:28

Adam,

I have had the Vanos job done early this year. My car is a late 2000 model, I have 40k kms. They did it under warranty, no arguing.....
How come BMW accepts this in Sweden and not in the UK

I can fax you the papers if you want to (it's in Swedish but the part codes are there and the price is ZERO)

Good luck, I heard recently from another board member that BMW has decided to be tougher on Vanos changes
Cheers

DavidS · 24th July 2002, 15:33

I think BMW addedthe oil drain valve to the Vanos in october 2000. What´s the build date of your car?

Also even with the oil drain valve there, something else could be wrong with the Vanos. Those are sensitive things, it seems.

Did the noise start recently? Do you get it only at startup? Everytime? Sometimes? On cold mornings only?
Do you have full engine torque?

David

Adam · 24th July 2002, 15:41

Vince,David

Your replies are great thank you very very much!

Vince if you could fax me those papers i would be terribly grateful

my fax number is.. 01428727469

David we get the problem everytime we start the car, it goes away after about 25mins of driving... there is a definite drop in power..noticeable IMHO
Our car was deliverd to us in april 01 soo id say build date was jan/feb 01 so they should ahve sorted the problems RE: vanos?

Again thank you very much

all the best
adam

Vince5 · 24th July 2002, 15:53

I'll look for them this evening. If they are at home no prob, if they are in the car I'll try to get them tomorrow. Just so you know I took the car to the dealer because of the "diesel noise". I didn't have any failure or anything and they just changed it without arguing

Adam · 24th July 2002, 16:04

Thank you ever so much Vince

all the best
adam

DavidS · 24th July 2002, 18:14

Adam,

It might be that you don´t have the usual Vanos noise at startup problem (which is solved by the oil valve), but something different.

Did this problem occur recently? Abrubtly or gradually?

How did you demonstrate the problem to the service people?
Were you there yourself? Was the noise the same as usual?

Whenever you have a problem which only manifests itself when the car is cold, drive the car to the dealer´s parking lot the day before you have an appointment, leave the car overnight to cool.

There is a huge thermal mass in these engines, so it takes a long time to really cool it. Switch the engine off, but leave the key on and set the heating to max, fan to max, open all air outlets, and let it blow until the air feels cold. Then switch on the "use residual heater" button. (which takes heat from the liquid salt thermal reservoir in the cooling system and transfers it to the passenger compartment) and let it blow until the air is cold again. Let the car stand overnight. Then get both the service advisor and the technician to come listen when you start the engine and point out the problem.

It is important to cool the residual heater, otherwise it will warm up the engine quite fast on startup the day after.

David

MAVERICK · 24th July 2002, 18:54

Quote:

Originally posted by DavidS
Then switch on the "use residual heater" button. (which takes heat from the liquid salt thermal reservoir in the cooling system and transfers it to the passenger compartment) and let it blow until the air is cold again. Let the car stand overnight. Then get both the service advisor and the technician to come listen when you start the engine and point out the problem.

It is important to cool the residual heater, otherwise it will warm up the engine quite fast on startup the day after.

Excellent suggestion to make sure the engine is as cold as can be the next morning!

DavidS · 24th July 2002, 20:29

Maverick,

Thanks!

David

DavidS · 24th July 2002, 21:00

Adam,

When you did your searches, you probably realized there are several things that can be wrong when you get the "diesel sound".

Also in my experience, denial is the common tactics among many a car dealer. There is always a fine line between what should be fixed under the warranty, what might be fixed under warranty, and what should not be fixed under warranty. I think the dealers are monitored by BMW and if they do too much warranty work, it´s not appreciated by BMW. So if they can convince the customer all is well, the noise is normal, don´t worry etc perhaps nothing will break until after the warranty has expired.
(...being paranoid is such fun, you know...)

On the other hand, it is normal for cars to get noisier as time goes by.

Something just occured to me: have you noticed incresed noise from the road, especially when it is raining, too?

If so it might just be the rubber door-seals which have gone a bit dry, thus letting more noise into the passenger compartment. In that case the fix is to rub a moderate amount of BMW "Gummipflege" into the door-seals once a month or so. That stuff would cost you some five quid for a tube that will last you a year or so. Gives an amazing reduction in passenger compartment acoustic noise level.

How to do it:

1. Clean the rubber seals carefully
2. Dry well
3. Rub Gummipflege onto/into the rubber seals carefully, both on the visible sides as well as the part normally not seen of each rubber seal. You need to rub it in a bit (gently), not just smear it on. Don´t forget the trunk and bonnet seals.
4. Let it sit a while with doors open
5. Let it sit overnight with doors closed
6. Wipe off excess from seals and where the seals meet the body when the doors are closed
7. Repeat steps 5-6 for a day or two

Another thing which might help reduce noise is to have the door locking mechanisms (striker plates) adjusted.

When they get everything just right the 5-series are quite quiet cars on the inside.

Anyway, as a general rule, with any car problem: if you arn´t pleased with one dealer´s service department, get a second opinion somewhere else. Just don´t mention you´ve already been at the first dealer.

Best Regs,

David