SMG and Vanos Pump problems, could they be related?

ferretti · 27th June 2012, 00:51

Hi guys. I`ve had my beast for 1 and a half year now, and had many issues unfortunately.

First of all I got a fuel injector stuck open and flames came from the rear exhausts... Scary! Replaced all 10 and it was fixed.
Then I had some electric issues (alternator and battery loose connection), that was fixed also.

But then I faced the major problem of having my 2nd gear not working properly. At first 2nd gear would not work above 4.000 RPM, and it stated making some noises. My mechanic (not dealer, but specialized BMW shop) started investigating (upgrading software, gearbox oil, etc etc...) but it seemed like a problem with synchro.

After a while the 2nd gear just stopped working, and I decided to have the whole gearbox replaced, since there are no parts of a SMG gearbox available.
But something strange happened. I just parked my car at the office 2 weeks ago, and when I got back and tried to start it, it just wouldn`t.

I called my mechanic and he brought his scanner and started to check everything. No faults apparently, but it seemed that the car parked with the 1st gear and it was stuck. Since it didn`t go to N, the car wouldn`t start. I felt it was related to the transmission problem somehow.

He got the car to his shop and found out that the gearbox oil pump was not working. He fixed it and it all just worked normally (still with 2nd gear faulty). But it looked like the car was working as it was before I parked it.

But then a big red warning sign appeared, with an oil problem. Since it was a red warning, not yellow, it was not that it needed more oil, was the engine not getting any oil. He shut the engine down and started investigating, replaced all the oil, and the problem was still there.

He then examined the 2 electric oil pumps, and they were working, but no oil was reaching the engine. He then discovered that the high pressure vanos oil pump was broken and not working. It`s inner part (bearings) was broken into pieces, and the chain had split.

Overall it`s around $25 K of damage (SMG Gearbox + Vanos Pump and lines), and that hurts. But I`m still wondering why it all happened. I`ve seen many vanos problems and stories, but not many SMG problems. Could they be related? Could the gearbox, somehow, damaged the vanos pump? Or it was just misfortune?

And, is it misfortune? Because since the car was idle, the vanos pump problem didn`t damage the engine, so I guess I could say I`m lucky??
Maybe a $ 25 K less money kind of lucky guy?

Any information will help! Thanks

Regards

Daniel

Hasan Shaikh · 27th June 2012, 08:30

Hi Daniel!

I am sure the SMG cannot damage the VANOS pump.

What is your oil change interval. Gnerally, bad oil will cause these pumps to fail.

You are very lucky. It would have cost you a lot more to replace or rebuild the engine.

gjs · 27th June 2012, 20:34

Definately not related to each other. But this does not make sense, the vanos pump would only supply oil to vanos, there is another pump to run the engine.

Now I know they are linked with a chain, but I thought the engine oil pump ran the vanos pump. Cannot be sure but I am due to strip my sump down to change vanos high pressure oil line so I will check this.

Are you sure it is not the engine oil pump broken up instead?