[Mikehas_a_M6]

Hi,
I have a new to me 06 M6 with 45k miles and I'm in the Los Angles area. I took it in because I had a CEL for no vanos oil pressure and I heard a loud knocking from the top of the right cylinder after a cold start. The shop assessed it and found that yes, there is no vanos pressure. Well when the shop ran the test they said they heard a knocking in the bottom of the engine and upon inspecting the oil filter housing there is an abundance of metal particles inside. The shop is telling me to say goodbye to the engine.
A quick google search I found Lang Racing in Orange county may be able to help and there is also Troy Jeup. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Any insight or experience with Lang Racing? It seems like Troy does great work, does anyone know why a couple people on the forum were upset with him to the point they called his parents?

 

[flacoramos]

A couple? Lol... You haven't read enough then.

IMO no point in rebuilding an engine unless you're going for a stroker. Swapping a used one (6k? + labor) may be the most cost efficient option.

 

[jvsantosmd]

A couple? Lol... You haven't read enough then.

IMO no point in rebuilding an engine unless you're going for a stroker. Swapping a used one (6k? + labor) may be the most cost efficient option.

Lang Racing is as serious as you can get. Of course, more expensive, but as flacoramos stated, you're going all out. They will send you back a bulletproof 600+ hp engine. A used engine will solve your ($$) immediate problems.

 

[Mikehas_a_M6]

Thanks. I want to be sure the engine is gone. Would y’all mind taking a took at the oil filter housing and listening to the vanos knock I heard?

 

[flacoramos]

That is a lot of bearing material.

 

[gmtegear]

The engine may be savable. Clearly there is vanos racket, but it’s hard to isolate that from rod knock especially watching a video. The knocking is at a higher frequency (meaning knocks per min vs a different pitch). It’s fairly clear that you need new rod bearings too. The lower knock could be your vanos pump or rod knock it’s kinda impossible to tell, you have to drop the pan and take a look see. You might just have a damaged vanos pump but your crank may not be scored. You could also have leaking HP vanos hose, causing the no pressure condition. By looking at the bearings, bottom of the pan and vanos pump, you can determine just how much metal may have run through your engine. So you can then make a better determination just how trashed it is.

Buying a used engine is risky too, how do you know if the vanos is good and the condition of the RB and crank, what about scored cylinder walls.

 

[Mikehas_a_M6]

Thanks gmtegear for the insight.
I took it to Lang Racing. My vanos pump grenaded, they haven't checked the bearings yet. They found chunks of metal in the oil pan. I've attached a picture of the pump. Since the oil pan is already off I was planing on replacing the bearings and any other components that BMW updated for the 08 LCI.

Any thoughts or insight? I probably ran the engine for 4-5 minutes trying to diagnosis it myself and the previous shop I took the car to ran a Vanos pressure test through ITSA. Is it worth the money to go down the road of replacing the pump, rod bearing, vanos high pressure line, etc and flush the engine with several oil changes?

 

[flacoramos]

Don't recall having seen this failure before - impressive. If bearings are deemed fine then it might be worth saving the engine. A new pump is a few grand last I checked so it won't be cheap but you already know that. Lang seems to be one of the better shops, curious to know what else they find and what they recommend.

 

[Mikehas_a_M6]

They pulled the one rod bearing off and said it looked good. They recommended replacing the chain, chain guide and tensioner, the high pressure line and the rod bearings as preventative maintenance as well as assessing for damage to the crank.

I found this:

from Redish Motorsport. This engine had a vanos pump fail on an 07 engine with 44k miles. They replaced the vanos pump, the high pressure line, main oil pump (sustained damage), rod bearings and reading the comments the owner had to replace the vanos solenoids.

I had them check the main oil pump, this is the state of the gerotor. They didn't recommend replacing that pump.

Is there a way to flush the engine without running it? I fear running the motor and doing multiple oil changes back to back -as Redish Motor did- is part of the reason why the owner of the engine in the video had to replace the solenoids as well.

Flacoramos, I read a couple of your postings about solenoids, in my situation would it be wise to replace them? Have you or anyone else heard about $189 version Dr. Vanos sells?

 

[flacoramos]

My solenoid comments are for an otherwise healthy engine. If I were you I wouldn't spend a dime until I am certain the bottom end is solid. I haven't heard of dr. vanos solenoids but we have a long thread about sophie's solenoids. Most info is on the M5 side of this forum.

 

[M5RS6]

My crank looked great after Lang got done with it, should be trsting her out shortly.