[JayR_e92]

Is there such a thing as simply servicing the Vanos on these E46 M3's?

To be clear, I am talking about other than a Dr Vanos or Beisan upgrade.. just servicing the existing oem vanos

[Koolsilver]

Not really, you could tear it down and clean everything but they shouldn't be dirty or sludgy and if they are I'd be more concerned about the rest of the engine. You could replace some parts with oem replacement but that would be much more expensive than the other options.

[JayR_e92]

Thanks man

I think there's more confusion among S54 surrounding this than what is represented online. Often times potential buyers ask about the big 3 and ask "has the vanos been serviced". When in fact there is no such thing as simply "servicing" the vanos. All you can do is upgrade it. And I don't think a lot of people quite understand that.

I myself was hoping it could be serviced.. Since I don't plan on tracking or abusing my M3 at all. I wanted to have it "serviced" so that when it came time to sell it I could answer yes it's been serviced. But since it's really an upgrade, I don't think I'll do it. As long as I'm not having an issue with the vanos I have no reason to personally, given the way I drive the vehicle and will leave that to the next owner to decide if they want to upgrade it based on how they plan on driving it

[Koolsilver]

I see what you're saying. I believe you could "service" it using OEM parts but I'm sure you would be way over the cost of the upgraded parts. Now one thing to be aware of is while these parts are an upgrade it isn't meant for only people that drive their cars hard. The original parts fail under normal conditions and the upgrade doesn't present any performance increase but they reduce the chance of future failure. While it is completely up to you whether or not to upgrade the vanos during your ownership I would be willing to bet that any engine with over 100k miles at least the plastic chain guide is already broken. A broken plastic chain guide usually isn't catastrophic but it can potentially lead to worse things happening like the chain skipping. I don't want to fear monger because realistically vanos problems have a low chance of catastrophic failure for the engine but it is my belief that vanos problems are more age and mileage dependent and less about whether someone is being rough or easy on the car.

[JayR_e92]

Fair point. Personally, if upgrading were $1000 or less I honestly would do it just for the sake of having it done. Better to be safe than sorry if it's a reasonable dollar amount. At $3k - $4K for a full Dr Vanos upgrade it's definitely something that someone would need to justify for themselves if it's worth the money in upgrading. For that amount of money you could have both the RB's and Subframe reinforced in many regions. For example in SoCal you can get subframe reinforced for about $1200 and RB's around $2k at very reputable shops like EAS.

For now, I personally won't be upgrading the Vanos. Unless I was able to somehow get it done for less than a grand or maybe $1500 tops but I don't see that happening so as long as it's not experiencing any symptoms or odd noises, I'll hold off and be mindful of it.

Still curious to hear what others might think about the whole "Servicing" vs Upgrading of vanos. Specially since you see it all the time on sites like BAT. Some people ask if the vanos has been serviced because they see everyone else ask this on other M3 listings but might not fully understand what exactly they're asking or what to expect

[jp1984]

I mean technically you can "service" your vanos by upgrading with Beisan system parts. BTW I am in the same predicament, I think I am just going to slowly get the parts together and have a shop replace my vanos unit and do valve adjustment at the same time.

[mwat]

I had to clean my sticking Vanos valvebody with magnets and brake cleaner at one point... (Shoutout Beisan for sending me a valvebody he had laying around for FREE, didn't even charge me shipping ~7 years ago)

[EdgyE36]

IIRC it's possible to just replace the rubber seals with better rubber and not replace the solenoid. But after you've done the labor to get there, why would you not replace it, and replace the oil pump disk, which can break off the camshaft bolts. That's why most go beyond OEM.

Here's my story, paid a guy with a side business to do it for me, along with a bunch of "while in there" items. Feel I got a lot for my money.

https://chrisparente.com/2019/07/23/...ckdown-e46-m3/

Sadly, Raj from Beisan passed away in early 2021. Big loss to community. Long thread here if another forum link is allowed:

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...beisan-systems

[mwat]

Originally Posted by EdgyE36

IIRC it's possible to just replace the rubber seals with better rubber and not replace the solenoid. But after you've done the labor to get there, why would you not replace it, and replace the oil pump disk, which can break off the camshaft bolts. That's why most go beyond OEM.

Here's my story, paid a guy with a side business to do it for me, along with a bunch of "while in there" items. Feel I got a lot for my money.

https://chrisparente.com/2019/07/23/...ckdown-e46-m3/

Sadly, Raj from Beisan passed away in early 2021. Big loss to community. Long thread here if another forum link is allowed:

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...beisan-systems

Bro this is some of the worst news I've heard in a minute.
Raj was amazing and did a ton for our community. I have emails from him 10 years ago helping troubleshoot my vanos issues. We lost a real one.