Vanos covers... Desintegrated

Good afternoon everyone.

I'm trying to find some info, but I'm too nervous or not able to. As well, English is not my first language so... I'm sorry.

I bought a car 1 month ago and it came with nasty surprises. Oil leak on the rocket gasket. That discovered a problem with both vanos covers missing and today the open the oil sump and... They were there. Hopefully they found it in time but... Not happy at all. One of the vanos needs replacing due the spring is not located where it should be.

But what I'm worried is about the debris. I wonder what happens when the s65 takes the oil from the sump. I read historys about this and the engine die due starvation due the debris clog it, but I wonder if the filter is between the sump and the actual engine (you know, all the small holes to keep the engine cool).

As well, what people recommend for that plastic covers? I can see basically two replacements, one that converts that plastic to aluminium or other metal (but I found some people finding them just jumping off), and then ones from mporium that basically are washers. Both are the same price but the mporium requires engine retiming.

Thank you for the help

The bold on solutions from carbahn and mporium are the only fix it forever solutions.

The clip on covers have had issues. There are new products to market which claim to be safe, but there simply isnt enough time or data to confirm if they are a permanent fix.

If you can find someone to take care of retiming the engine, bold on is absolutely the way to go.

Check your oil pickup tube. There's a metal screen there. If you're lucky, your broken vanos covers will be in larger pieces and the pickup screen should be relatively clean from debris. If that's the case, then you may not have suffered engine damage.

Since you just bought the car, I would highly recommend doing the rod bearings now. Opening up the RBs will tell you all you need to know. If the RBs don't show debris damage the you should be fine.

I recommend you use bolt on VANOS covers like the ones Dinan, Mporium and NRW make. Any good M shop will have the cam locks needed to install these covers. You will need to replace the cam bolts tho as they are one time use only.

Redd wrote

Check your oil pickup tube. There's a metal screen there. If you're lucky, your broken vanos covers will be in larger pieces and the pickup screen should be relatively clean from debris. If that's the case, then you may not have suffered engine damage.

Since you just bought the car, I would highly recommend doing the rod bearings now. Opening up the RBs will tell you all you need to know. If the RBs don't show debris damage the you should be fine.

I recommend you use bolt on VANOS covers like the ones Dinan, Mporium and NRW make. Any good M shop will have the cam locks needed to install these covers. You will need to replace the cam bolts tho as they are one time use only.

Thank you both for the comments. The rod bearing were done not long time ago as the throttle body. I think the shop is looking now for the oil pump just to see if they went through. Let's see...

I will follow that recommendation and go for the fixed ones. And thank you for the new makes too, due I found another ones closer, so that would help.

Just one question... The oil filter is on the return line or in the supply line?

Thank you for the help

Even with RB done recently I would still open them up to take a look just for peace of mind. Since you already have the oil pan off. It's just labor and cost of new bolts. If the bearings are good you can re-use them.

Redd wrote

Even with RB done recently I would still open them up to take a look just for peace of mind. Since you already have the oil pan off. It's just labor and cost of new bolts. If the bearings are good you can re-use them.

Been honest... That's true. I feel like someone took short cuts before, so probably worth doing some checks now.... I'm scared because is just bad news after more bad news... But if I want to keep the car, it will be a good investment.

Thank you

Redd wrote

Check your oil pickup tube. There's a metal screen there. If you're lucky, your broken vanos covers will be in larger pieces and the pickup screen should be relatively clean from debris. If that's the case, then you may not have suffered engine damage.

Since you just bought the car, I would highly recommend doing the rod bearings now. Opening up the RBs will tell you all you need to know. If the RBs don't show debris damage the you should be fine.

I recommend you use bolt on VANOS covers like the ones Dinan, Mporium and NRW make. Any good M shop will have the cam locks needed to install these covers. You will need to replace the cam bolts tho as they are one time use only.

Must have missed that Eric - did you change your slon covers?

Helmsman wrote

Must have missed that Eric - did you change your slon covers?

Yes. I'm using steel washers like Dinan now. China sourced.

Our vanos cover cups were designed to be the only true bullet-proof and life-long solution. Yes, they require some more work to install. The best solutions are rarely the easiest.

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1937182

Redd wrote

Yes. I'm using steel washers like Dinan now. China sourced.

Got it. Your slon' lost grip, or just to be on the safe side?

Helmsman wrote

Got it. Your slon' lost grip, or just to be on the safe side?

I was changing out to NRW valve covers, so just to be safe. The Slon covers were still fully clipped in.