VCG leak again?

did my gaskets 10k km's ago and was wondering if it looks like they are leaking again or could it be from below more?



Front passenger/lower engine
*you can see oil on the indicated area's and there's a plug plus hose down there, not sure if they are creating the leak either*



i did not do Vanos seals last time and kicked myself for that so this could be karma.

Did you replace the grommets? That could be why too

Originally Posted by jgold47

Did you replace the grommets? That could be why too

i believe i replaced the grommets
i bought OEM gaskets and some red high temp sealant that every recommends on here

bump!

well, noticed the good old oil smell at higher rpms last night
probably going to take it to a local shop to do it up as last time i obviously didn't do it right and made a huge mess anyways
might order the Beisan kit for the vanos to be done too
i seen Beisan site has VCGs on it too i think, they any good or stick with OEM?

Last I checked, the Beisan site had a number of replacement parts unique to them, however, not a VCG. Personally, I would stick with BMW/OEM. When I did my vanos seals, I replaced the VCG with BMW, reasoning simply that the first one had lasted 10 years.

Did you torqued those VCG bolts to 10 Nm spec or did you just do it by feel? Unless your VC has a crack somewhere, this would be the only possibility since you said you replaced the rubber washers around the VC and used RTV where appropriate.

did you replace 15 gromets?? you didn't answer if you did.... vanos seals didn't do anything for me. did it last week and put on about 600kms.. no difference.

make sure you replace gromets and put on rtv on half moons and vanos contact line. tighten the bolts in X pattern starting from the middle. 10NM. and make sure the surfaces are well cleaned on the contact surface when applying new baskets

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Bimmer App

It looks like it could be your gasket inbetween the vanos unit and the block

It looks like it could be your gasket inbetween the vanos unit and the block

Originally Posted by pawelgawel

did you replace 15 gromets?? you didn't answer if you did.... vanos seals didn't do anything for me. did it last week and put on about 600kms.. no difference.

make sure you replace gromets and put on rtv on half moons and vanos contact line. tighten the bolts in X pattern starting from the middle. 10NM. and make sure the surfaces are well cleaned on the contact surface when applying new baskets

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Bimmer App

my bad, thought i replied to the question
i did replace the 15 grommets and rtv was used on half moons and area of previous leak...
starting to think i may have put too much rtv on or didn't tighten in the X pattern
if not then probably a crack

i ordered the Beisan kit for Vanos last night
once they show up i'm booking to have professional do it as it's only going to be $300.
i'm supplying Beisan kit and they'll do OEM VCG and install

when speaking with the very reputable shop, who's tech's are ex dealership employee's, they said they have done 1000's of VCG's but they've rarely seen the need to do Vanos but on here seems to be the exact opposite opinion

Cars booked for Friday morning
Quoted 5hrs @ $98/hr for vcgs and vanos seals
Seems right, what y'all think?

Yeah, sounds good for dealer. Probably closer to 3.5 hours for an experienced mechanic. The VCR books at an hour, but should be included in a vanos job.

The only issue is if they try to cowboy the vanos and **** up the rings they can't just call up the local parts guy for a replacement. Make sure they follow the instructions or have done it before.

That is a valve cover gasket leak. Let me guess, you put on a Victor Reinz before, right? I'd just replace the gasket with Goetze, and go from there. Worth a shot for $30...

Originally Posted by Mctwist77

It looks like it could be your gasket inbetween the vanos unit and the block

your definitely right
the leak has spread to the front middle of the engine now

Originally Posted by jgold47

Yeah, sounds good for dealer. Probably closer to 3.5 hours for an experienced mechanic. The VCR books at an hour, but should be included in a vanos job.

The only issue is if they try to cowboy the vanos and **** up the rings they can't just call up the local parts guy for a replacement. Make sure they follow the instructions or have done it before.

the shop is an Indie with ex dealer ship tech's and are widely respected on my local Bimmer site so they should be ok
i've supplied them with Vanos seals so hopefully they don't **** anything up in that regard because it takes almost a month to get them here
the tech's state they've done 1000's of VCG's but mentioned they rarely have to replace VANOS seals but it is Canada and we don't have many fanatics that would know to replace them

Originally Posted by SeanC

That is a valve cover gasket leak. Let me guess, you put on a Victor Reinz before, right? I'd just replace the gasket with Goetze, and go from there. Worth a shot for $30...

Yup it was Victor Reinz, i went to an Indie shop that states they use OEM parts only and grabbed them and grommets for $230 as i figured a VCG is a VCG
other Indie shop(s) are a 2hr drive
i will however from now on just make the 2hr drive when needed or order online for repairs
we have Lordco and Fortins (not sure if they are canadian only businesses) but they mainly carrier domestic parts at a great price so my options are very limited

hopefully my valve covers not cracked and it's only the gaskets

Originally Posted by Mr_325

your definitely right
the leak has spread to the front middle of the engine now



the shop is an Indie with ex dealer ship tech's and are widely respected on my local Bimmer site so they should be ok
i've supplied them with Vanos seals so hopefully they don't **** anything up in that regard because it takes almost a month to get them here
the tech's state they've done 1000's of VCG's but mentioned they rarely have to replace VANOS seals but it is Canada and we don't have many fanatics that would know to replace them


well, best of lukc.


Yup it was Victor Reinz, i went to an Indie shop that states they use OEM parts only and grabbed them for $230 as i figured a VCG is a VCG
other Indie shop(s) are a 2hr drive
i will however from now on just make the 2hr drive when needed or order online for repairs
we have Lordco and Fortins (not sure if they are canadian only businesses) but they mainly carrier domestic parts at a great price so my options are very limited

well best of luck. I would provide them with the besian instructions for reference since they wont know how to do it. I am not worried about it for you, but this is pretty specific. Have you thought about doing it yourself? The instructions are so well written, it would be hard to screw up if you have even basic DIY skills. That said, I've failed on the three VCG's ive done with leaks that show up down the line, but I suspect it because I've foolishly used Victor Reinz gaskets the whole time.

Originally Posted by jgold47

well best of luck. I would provide them with the besian instructions for reference since they wont know how to do it. I am not worried about it for you, but this is pretty specific. Have you thought about doing it yourself? The instructions are so well written, it would be hard to screw up if you have even basic DIY skills. That said, I've failed on the three VCG's ive done with leaks that show up down the line, but I suspect it because I've foolishly used Victor Reinz gaskets the whole time.

i could probably do the VCGs again but i don't really wanna do the VANOS
plus it took me 4hrs to do VCGs first time and they're leaking now
i don't really have all that time so if i can pay them $700 i'll be fine
i'm just worried if valve cover is cracked it will probably put me over $900 and i don't really wanna do that especially with xmas coming

I used Victor Reinz gasket and mine leaked after 8000 miles.
There are many others with leaking V-R gaskets.
I bet this will be your solution and you'll not worry about a cracked VC.

Originally Posted by Stinger9

I used Victor Reinz gasket and mine leaked after 8000 miles.
There are many others with leaking V-R gaskets.
I bet this will be your solution and you'll not worry about a cracked VC.

Judgement day is tomorrow.. hope it's only going to be like $6-700 or atleast under 1K or i'm going to be pissed

DON"T USE 'Victor Reinz'

Even though, they make some oem, they don't make OEM gasket for E46 and E39. DO search and you will find tons of info.
I used VR's and after 4000 miles, it leak same spot as yours.
2 days ago I replaced my gasket to OEM (bought from BMW dealer) and Vano jobs.

THe most difficult parts was cut 4 rings from Vano without scratch metal parts because seals are hard plastic like.
And I used newer OEM gasket on my 99 323 and no leak and so clean. I'm happy with OEM for now.