So I finally got around to replace my Vanos seals and upon inspection, noticed the piston and piston wall on the exhaust side is scored pretty bad in one spot. So what's the plan now? Can I sand and polish it? Can I just slap it back together and hope for the best? Am I screwed?
I don't think you have much room to hone that out smooth and still find some teflon ring to fit. There's a little tolerance with new teflon ring, but I doubt that much.
I think the dr. vanos replacement is your best shot, but if you have the seals from beisan, you might as well give them a shot. New seals will probably keep the piston from hitting the wall...and although you'd probably spring a leak there, I don't know that that's enough to affect the timing that much. I bet your car could handle it fine...and seems like you hadn't noticed anything up to now anyway.
Do keep in mind that with a core charge they typically want a "rebuildable core" in return. With that damage they may refuse you.
So the deal with Dr. Vanos would cost you $400.
I think I'm going to try and sand down the roughness and just leave it be for now. I do have the Besian kit and I have not noticed any power issues before the rebuild. I will report back once it's all broken in. Maybe post some pics of the finished sanding job too.
Ok everything is back together. That was a whole lot easier than I was expecting. I sanded both scored pieces with 800 grit and then 10000 grit. I didn't want to take too much off so there are still marks. Basically I just took off the roughness where before, when I slid my finger over it, it would catch my skin. But now, my finger glides over it much more smoothly. We will see what happens.
Oh and @ 130K miles no sludge!! WHOO HOO!! Guess the previous owners at least changed the oil. Lol
Ok everything is back together. That was a whole lot easier than I was expecting. I sanded both scored pieces with 800 grit and then 10000 grit. I didn't want to take too much off so there are still marks. Basically I just took off the roughness where before, when I slid my finger over it, it would catch my skin. But now, my finger glides over it much more smoothly. We will see what happens.
Oh and @ 130K miles no sludge!! WHOO HOO!! Guess the previous owners at least changed the oil. Lol
I would probably shorten your OCI just a tad -- or switch to a better oil. That engine has more varnish than many other M54s, and it looks like you have sludge just starting to form on the intake side of the VANOS.
i dont think its "that" bad TBH IMO and i almost bought a vonos unit before to **** around with in the house to see the genitals of the damn thing
and it only cost me 30$ from a 528I tho
I'm at about 250 miles after the install. Car was down for 3 days due to fuel pump fail. Install of new pump went well and took about 20 minutes. So far, the car feels the same as before and drives just fine. Haven't opened her up all the way on the highway due to break in period but will next week.
Lol, why would their install instructions say 200 miles are needed to fully break in the seals for optimum performance. I've even seen him reply to someone's post telling them to post back after 200 miles.
yes, what he means is you have to wait 200 miles before expecting to see an improvement. So don't judge too quickly.
But you can drive your car like the wind immediately. Raj has even written that it helps to break in the seals faster.
Think about this; the seals do not rotate at camshaft speed. They just move in and out of the bore in response to the camshaft timing changes. Very slo linear speed.
That's the purpose of the thrust bearing. Camshaft rotates, pistons don't turn.
Oh I see what you mean. Sounds good. I'll give her a good romp on Monday. I'm really hoping that the upper end will be better. It seemed very laggy above 60 MPH before the seals.
just wondering what type of air filter you use? K&N, Fram, OEM...?
It seems like the K&N (and similar ones) let more dirt into the engine and cause dirtier oil.[/QUOTE]
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