E36 Evo tickover noise

[aasc]

Hi all,
Looked at one of these over the weekend - was surprised at the noise it made at tickover - sounded almost diesel like - should they sound like this or is there something amiss?

many thanks,
SC

[Broccers]

VANOS

[aasc]

I thought that VANOS problems were more of a "growl" rather than diesel-like rattle? Should I buy or stay clear?!

Actuzally - how does a VANOS failure manifest - is it total failure or a gradual decline?
ta.

Edited by aasc on Tuesday 20th June 11:42

[m3john]

aasc said:

I thought that VANOS problems were more of a "growl" rather than diesel-like rattle?

You'll find that all the M3's do rattle a bit. Your right in saying that they do growl....if they were gone you'd DEFINATLY know it. My VANOS units are quite healthy, the car runs like a dream and it still does rattle and growl a bit.

aasc said:

Actuzally - how does a VANOS failure manifest - is it total failure or a gradual decline?

As far as i'm aware, and i'm sure i'll be corrected if i'm wrong here but, the VANOS units just fail and not decline. What causes them to fail is a rather small filter that gets clogged up.

Give Highams Park Motor Co. a call on 0208-523-3443. These guys are an indipendent BMW specialist and are all ex-BMW master technicans, so they really know there stuff. They deal with both my BMW's and are very helpful.

Hope this is of any help,

M3John.

[aasc]

magic - will give them a bell in the morning