new to me, 98 M3

cpandrewschmidt

thanks guys. Will do tonight and report back. I found it strange that cylinder 6 now had a misfire as well. I didn't check for a dripping injector unfortunately.

B C

There are a lot of variables in play so dont think too much of it until you clear adaptations and try again. Cyl 6 may have a good plug, good injector, but may be misfiring because of the extra lean/extra rich fuel trim on bank 2.

It would be best to send the injectors out for rebuild for peace of mind. I had a good experience and turnaround with Injector Rehab.

Jdesign

Not sure what style injectors you have, but you can always check them quickly yourself with a battery and some carb/injector cleaner.

cpandrewschmidt

Cleared codes and reset DME this AM. Took to work today. Start up was rough again, smoothed out after normal driving. Although I feel even after warm up the sound of the exhaust is a little sputtery. Pulled the same misfire codes on 2 and 6 and cat efficiency codes. No mixture deviation yet, but that might come on with more driving I suspect.

B C

Going to send the injectors off for rebuild then?

cpandrewschmidt

Yeah. I'll start there for piece of mind. Still think it could be my vanos job. I've been reading about more steps on that and some people swear by having to test is with air for correct chain movement before buttoning up. But, not too expensive to ship off the injectors so taking those off tonight. Using this guy. I've emailed with him. http://injectorrepair.com/flow-testing-process/

B C

Did you use a dummy chain tensioner tool when you did your cam timing?

The fun part about my build is its OBD1 with no check engine light so if my engine runs funny then I don't get too many hints as to what it may be. Here is to hoping I fire mine up within the next month and it is perfect, and that yours is just some crummy injectors.

cpandrewschmidt

Snap said:

Did you use a dummy chain tensioner tool when you did your cam timing?

The fun part about my build is its OBD1 with no check engine light so if my engine runs funny then I don't get too many hints as to what it may be. Here is to hoping I fire mine up within the next month and it is perfect, and that yours is just some crummy injectors.

all i used for the tensioner tool was pressed down on the upper tensioner and then inserted a small nail into the hole to hold it down so the chain had slack. That's what the beisan instructions lead me to believe is all i had to do. http://www.beisansystems.com/procedures/vanos_single_procedure.htm

B C

Aha, okay. I replaced my cams and therefore had to remove the primary exhaust sprocket. You wouldn't have had to mess with the chain tensioner on the passenger side of the head. disregard.

cpandrewschmidt

Got to do some fun stuff while waiting for my injectors to come back from testing. Painted the spoilerless trunk i found at the junk yard. Still need to wet-sand clear coat tonight. Hopefully it comes out OK and matches well.

Jdesign

Looks good to me!

Image result for piece of cake

cpandrewschmidt

well damn. Injector guy just called back after testing. Said they're 100% fine. Figured since they really only have about 27k miles on them.

Looks like I'll be trying my vanos job one more time. Really isn't anything else I can test at this point. Gotta track down that air tool to test chain movement that I'm reading about online. Can't find it anywhere.

Jdesign

Damn thats a bummer.

cpandrewschmidt

I'm about to tackle this vanos yet again tonight. This time with compressed air. I'm seeing conflicting info online on the procedure though.

1. Do I keep the cam lock blocks on?
2. Loosen the exhaust torx bolts a bit?
3. Lastly, do you put tension back on the chain?

If anyone knows for sure that'd be great! Thanks

B C

Disclaimer: I am just spitballing. I don't even have a running 24v engine and cannot say for sure that I even did my own timing and VANOS correctly. I might be a complete idiot:

1. EDIT, After thinking about it some more: you dont want the cam lock blocks on

2. I would dial the pressure regulator on your air compressor down to 55-60psi since that's approximately the oil system operating pressure and you don't want to hit it with excess pressure if you don't have to. I would run the test with the exhaust torx bolts as-is just to check for movment to make sure it is actually able to move. After that, I would remove the exhaust torx bolts, remove the washer plate (green star) then replace the exhaust torx bolts loosely without the washer plate installed so you can see the slots on the sprocket and verify the full range of motion (how the bolt aligns with the slot, ensuring the vanos movement uses the full span of the slots).

3. I would run the tests with the chain tensioners all in place as if the engine is running to replicate how things are moving in reality.

in addition, I would check to see if the arrows on your primary and secondary exhaust sprockets are both pointing to roughly 12:00/upward at TDC like the blue arrows indicate (as opposed to 3:00, 6:00, or 9:00 like the red arrow shows). I haven't measured or confirmed anything but I have a suspicion that those arrows exist because the slots are machined relative to the sprocket teeth and may not be totally symmetrical when installed 90, 180, or 270 degrees out.

cpandrewschmidt

Thanks Snap. That's pretty much the same response I got on the M3 forums. I'll let you all know how it goes.

"Locks on
E-torx loose
Chain tension yes

The idea is to set the position (air on, solenoid off) to lock the exhaust torx down. The same thing you did when attempting by hand. You also get to see the movement range while cycling on/off several times on the solenoid before finishing with off to tighten the torx. "

cpandrewschmidt

Hey all,

So working on this right now tonight. I followed the steps above (cam locks, backed off torx bolts, tension on chain). I wanted to check chain movement before uninstalling vanos just to see where it was at. Applying pressure and activating the solenoid the chain didn't budge. You can hear the vanos make a blurping noise and the cylinder with the gear moves in and out just a little bit. Appears the solenoid is fine as it clearly does something when voltage is applied to it.

So, figured it was installed wrong, uninstalled and re-installed. Same thing. I'm very careful to make sure I'm catching the 1st possible gear.

I'm surprised that 60 psi is going to move the chain. It's hard enough to move the chain clockwise with the cam gear wrench. Doesn't seem like anything will move with the CAM blocks on.

I took a video but not sure how to post a video. I'll try to figure that out. If anyone has any ideas in the meantime please let me know.

cpandrewschmidt

got a video on you tube. you can see the vanos gear thing twitch with I apply voltage to it on and off

B C

I just realized you need to test it with the cam locks off. The cam phasing wont change with them locked together (duh)

cpandrewschmidt

well, didn't make a difference with cam locks off. Same thing. I've taken the whole thing apart again and reinstalled. Same problem. Took the vanos apart to check seals and inside. Those all seem fine.

Perhaps my rig for applying air? Should I not have the oil feed line attach? I have an aftermarket oil pressure guage that tees off that, so mine is a bit different. I was able to get a hose clamp attached to that. Air doesn't leak and does go through even with the kink. Other end just connected to the compressor with 60 psi. I do hear air coming out from somewhere under the exhaust cam gear. I assume oil feeds into the head somewhere in there. But air pressure definitely escapes through there.

WIBIMMERS

new to me, 98 M3