[gica]

As the title says the bolt to the intake camshaft broke (broken piece still in the camshaft) and of course car died, it was on the street going slow, it started to run a bit bad and then it just died, tried to turn a few times and nothing. Then noticed the lower part of the engine was spinning but camshaft was not.


So my next step is to find a factory manual if possible and buy the gear and camshaft, install it get the timing tool and install it back then take compression. I need to know if the valves were affected on this. The car had the lower return hose break while driving and adding water every 10 miles or so it made it to my sons friends house where he left it overnight. He was actually monitoring using the oil temp. that was at 190 to 250F, when he would add water. The hose was replaced and the issue with the camshaft bolt snapping happened the next day after restart. Was running a bit like there was a leak in the exhaust. he drove it up and down the street and upon stopping the car died.
So this is where I am at with the car. In order to check timing I need to fix this issue first and then take timing on all six.
Any ideas on the valves if they are affected by this?
Timing chain is fine. Very odd that the bolt snapped. Don't know if it's a coincidence or direct result.

[gica]

Wanted to mention that the plastics on BMWs are shit. I have never seen such bad manufacturing on any car. They are ridiculous, probably from the engine temps, but the plastics in these cars actually cook to the point when they shatter. Really shitty from reputable maker to have this issue. I guess the only solution is to change all the hoses at 75k miles, and intake hoses also.

Wanted to mention that the chain guide also broke and luckily it's built to be replaced without having to take out the head.

[e91Owner]

Would this be covered by the vanos bolt recall warranty extension? Hard to tell which bolt sheared off in the photos.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2011/B...RWD#recalls394

[gica]

Originally Posted by e91Owner

Would this be covered by the vanos bolt recall warranty extension? Hard to tell which bolt sheared off in the photos.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2011/B...RWD#recalls394

None of the Vanos bolts broke it was the main bolt holding the gear that broke. And since I opened it I doubt anything is covered anyways.

[gica]

It's the intake side sorry for the late reply

[gica]

Wanted to ask opinion on HVA valve lifters. First of all RealOem shows different numbers for intake
11337548690 vs exhaust 11337605330. I measure length width depth etc. and the ones I took off my car are the same. Same for the roller drag lever that the lifter head snaps onto. Anybody knows what the deal is?

The second issue is which way is the lifter supposed to be good, when pressed 4 on exhaust side are really hard or impossible to press in, in the dropbox video below you will notice how it only goes in very little
The rest( all intake and most exhaust except the 4 mentioned above) do press in and come back out from the spring action. In all the way
I called the dealer to check on the 11337605330 exhaust side which they have in stock and the guy said the one he tested did not push in. How is that possible as the pictures of the inside of the lifter show it is pretty simple a spring, a piston and the top with the head and a circlip that pushes on the piston.



Unless there is oil in it it should move up and down freely. If there is sludge built up then there should be resistance. I should go to the dealer and check it myself.
I filmed it also to show movement. Let me know what you think on both issues.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e24vvwwazy...20610.mp4?dl=0

[F31B48]

Highly likely you will have bent valves on top of this damage which will require the cylinder head to be removed, and all those broken bits of plastic will be in the sump and will block the oil pickup if they're not removed. Might be cheaper to fit a 2nd hand engine.

[gica]

So, I finally finished the job, it took several months but I did quit working on it for a few months and time flew by. I did a complete rebuild on the car.
The car was first restarted 2 days ago, and it started right up everything was fine until it wasn't, the idle started to drop and the car to run rough. I kind of expected it since the reason for the rebuild was that the oil overheated to a point when it became a ball if carbon literally. Every ounce of oil was bunched up together into a ball at the bottom of the oil pan. I personally have never seen that before. I will show a picture of it so you guys can witness it.
So rough idling I immediately thought Vanos Solenoids. I have cleaned the crud off the solenoids beforehand, but they still did not both work effectively. Took them out again and recleaned them and actually took measurements in Ohms at 11.3 ohms each and used 12v to activate them which they did. Recleaned and put them back 2 or 3 times. The codes were all Vanos related, which triggered the coils to show misfire on all cylinders. So, after a few times, I finally got the carto run really smooth. I even took out thew oil sensor from the filter housing and cleaned it up. Was getting a code for that too. Cleared it right up. Slowly the misfire codes disappeared. But one more thing to point out the filter cap has an insert that seals the filter housing from the oil pan. Well, when I removed my old filter crudded as it was it took the insert with it to the trash. And I did not realize how important that was until I saw a YouTube video mentioning the issues you could go through if you drive it that way. So, I bought one from the local dealer. Now the car is running super smooth only one code is left. 2A85 which is the outlet solenoid so exhaust. The thing is it only registers a code on restart within 20 seconds. If I erase the code while the car is running it doesn't come back. The intake solenoid is not throwing any codes anymore.
So as soon as I start the car within 15 seconds the RPM goes from 850 to 1100 really briefly, like instantly and the code registers. It only happens once after every restart. It's a cold start deal. 2A85. Any thought on it? Some say to drive the car for a few days after cleaning the solenoids and only then to change it or them.

Here's the picture of all pictures, i know many of you have never seen this type of mess and hopefully never will!

[F31B48]

Did you remove the VANOS filters/check valves and clean them? They are located on the exhaust side of the cylinder head. (Not to be confused with VANOS solenoids) If the engine was overheated that bad i would probably replace them as they are inexpensive.

[gica]

Yeah, I did that I actually removed the filters from the old head and from the replacement, cleaned and kept the best-looking ones. The solenoids are also super clean and the code I get is only for the exhaust one. And only on each start. It idles then I get brief surge or something, but it sounds more like a semi cut off, half a second and smooth as can be afterwards.

[F31B48]

Originally Posted by gica

Yeah, I did that I actually removed the filters from the old head and from the replacement, cleaned and kept the best-looking ones. The solenoids are also super clean and the code I get is only for the exhaust one. And only on each start. It idles then I get brief surge or something, but it sounds more like a semi cut off, half a second and smooth as can be afterwards.

Have you tried swapping the solenoids around?