[StradaRedlands]

Words of wisdom there doit659!

[doit659]

Well, I am not arguing with you. I understand your approach.

I was speculating on why BMW would suggest the procedure is to drop the oil pan, which is their recommended procedure for the recall.

Actually, I have a question for you.

I have watched videos of guys rebuilding BMW engines and they are like surgeons not wanting a piece of lint polluting the engine.

How can some VANOS bolts shear off and drop all the way down to the oil pan and not rip up the engine, especially the cam shafts?

I would think random pieces of bolt heads whipping off the VANOS would damage the engine before they fell into the oil pan.

Also, how possibly could those bolt heads travel from the valve cover down to the oil pan?

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

I'll ask a dumb question. Why does the pan need to come off to find the broken bolt heads? If it was my car I'd get a borescope and look around for them then fish them out with a magnetic tool. The oil sensor hole is plenty big enough to get either tool in the pan to search for and fish the broken parts out.

The Vanos bolts are aluminum so a magnetic tool won’t help... And, there’s deep crevasses in the oil pan that may make a scope tool usage problematic.

[doit659]

Ok, that's all good information which I didn't know.

But why don't these bolts shearing off, even if aluminum, tear up the engine on their way down to the oil pan? Are they just softer metal than the camshaft, manifolds, etc.?