[Subaru335i]

Originally Posted by norsairius

I thankfully haven't had any issues with my VANOS bolts (yet) and I'm hoping for them to get the parts soon. Some additional peace of mind never hurts!

As was mentioned in the recall letter I linked to, most reported issues seem to be with cars that have build dates between May-July 2010, so it looks like your car was in that group. So for your sake and mine, mostly yours, I hope the parts come in soon!

As for Motorwerks, a friend and I had some lackluster experiences with their sales staff on separate occasions, but I'm sure their service is great! I've been very happy with BMW of Minnetonka all around, but they're also not too far for me. Best to go with what's convenient especially if the service is great after all!

Gotta love the loaner vehicles too. I got a 320i loaner when my car was in to get the interior/exterior protection stuff worked up. It's a peppy little car. Speed feels on-par with the VW GTI I used to have. I still think the steering is way too light at low speeds but BMW did fix it so it's better as the car gets moving.

Yeah I have heard that about Motorwerks sales. I bought my car from Minnetonka and it was honestly the best car buying experience I have had. They were super low pressure and were willing to negotiate.

The 320i is surprisingly fun to beat on. Good low end torque from the little turbo and I have a new one with the fixed steering. In sport mode it feels ALMOST as good as the E9x hydraulic steering.

[JETmn]

I am pretty shocked how many of us from Minneapolis are on here! I think we are up to 7 or 8 now with an N55 (135 and 335). I use Minnetonka as well. I have been ok with their service, not extremely happy. If they deem something trivial then they seem to blow it off under CPO and not do anything with it.

Anyone else have issues with RDS in their cars? 93x never shows the artist/song title and it bugs me. A couple of stations will work ok, but most don't. My wife's Denali shows them all just great. Mine used to work until my DME got updated last year and then it stopped.

[norsairius]

Originally Posted by JETmn

I am pretty shocked how many of us from Minneapolis are on here! I think we are up to 7 or 8 now with an N55 (135 and 335). I use Minnetonka as well. I have been ok with their service, not extremely happy. If they deem something trivial then they seem to blow it off under CPO and not do anything with it.

Anyone else have issues with RDS in their cars? 93x never shows the artist/song title and it bugs me. A couple of stations will work ok, but most don't. My wife's Denali shows them all just great. Mine used to work until my DME got updated last year and then it stopped.

Yeah, I was going to say.... I've seen a lot of Minneapolis people as noted under their names on the left. That's pretty awesome! Maybe we should all meet up. Cars and Coffee next month (should probably start a thread in the regional forum)? Last one for this year!

Anyway, sorry to sidetrack. I'll update here if my dealership gets the parts in. If they don't call me by early October, I plan on calling them again. Edit: I'm not overly concerned since my car doesn't seem to fall in the range of build dates where they've seen the issue the most *knock on wood*, but again, additional peace of mind wouldn't hurt.

[Subaru335i]

Yeah lots of us here its crazy. MNBMW.com is pretty lame.

[JETmn]

Yeah that forum is pretty dead, the mnbmw facebook page isn't bad.

[DesertBMW]

updated bolts are actually bolts from N52 vanos units

[Subaru335i]

Just got the invoice from the dealership and I don't know if Im too happy about it. The description of the failure is pretty nasty and I don't really know what to think about the last part saying the found metal shavings in the oil pan...
In the subaru world I would never trust a block after finding metal shavings in the oil without a full rebuild! What do yall think?
At least the CPO is still active for another 52k miles.

Here is what the invoice says:
"C/S: CUSTOMER STATES CHECK ENGINE LIGHT AND HALF FILLEDENGI NE LIGHT ON IN VEHICLE. ADVISE. VEHICLE IS CURRENTLY
RUNNING AT TAD ROUGH UNDER ACCELERATION.
FAULTY BOLTS IN EXHAUST VANOS GEAR ASSEMBLIES
REFERNECE SI B12 14 12 00-00-006(4)61-21-528(1)61-00-006(4) TP
21M/43S 11-36-546(55) 11-13-505(38) 11-36-01-37-00DL
1) CONNECTED BATTERY CHARGER AND PERFORMED VEHICLE
TEST. FOUND FAULTS 2D54 AND 2D60 FOR EXHAUST VANOS. 2)
FOLLOWED TEST PLAN FOR VANOS. INSPECTED VANOS AND
FOUND EXHAUST VANOS GEAR ASSEMBLY SEPERATED.
REFERENCED SI B12 14 12 WHICH INSTRUCTS TO REPLACE BOTH
VANOS GEAR ASSEMBLIES. 3,4,5&6) REMOVED VALVE COVER AND
INPECTED VANOS GEARS. FOUND EXHAUST VANOS GEAR TO HAVE
THREE BOLTS BACK OUT AND ONE BOLT WITH A BROKEN OFF
HEAD. INSPECTE CYLINDER HEAD AND TIMING CHAIN FOR MISSING
BOLT HEAD. BOLT HEAD NOT FOUND. REMOVED OIL PAN AND
EXTRACTED BROKEN BOLT HEAD FROM OIL PAN. INSTALLED NEW
GASKET AND REINSTALLED OIL PAN. REPLACED BOTH VANOS
GEARS AND RETIMED ENGINE. REINSTALLED VALVE COVER WITH
NEW GASKET. FILLED ENGINE WITH NEW OIL DUE TO METAL
SHAVINGS FOUND IN OLD OIL. CLEARED FAULT MEMORY AND TEST
DROVE VEHICLE. VEHICLE OPERATION NORMAL.
Qty Part Number Description Unit Total
1 BM11-12-7-587-804 PROFILE-GASKET WARRANTY
1 BM11-37-7-502-022 GASKET-FLANGE WARRANTY
1 BM11-36-7-524-954 COLLAR SCREW WARRANTY
1 BM11-36-7-583-208 ADJUSTMENT UNIT, OU WARRANTY
1 BM11-36-7-583-207 ADJUSTMENT UNIT, IN WARRANTY
1 BM11-13-7-600-482 PROFILE-GASKET WARRANTY
1 BM11-13-2-210-959 SET OF ALUMINIUM SC WARRANTY
1 BM11-13-7-559-537 TORX SCREW WARRANTY
1 BM11-13-7-582-340 TORX SCREW WARRANTY
1 BM12-61-1-744-292 GASKET RING WARRANTY
TOTAL PARTS: 0.00
Misc Code Description Unit Total
W1 C.P.O WARRANTY DEDUCTIBLE 50.00
TOTAL MISC: 50.00

[Sidewinderpb]

Originally Posted by Subaru335i

Just got the invoice from the dealership and I don't know if Im too happy about it. The description of the failure is pretty nasty and I don't really know what to think about the last part saying the found metal shavings in the oil pan...
In the subaru world I would never trust a block after finding metal shavings in the oil without a full rebuild! What do yall think?
At least the CPO is still active for another 52k miles.

That sounded ugly. At least you're CPO'd for quite some time. If something does happen, it's on them.

[Subaru335i]

Originally Posted by Sidewinderpb

That sounded ugly. At least you're CPO'd for quite some time. If something does happen, it's on them.

Yeah thank god. Also there is written evidence that there was metal flakes floating around in my oil so if my engine does go there shouldn't be any question about the cause.

Its just ironic that my big turbo subaru (notoriously weak engine) has had less problems than the much newer bmw.

[Sidewinderpb]

Originally Posted by Subaru335i

Yeah thank god. Also there is written evidence that there was metal flakes floating around in my oil so if my engine does go there shouldn't be any question about the cause.

Its just ironic that my big turbo subaru (notoriously weak engine) has had less problems than the much newer bmw.

Yeah you're covered. I feel your pain though, mine has been nothing but problems since day one. Never had any real problems with my wrx

[Subaru335i]

Update:
I got the car back from the dealer and they said there wasn't metal flakes in the oil, just the missing bolt head in one piece.
I talked to the master tech that worked on my car and he said they just had to explicitly write that the oil is contaminated or BMW corporate tells them to reuse the motor oil when they had to drop my pan.
It doesn't surprise me, BMW reeeeally doesn't like to waste motor oil lol. With the 15-20k mile oil change intervals they tell people.

[divisionbell77]

Originally Posted by Subaru335i

Yeah thank god. Also there is written evidence that there was metal flakes floating around in my oil so if my engine does go there shouldn't be any question about the cause.

Its just ironic that my big turbo subaru (notoriously weak engine) has had less problems than the much newer bmw.

Weak engine? Subaru's are some of the most reliable engines out there, and not just in vehicles. When I by lawn mowers, snow blowers, etc, if I can't get a Honda built engine, I look for a Subaru.

BMW is one of the least reliable cars out there. Add in boosted engines, and its just gotten worse.

[Sidewinderpb]

Originally Posted by divisionbell77

Weak engine? Subaru's are some of the most reliable engines out there, and not just in vehicles. When I by lawn mowers, snow blowers, etc, if I can't get a Honda built engine, I look for a Subaru.

BMW is one of the least reliable cars out there. Add in boosted engines, and its just gotten worse.

I think he's talking about running full bolt ons and a big turbo on the stock block. Many haven't faired too well.

Was the lawn mower running a big turbo?

[Subaru335i]

Originally Posted by divisionbell77

Weak engine? Subaru's are some of the most reliable engines out there, and not just in vehicles. When I by lawn mowers, snow blowers, etc, if I can't get a Honda built engine, I look for a Subaru.

BMW is one of the least reliable cars out there. Add in boosted engines, and its just gotten worse.

Haha yeah subaru makes VERY reliable airplane engines, lawnmower engines, and NA car engines... but EXTREMELY unreliable turbo car engines. People crack pistons and burn valves in wrx/sti's even completely stock.
Their NA engines are good.

[GB-335xiCoupe]

Originally Posted by Subaru335i

Haha yeah subaru makes VERY reliable airplane engines, lawnmower engines, and NA car engines... but EXTREMELY unreliable turbo car engines. People crack pistons and burn valves in wrx/sti's even completely stock.
Their NA engines are good.

Probably because of how the owners drive their WRX/STi's.

[Subaru335i]

Originally Posted by GB-335xiCoupe

Probably because of how the owners drive their WRX/STi's.

You are not wrong. I beat mine like a red headed stepchild
400whp on the stock block still but that's a lot more than they normally take without popping a piston. 80k miles and kicking lol

[DesertBMW]

I removed the valve cover to replace the valvetronic servo it was bad, I checked the vanos bolts and they were all there and fine. I wonder if dealer would let me do the work and just give me two vanos units and a gasket for free?

[Andy335i]

my VANOS bolts broke couple weeks ago, dealer fixed it, but they did a terrible job fixing my car, now its chocking when I'm at red light or when in in park, I called dealer couple of times but they do not wanna look at my car because it's not under the warranty.....they want 2 bills to check my car

[jobe]

SO car is currently with the dealer here in the UK for the VANOS recall.

Apparently they broke some pipe clips or something, useless...anyway a 2 day job is now going to take 7 as they have to wait for arts from Deutschland .

Hopefully they have not effed anything up top bad!

[norsairius]

Anyone had any luck with the necessary parts arriving at their respective dealerships yet?

[Buttertits]

Originally Posted by norsairius

Anyone had any luck with the necessary parts arriving at their respective dealerships yet?

I actually just had my VANOS recall performed out here in AZ. My driver side air vents started blow ambient temp air (passenger side was cold still...) so i brought the car in. Wrote it up for my issue and then said he should have parts to complete the recall so he would include that.

A new evaporator and new VANOS bolts, i'm happy.

[norsairius]

Originally Posted by Buttertits

I actually just had my VANOS recall performed out here in AZ. My driver side air vents started blow ambient temp air (passenger side was cold still...) so i brought the car in. Wrote it up for my issue and then said he should have parts to complete the recall so he would include that.

A new evaporator and new VANOS bolts, i'm happy.

Glad it could get taken care of! Would you happen to be able to get the part number(s) on the bolts somehow? I'm curious to see and I'm sure others would like to know too!