‘ VANOS showed the world that reliable and effective variable cam timing could be added to massproduced engines’
HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE …
faulty BMW VANOS
The silky smoothness typical of a BMW engine isn’ t evident when there are VANOS issues. With Hack Engineering’ s Managing Director, Ben Koflach, we discuss what the system is, what goes wrong and how to fix it
WHERE DO THE PROBLEMS OCCUR?
In BMW’ s variable camshaft timing system, called Variable Nockenwellensteuerung( VANOS). BMW wasn’ t the first manufacturer to add variable camshaft timing to its engines. Still, VANOS showed the world that reliable and effective cam timing alterations could be added to mass-produced engines.
BMW’ s S54 straight-six uses VANOS on both the inlet and exhaust cams
‘ VANOS showed the world that reliable and effective variable cam timing could be added to massproduced engines’
It first appeared in 1992 with the M50TÜB25 engine as found in the E36 325i and E34 525i – the TÜ denoting the Technical Update from the existing M50, which had fixed camshaft timing. The M50TÜ featured a VANOS unit capable of switching between two camshaft timing positions, which it did using an ECU-controlled solenoid, allowing engine oil pressure into and out of the VANOS unit. Application of oil pressure actuated a piston, which in turn advanced the inlet camshaft using an angled-splined shaft. This shaft’ s
58 The Engine Rebuilder Issue 01