E46 Double Vanos Seals DIY and Impressions
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TechTranscript
00:30Okay, so what you want to do is you want to protect all the areas down around here
00:41from oil, because when we undo these, oil is going to come pouring out, okay?
00:46So that's caught more than one person off guard before.
00:49So first thing is to cover that.
00:50I used a plastic bag and I covered all the belts and then I stuffed some rags down in
00:54here, which I'm going to put some more of up in there somewhere, and then I put an oil
00:58pan all the way down on the other side, okay?
01:02So this is the vanos system that needs to come out.
01:05We've got those bolts underneath, one, two, I think there's six of them, I'll tell you
01:12what size they are in a minute.
01:13This guy needs to come out here, okay, so this can swing out of the way.
01:17This banjo bolt right here needs to come out, I've already started backing that one out
01:20and I imagine oil is going to come pouring out when I do that, so I'm going to protect
01:22that as well.
01:23Okay, so let's take all these bolts out and then actually undo the center part here of
01:29the vanos system.
01:30Okay, so I'm going to protect my coolant hose here, I'm going to undo that banjo bolt, yeah,
01:39it looks like oil is going to come out, oh, not much actually, it's not too bad.
01:47Let's move that up and out of the way, being gentle with everything.
01:52That is a 10, that's just a nut, okay, I'm going to drop it, keep track of your bolts,
02:17you really don't want to be mixing this stuff up, it'll be probably pretty obvious where
02:23everything goes back on, but you just don't know.
02:27Okay, this bolt down here has a washer on it, okay, so it goes together, crack it, okay,
02:43it looks like, yeah, that is another 13 on the other side of this, okay.
02:57By the way, I have my car up on ramps, so it's just easier, I don't have to bend over
03:01so far, it's worth it, take the time.
03:06This kind of screws right out, I'm just going to screw that in the hole.
03:14There, now it's all in place.
03:24Okay, put these together now so that you don't lose them.
03:30Okay, now we've got these guys underneath here, two there, over there.
03:40Alright, that is an 8mm.
03:48Make sure you're keeping constant pressure on this end, as you do not want to strip these, right?
03:54Lefty-loosey.
04:02Okay, I'm going to get a paper towel, it's coming out.
04:16Okay, well, maybe my engine's tilted back.
04:24Nothing here is really forced down that much, so you shouldn't really have a hard time getting
04:32stuff undone.
04:39There's the oil.
04:41Yep.
04:45Don't drop important things.
04:49So much oil.
04:54It's all good.
05:03These come out really easy.
05:05Turns out I hit these with PB Blaster, just because.
05:08Always do.
05:24There we go.
05:40A little guy down here, too.
05:43That one.
05:54There we go.
06:04A little clip, okay.
06:06I believe the Vanos kit gives you a new O-ring for these, which I will replace.
06:17Okay, so this was a T30 Torx, okay?
06:21I had to find a little bit that fit in my little holder here.
06:24And these are reverse-threaded, so you actually tighten them to loosen them.
06:28Okay, so you turn that way.
06:30Okay, so I'm going to put, I'm going to take this off here.
06:33This guy in here, all the way back in.
06:37Make sure these are sitting well, right?
06:39You don't want to, you really don't want to strip these.
06:43Yep, there we go.
06:45Okay, and more oil is coming out, obviously.
06:51Alright.
06:55Oh, no.
07:06There we go.
07:09Okay, now the whole Vanos unit can just come straight back out.
07:13Assuming that I've managed to remove all of the things that are holding it on.
07:17Yep, there we go.
07:20It's...
07:23There we go.
07:25That, oil, oil, all the oil.
07:28Let's move over to the workbench.
07:32Okay, now we are looking at the Vanos unit on the table.
07:35Protect the area.
07:37Oil will still leak out, and we don't want to damage any of these things.
07:40Okay, so we've got the intake piston, or yeah, intake piston's in here.
07:44Exhaust piston is in here.
07:46So, when the pistons come out, after these covers come off,
07:48then just keep them lined up.
07:50I think they're interchangeable, but let's not mess around anyway, right?
07:53So these, I already loosened that one to see.
07:56These are not that hard.
08:05One of these is spring-loaded.
08:07Don't remember which one it is, so I'm going to be careful with both.
08:11Like there's a spring in there.
08:14Now, once again, I'm only doing the seals, not the whole Vanos rebuild.
08:18So I'm just going to take the pistons out, replace the seals,
08:20and then put everything back.
08:29That's annoying.
08:40Careful.
08:42And there we go.
08:45There's the spring on the inside.
08:48It looks like that's wider on the bottom, higher on the top,
08:52so make sure the wider part goes back to the front direction.
08:56Let's not forget that, shall we?
09:02And there is the piston itself.
09:05So I'm going to clean these up when I get that one out,
09:08and we'll come back and I'll show you how to do the seal.
09:11Again, that's very hardened and flattened,
09:14and that is why, potentially, Vanos wasn't working properly.
09:18See, that's got a lot of play in it right there.
09:23OK, let's take the other one out.
09:41There we go.
09:58Alright, let's clean everything up.
10:00OK, so I removed the seals from this piston using the method that they recommended,
10:04which I'm not a big fan of because, if you're not careful with the blade,
10:09you're going to score the edges here, and you don't want to do that.
10:13So these do go in here, and they're not carefully machined,
10:17they're more about the seal that creates, the actual seal,
10:20the new ones I'm putting in that creates the seal.
10:22Not that big of a deal, but my O-ring and the outer seal was incredibly stiff.
10:27Look at that.
10:29That's just rock solid.
10:32And they weren't sealing at all, so I'm excited to see how much different
10:36the car is going to feel when I get these in.
10:38OK, so the method that they tell you to do, very, very careful, obviously.
10:42Exacto knife, just with a rocking motion,
10:47cut right through like that.
10:50OK, careful not to go right to the edge,
10:54where the other part is.
11:01And both sides.
11:04And then it comes out pretty easily.
11:07Alright, that's one part, and the next one is on the inside,
11:09this one's a little more difficult to be careful with.
11:14If you had a newer set, you could probably just use an O-ring puller
11:18and reach in there, but mine are so rock solid that...
11:24I can't do that, I have to cut them.
11:30Careful.
11:33OK, so once you have the O-rings off here,
11:37there's a little one there, a little one here,
11:39you need to put the new ones on.
11:41So the brown ones from your Bison Systems kit
11:45goes on the small part, OK?
11:48Pretty easy to get on.
11:50I'm going to just use a little bit of oil,
11:52which I did have sitting around here in the tray a second ago.
11:55Anyway, it'll still pop on pretty easily because there's still oil on these.
11:58These are the exterior seals, they're a little bit harder.
12:01I just soaked them in warm water to loosen them up,
12:03and then you put a little bit of oil on them
12:05to get them a little bit slicker so that you can put them on.
12:08The way that I did this, I didn't have to stretch them or anything.
12:11I just kind of hooked the one side on here, make sure they don't stretch,
12:16and then I just worked it all the way around, right?
12:19Just be careful with it.
12:21You don't want to hurt the seal, obviously.
12:31Just wanted to get it over the lip.
12:37Almost there. There we go.
12:41OK, and then straighten it out if you can.
12:49OK, now there's a procedure we have to do.
12:51We have to actually put it in this thing and let it sit for a minute
12:55so that it seats the seal properly.
13:00We'll do that in a second, but let's put the seals on the other side first.
13:06OK, so brown O-ring is in there already.
13:11A little bag of water here.
13:16Wipe it off.
13:19A little bit of oil on it.
13:26OK, just seat one side.
13:30And then we will work it around.
13:34Goes on fairly easy.
13:38Yeah, there we go.
13:40Sits in.
13:42The warm water really helps, I think.
13:44I tried it before and it didn't really want to go.
13:47These are a little bit more finicky.
13:50The small one.
13:52Again, you don't want to fold it over.
13:54You don't want to twist it, you don't want it folded.
13:57Good, OK.
14:00I'm going to push this one into this piston.
14:03The way you do this is you put it on an angle like that
14:06and then you rotate it in.
14:10Turn it. No.
14:15There it is.
14:17And in.
14:19OK, just let it sit there.
14:21Let it heat itself properly.
14:23Do the same on this side.
14:27I'm going to get a little bit of oil on it.
14:32There we go. That's in.
14:34Let that sit there.
14:365-10 minutes and I'm going to go get something to drink.
14:39Be right back.
14:41Alright, these have sat for a little while.
14:43So I'm just going to spin them out of here.
14:45OK, and yeah.
14:47See, that looks like it's seated very well now.
14:49I'm going to put a little bit of oil on this one here.
14:53I'm going to get it into this.
14:56OK, on an angle.
14:58Like I said.
15:00I'm going to work it in.
15:02That went in really easy.
15:04OK, this one's going to come out.
15:09OK, that's seated well.
15:12A little bit of oil on this one now.
15:18And yeah, that's a nice tight fit.
15:21Good.
15:23OK, I'm just going to leave that there.
15:26Sit for a little while. Make sure those are seated.
15:28And I'll check them after.
15:30I also replaced...
15:32A little O-ring came with these for these caps here.
15:34The things we pulled out when we were taking the vanos off.
15:36With a little brown O-ring.
15:38Cut the old one out.
15:40Done. OK.
15:42Pretty much ready to go and put it back together.
15:44I'm just going to let these sit.
15:46OK, let's put everything back together.
15:48I cleaned all the mating surfaces with brake cleaner.
15:50OK, and wiped them off.
15:53I put a thin coat of oil
15:55on all of these walls here.
15:57Around here.
15:59On that side.
16:07Make sure you have the corresponding
16:09side, obviously.
16:13Let's make these back together here.
16:20That goes in nicely.
16:22OK.
16:24Now our exhaust spring is there, right?
16:26So let's just, first of all,
16:28make sure we figure out
16:30exactly which way this goes.
16:40OK.
16:42That is...
16:44OK.
16:50Yeah, OK.
16:52So that's how, actually, the oil accesses.
16:54That's cool.
16:56So it gets pumped in through that seal right there.
16:58Anyway, so the spring goes down.
17:00Make sure you put this on and line that up.
17:02OK.
17:04Now we're going to compress.
17:07Compress.
17:13Screw in there.
17:15Keep pressure down.
17:37OK.
17:45Now I'm going to torque these in a second.
17:47It is 10 newton meters.
17:49OK.
17:51So, first,
17:53ratchet them down.
17:55I'm going to go in a criss-cross pattern when I tighten them.
17:57Finally, right?
17:59Don't go too tight.
18:01We need to torque them down.
18:03I'm still compressing the spring
18:05at this point.
18:09It's snugged up.
18:15Still compressing the spring.
18:17There we go.
18:23OK.
18:25Let's do our torque.
18:27This is already set to 10 newton meters.
18:33There's the click.
18:43Click.
18:47Click.
18:51There we go.
18:53OK.
18:55Now check
18:57the walls of the cylinders again.
18:59Make sure there's no debris in there, right?
19:01I'm actually going to wipe this out
19:03just because I'm paranoid.
19:05I'm going to put another fresh coat of oil
19:07in there.
19:11This side here.
19:13OK.
19:21I don't wear gloves for stuff like this.
19:23Normally I just wash my hands after.
19:25I know it's not super good for your hands
19:27sometimes with the different chemicals and whatnot
19:30but I really like to be precise
19:32with what I'm doing.
19:34I don't like to bully things.
19:36OK.
19:38We're going to push the
19:40cylinder back into that
19:44just like before.
19:46Careful.
19:50All the way in.
19:52That extra hole there
19:54goes on that side.
19:56Clicked in.
19:58Yep.
20:00This one's easy. There's no spring.
20:18Oil on my
20:20ignition coil. Be careful.
20:28OK.
20:30There. That's good.
20:32I torque these down 10 foot pounds
20:34and then we're going to
20:36reinstall
20:38the unit
20:40back onto the
20:42top. OK.
20:46Click.
20:58Click.
21:00Click.
21:02Click.
21:04Click.
21:06Click.
21:08Click.
21:10There we go.
21:12OK. And this unit is ready
21:14to go back in.
21:16OK. So I'm going to put it
21:18back in the car.
21:20After the bulk goes in, these little
21:22clips here click in the
21:24hole and they just seal and click in.
21:26There's still oil pouring out.
21:28Where's it even coming from? Come on!
21:30You think you get it all
21:32and then you just haven't.
21:34I made a mess of everything.
21:36I did that.
21:38OK. Let's put it back
21:40in the car.
21:42OK. So I'm going to
21:44replace this gasket here
21:46because it was beaten up and you should anyway.
21:48So I cleaned these surfaces with some brake cleaner
21:50and wiped it off very carefully.
21:52I'm going to go get the gasket and I'll be right back.
21:56OK. So the new gasket goes on
21:58on top of these.
22:08Like that.
22:10Make sure it's seated nicely.
22:16And make sure we light up all of the bolts.
22:18It just slides back on
22:20just like that.
22:26OK.
22:38No one is stopping you
22:40from going on.
22:52Oh!
22:55OK. Another thing that's very important
22:57I've heard of this. I didn't do it myself.
22:59Don't touch any of the belts. Don't turn over the engine.
23:01Don't turn the crank or anything
23:03when you have this off because it messes up
23:05what's going on with the actual valves.
23:07OK. So be very careful of that.
23:09I don't know exactly what or why happens
23:11but just don't touch anything.
23:13Simple answer. Cool.
23:15All right. Let's put
23:17the bolts
23:19back in here
23:21which were these little guys.
23:23OK. Remember they were a
23:25small Torx.
23:27OK. And they're reverse threaded
23:29so that means I'm going to loosen them
23:31to reinstall them.
23:49Things are going well so far.
23:51Very rare.
23:53OK. Let's
23:55put all the bolts in here
23:57including the stud bolt.
23:59These only get torqued down
24:01to 8
24:03Newton meters.
24:058 Newton meters. OK.
24:07So
24:09nothing serious there.
24:17And you're supposed to tighten them
24:19in a crisscross pattern, OK,
24:21to evenly work this on
24:23and lay it down properly.
24:25I'm just going to thread all of these first.
24:49OK.
25:01OK. Torque wrench
25:03is set. Let's tighten them
25:05down.
25:19That's not very much
25:21torque so just make sure you're listening
25:23and paying attention to your torque wrench.
25:43OK. These little guys in here
25:45that I put in, they get done
25:48to 8 Newton meters as well
25:50which is not very much
25:52and they're reverse threaded, remember?
25:56So that
25:58is in.
26:06Once they go there
26:08they tighten really quickly. There's not much
26:10room there. OK.
26:12We're going to put these
26:14little caps back in. OK.
26:16Little guys.
26:18It just goes over
26:20the top right in through there.
26:28Yeah, that's seated.
26:30OK.
26:44OK.
26:46Now the
26:48cover pieces go on.
26:52Get the thread together.
27:00Now these caps
27:02actually go to
27:0437 pound feet or 50 Newton meters.
27:08It's a little bit more serious than the other
27:10stuff.
27:14There it is.
27:16That's probably why they gave me a hard time
27:18when they were coming off.
27:26There we go.
27:29Done and done. OK.
27:31Let's start reattaching
27:33all the sorts of
27:35electrical connectors and bits and bobs
27:37that were kicking in and around
27:39out here. OK. So this
27:41guy
27:43goes
27:47that way.
27:49OK.
27:51On
27:53this little bracket right here.
27:55How does this work again?
27:57This comes
27:59there.
28:01Let's tighten that down
28:03actually.
28:05Nope, wasn't 13.
28:15Click.
28:19This guy right here.
28:27Click.
28:35Click.
28:45Just going to snug that up.
28:47Not going to tighten it too much.
28:49Snug.
28:51There we go.
28:53Don't have a torque spec
28:55for that. Don't know why.
28:57Oil line, engine bolt.
28:59Right down here.
29:01This thing goes
29:03up in there.
29:05Yep.
29:07Good.
29:09OK. And that is a 19
29:11millimeter.
29:13Which doesn't actually need a lot of torque.
29:17Just do it until it's snug.
29:23I'm going to do mine a little
29:25bit tighter because
29:27the flush washer goes.
29:29Good. That is on.
29:31Those are on. Let's put some electrical
29:33connectors back on.
29:35OK. So all the
29:37electrical connectors are back on. It's time to put
29:39the valve cover gasket back on. I'm not going to show you how to
29:41do that as I said. There is some
29:43I can't remember what it's called.
29:45A goop or whatever that needs to go here.
29:47Cover these.
29:49And then
29:52I'm replacing the valve cover gasket
29:54just because I'm in here I might as well.
29:56You can do spark plugs while you're here too.
29:58It's really obvious how to do that. I'm going to remove my
30:00secondary air pump and I have a block off plate.
30:02That will probably throw a check
30:04engine light but I don't care at this point.
30:06Obviously. So let's get everything
30:08put back together
30:10and see how it runs.
30:12OK. So I've left
30:14it for a little while after I actually
30:16did the seals before I'm going to
30:18test it. I wanted to work them in. You're supposed to
30:20Now
30:22I have the sprint booster
30:24installed if you've seen that video. I'm going to turn that
30:26completely off so it's not going to interfere with my
30:28impressions of it.
30:30So
30:32Vano seals. Yes there is a
30:34difference.
30:36You notice it most below
30:383000 RPM. There's a pretty
30:40significant more amount of available
30:42torque down low which is the
30:44problem. That's why you do the seals because you lose that.
30:46So I'm in third gear
30:48right down at 2000 RPM
30:50and it
30:52surges forward. It didn't
30:54do that before. You had to be really
30:56kind of above 3000 RPM to
30:58really get that
31:00get into the torque band.
31:02So now this is
31:04improved at lower end pretty substantially.
31:06It's fourth gear at 2500 RPM.
31:08It's not like
31:10a massive difference
31:12but it is definitely a difference.
31:14The reason I didn't really have a
31:17I wasn't too worried about doing it super quick
31:19is because I use the car mostly
31:21for aggressive driving so I spend most of the time
31:23in the higher end of the rev range anyway
31:25so the lower end torque loss
31:27wasn't a massive thing for me
31:29but it feels
31:31generally like there's more torque
31:33all the way across the rev range
31:35for driving around
31:37like just in the city. It makes a big difference.
31:39If you haven't done it
31:41I would definitely do it or have somebody
31:43do it. Now the
31:45DIY that you watched was
31:47pretty long and
31:49maybe not that informative.
31:51As I said at the beginning
31:53I recommend you use mine in conjunction
31:55with other instructions or other
31:57people's DIYs
31:59because certain people
32:01have different ways of doing things and you might get different
32:03angles and stuff. My advice
32:05to you for doing this is to take
32:07your time with it. It's not actually
32:09that hard.
32:11It's not a super technical
32:15DIY. I think
32:17what made it feel easy for me is since I wasn't
32:19doing anything that had to do with the suspension
32:21there were no seized bolts or nothing was
32:23easy to strip or something like that
32:25right? So for me everything was just
32:27like super. Everything just kind of came off
32:29it was fixed, it went back on. Everything's wonderful.
32:31Be very
32:33careful putting your valve cover
32:35gasket or your valve cover back on.
32:37They can be brittle
32:39from the heat over time. You really don't want to crack
32:41it so be very gentle when you're torquing
32:43those bolts down.
32:45Other than that, I don't think I have any
32:47serious pieces of advice.
32:49Just as I said, leave an entire day at least
32:51to take your time with it.
32:53And I didn't do the
32:55Vanos rattle fix because I didn't have any
32:57Vanos rattle. So
32:59there you go. I just did the seals and
33:01that just needed to be done.
33:03I'm glad that I did it.
33:05It's definitely easier to
33:07pull away. You're just pulling away in first there
33:09barely throttle
33:11just kind of pulls in second gear
33:13pulls you right out.
33:15Definitely makes it easier
33:17to drive around. Makes
33:19the whole car feel a little bit torquier.
33:21Okay? Now
33:23I don't
33:25my seals were pretty rock solid
33:27and they were pretty like
33:29bad
33:31but I'm not
33:33experiencing a difference to the
33:35level that you hear about.
33:37Okay? So like for me
33:39it's not like oh my gosh
33:41I've got so much more torque.
33:43It's not really quite like that. It's like yeah it's
33:45there. Yeah it's substantial. Yes do it.
33:47It's not like if you're
33:49afraid to do it yourself
33:51you don't have the budget right now
33:53that's fine. Don't feel like you're
33:55missing out on 90% of your E46.
33:57Right? It's definitely something you should
33:59do eventually.
34:01But
34:03It's a fun car.
34:05It's not the
34:07end of the world if you can't do it right now.
34:09Do you know what I mean? So
34:11hopefully my DIY helped you. Hopefully
34:13my thoughts have helped you here.
34:15I think I'll be doing
34:17some more just basic maintenance coming up
34:19soon. I have a couple things that are
34:21bothering me with the car that I gotta get it ready
34:23for next season. So that will be
34:25separate from my actual video
34:27series on prepping for
34:29competition next year. So
34:31hopefully that'll help you out too.
34:33Alright guys. I will talk to you later.