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Vanos seals

Discuss your latest mods or ideas, and anything to do with the BMW X5 (E53).
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Chrisw4266

Vanos seals

Post by Chrisw4266 » Thu Oct 02, 2014 9:17 pm

Just about to start a bit of preventative maintenance on the engine and was wondering if anyone on here had used i6 a seller on eBay for their vanos seal kits.
I'm doing the engine breather and hoses, valve cover gasket as it's leaking and was thinking I might as well do the vanos seals while I'm in there.
The m54 has well documented issues with the seals and as mine has just hit 140k I think it would be worth the extra hassle. So as I'm about to order the seal kit I was wondering if anyone had used this seller cheers Chris.

Chrisw4266

Re: Vanos seals

Post by Chrisw4266 » Wed Oct 08, 2014 12:11 pm

Well still not had time to do these yet as I had a brake pipe disaster

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As you can see these where extremely rotten, I'd advise everybody to check these rear flexi pipes, the short metal section that clips to the suspension arm is covered an holds the water so rots badly.
Its a straight forward job if your happy bleeding brakes.
Pipes where £27+vat for Bosch part from Andrew Page. I did both sides as one was leaking and the other was well gone.

Might get the other jobs done soon if it ever stops raining.

SlimX47

Re: Vanos seals

Post by SlimX47 » Sat Oct 11, 2014 3:08 pm

Zoinks, that could have ended in disaster- or worse!

Did the rear suspension bushes on mine a couple of months ago, didn't check brake hoses, but then it went through thorough MOT in April, so should be ok ;-)

cheers
Si

Denis O
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Posts: 545
Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2010 8:26 am
Location: Maidstone

Re: Vanos seals

Post by Denis O » Sat Oct 11, 2014 4:55 pm

Don't rely on the MOT Si as the pipes aren't visible, hence the current MOT testers arse covering exercise of giving an advisory regarding under body covers.

Mine started pissing brake fluid all over the road and it ended in all pipes and hoses being renewed. They were a real mess although the car did come from Aberdeen so close to the sea.
06 Range Rover Vogue SE 4.2 SC
05 Mercedes SL350

SlimX47

Re: Vanos seals

Post by SlimX47 » Sat Oct 11, 2014 6:07 pm

Good point, might be time for an inspection, although the mechanic at the place I bought my X5 from does go over the cars with a fine tooth wotsit before letting them go.
Gearbox might be the next thing to sort, got a lot of clunking and bumping between 4th and 5th and visa versa...

Chrisw4266

Re: Vanos seals

Post by Chrisw4266 » Mon Oct 13, 2014 11:17 pm

[quote="SlimX47"]
Good point, might be time for an inspection, although the mechanic at the place I bought my X5 from does go over the cars with a fine tooth wotsit before letting them go.
Gearbox might be the next thing to sort, got a lot of clunking and bumping between 4th and 5th and visa versa...
[/quote]
I missed these when checking the car a few months ago. You need to pop the plastic covers off.
The only issue is if you poke around or bend them they will leak and then your cars off the road.

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