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      03-01-2020, 06:05 PM   #7
Luke784
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Drives: 2008 335i
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Maine

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I finally got this problem sorted out and wanted to bring this thread full circle for anyone who might encounter this in the future. It was a pretty simple fix in that I just replaced both VANOS solenoids and changed the oil. The car now runs fine and probably didn’t have a vacuum leak at all but I’m not upset I changed out the old, brittle hoses.

I changed the oil on the advice of this video (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YktIgslaoIQ) where they change the oil and swap the VANOS solenoids before considering more intensive repairs like cam ledges. I tried cleaning, testing and swapping my old solenoids but the problem persisted which made me nervous. I went ahead and ordered two new ones anyway since as far as I know mine are the originals and are well beyond their useful lives.

I suspect that both solenoids were sticking due to a few potential causes. First the car’s oil cooler gaskets were leaking and this would allow for coolant to mix with the oil. Second (ashamed to admit this part) I put an additive in the oil to help slow the leaks before I fixed them. It did work decently but I think once the car sat for a few days without running it might have gummed up the solenoids. Hopefully this doesn’t affect other things like the turbos but it should be gone from the system now.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions and I hope this helps someone in the future who is having this problem.

TLDR: New oil and VANOS solenoids fixed the problem.
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