[omadab]

Hi, cars been suffering of engine idling problems for a while and fluctuating idle. Made an appointment at BMW and the day before the appointment, check engine light comes up(P13B4) ... good timing XD. They did a Puma M test and apparently vanos solenoids need to be changed. Some sources online talk about calibration for the new vanos solenoids? Is this necessary? I don't really have access to ISTA.
Also wanted to know if people have experience with aftermarket vanos solenoids like GATES VVS177 and STANDARD MOTOR PRODUCTS VVT207.
Thanks

[e91Owner]

Originally Posted by omadab

Hi, cars been suffering of engine idling problems for a while and fluctuating idle. Made an appointment at BMW and the day before the appointment, check engine light comes up(P13B4) ... good timing XD. They did a Puma M test and apparently vanos solenoids need to be changed. Some sources online talk about calibration for the new vanos solenoids? Is this necessary? I don't really have access to ISTA.
Also wanted to know if people have experience with aftermarket vanos solenoids like GATES VVS177 and STANDARD MOTOR PRODUCTS VVT207.
Thanks

I have seen people "calibrate" them with the valvetronic limit position calibration in ISTA-D. That is not a calibration of the solenoids, but the valvetronic motor learning the stops. They are solenoids. They are energized or they are not. I haven't used any aftermarket ones, but given how simple of an item they are, I wouldn't hesitate to do so if price for genuine parts were an issue.

Now if you don't have ISTA, it is still good to have some other method of clearing faults once you change out parts. Getting ISTA is probably the cheapest and most functional of the options out there.

[omadab]

Thanks for your input. I got INPA and decided to go with the OEM ones... It only gave me more problems or a hint to what the actual issue is IDK lol
I made another post about it. Codes are 2A98 and 2A99 (using inpa)