[E91ME]

Hi All. Long time reader, 1st time poster. I'm fairly new to BMWs, so have not had any info to share that's not already out there. I did, however, just had a recent experience that seem worthwhile to share, if only to help other new-to-BMW guys avoid the hassle that I went thru.

The car is a 2011 328i Wagon that was mainly driven by my wife. At about 80k miles a slew of problems popped up (with service engine soon light) that made me take over the car to take care of the issues. The first thing I tackled was a misfire that was tracked down to a fairly new ignition coil (13k miles old) that somehow went bad already. This coil was made by Delphi and I'm thinking I'm just freakishly unlucky to get a bad one that only lasted a year. Immediately after this the car started making a very loud whistling/loud hum while idling or coasting with the throttle off (The sound is very much like what UFOs sound like in old black and white movies). This was pinpointed to be a torn CCV diaphragm, so in went a new Valve Cover which solved the issue. Then after this I kept getting a 2A87 Exhaust Vanos mechanically jammed code. The car was driving pretty much normally, but the code would come back after 30-60 miles of driving like clockwork after I clear it. Since the car was driving okay I took my time and started researching all of the causes of the 2A87 code and found all of the usual recommendations...

1) Check oil filter cap and make sure center insert is intact. - Since I had done an oil change barely 4k miles ago I knew the insert was there, but checked it anyways.

2) Clean and swap Vanos solenoids. - I had gotten the 2A87 code maybe 6k miles prior to this and installed new OEM solenoids, so I didn't really think this was the cause, but I swapped the solenoids anyways just for a sanity check. With my crappy luck on the ignition coil I probably wouldn't have been surprised to also get a Vanos solenoid that barely lasted 15k miles. The code stayed on the Exhaust side, so no cigar here.

3) Vanos non-return valves. - This was a long shot that I hoped was my issue since the first 2 checks above yielded nothing. I did buy the car at 59k miles, so I didn't really have a full picture of the oil change history. Took out the old ones and they were very clean and not clogged. Already bought 2 new valves anyways so installed them and fixed nothing.

4) Camshaft bearing ledge. - At this point I'm sweating and crying that I have to get into the valve cover for a 3rd time after getting the car (1st time was to replace a leaky valve cover seal.). I also wasn't really confident that this was the cause of my 2A87 code because, according to BMW SB-10032779-2821, my car's build date means that I have the new teflon seals that shouldn't gouge the bearing ledges. But, since all of my research up to this point tells me this is the path others have walked to solve this problem, I decided that I either did this or take the car to a shop and bend over for a reaming. Fortunately, there's a metric crap-ton of info on how to DIY this, so I bit the bullet and bought all of the tools and parts I needed to swap my exhaust bearing ledges out, hopefully in one weekend. A buddy of mine that had recently also gotten into BMWs came to help on the fateful weekend, and we went to work and tore out the exhaust bearing ledges. To my utter disappointment the surfaces that the seals rode on were perfectly smooth. The color was darker where the seals met the metal, but there was not a ridge or groove that I could feel with my fingers or my finger nails.

At this point in my journey I was not in a happy place. I pretty much knew that, after all of this work, putting in a set of new bearing ledges and seals was not going to make the code go away. I also had no other ideas on what else to look for, so my buddy and I get back to work to put the car back together. Since we were both working simultaneously to try to be "efficient" we kinda did things a bit out of order. Because of that, when I went to torque one of the bolts for the exhaust bearing ledges I accidentally pushed on the top tab of the upper timing chain rail (which my buddy had already bolted back on) and snapped it off......... I decided to quit for the day.



The next day I dragged my reluctant butt into the garage to pull the broken upper timing chain rail out. What I really wanted to do was to set the car on fire and be done with it, but because it was in the garage I would've burnt the house down with it, so no go on that. So I went ahead and took both of the cam gears out to get the upper timing chain rail out. Because it was a Sunday and dealers were closed I didn't have a replacement timing chain rail to put back in the car, so I sat around sulking looking at the crippled car and all of the parts in the garage. Then I noticed something weird about the Exhaust cam gear unit. I was looking at it wondering why it had 3 bolts and 1 weird pin looking thing, whereas the Intake cam gear had 4 bolts.



As I looked closer and closer at the "weird pin" until my nose was pressing right up against the cam gear I realized that, holy $h!t, this is not a weird pin thing at all, it's a freakin' broken bolt! Then I realized that 2 other bolts on the exhaust cam gear and 1 bolt on the intake cam gear had all loosened and backed out.



It's a really weird thing to feel joy upon discovering a crappy design in a critical part of your car, but I was ecstatic at this point because I finally found the REAL problem to my damn 2A87 Vanos code. With 3 bolts no longer holding the gear on the exhaust cam gear assembly oil pressure was no longer able to build up quickly enough inside it to change the timing on the exhaust side, thus tripping the 2A87. The intake side still had 3 tight bolts, so I haven't yet gotten any codes on that side, but it's only a matter of time. Here, take a look inside the exhaust cam gear.



My story doesn't end here, though. Since these cam gear units were expensive puppies I spent several days searching for a good price amongst new/used sources. I eventually decided on some new ones and placed an order. While waiting for the parts to arrive I remembered coming across stories of recalls on the N55 engines for defective cam gear bolts. I also remembered coming across some used cam gears on Ebay that were the same part numbers as what I needed, but were advertised for the N55 engine. At this point I'm kinda pissed that BMW would use the same defective part across different models of engines, but only recall them on some of them. So, I kept digging and reading more until I finally came across old forum posts from 2014 about an extended warranty for cars with the N52 engines for this defective cam bolts issue. I call up my local BMW dealer and the service advisor confirmed that my car is covered for 10 yrs for unlimited miles for the cam gears. The downside...I had to put the car all back together before they will take it. After all is said and done the dealer replaced both cam gear units, pulled the oil pan and took out the broken bolt head. My oil pan was leaking before all of this, so I got a free oil pan gasket job out of it. No more dripping oil on the driveway! I go on and forget all of the pain I went thru. Hey, I'm easily bought with free things. The fact that my 7 yr old, bought used BMW got covered under warranty for some pretty expensive parts made me feel like I won the lottery, albeit a small one.

Here are the new cam gear units that I bought. Notice that BMW got rid of the security torx bolts on them and is now using regular torx bolts.



The lesson from all of this is if someone's got an old E9X and has the dreaded exhaust or intake vanos codes, do all of the easy outside of the engine troubleshooting first. If all those fail to get rid of the codes, prepare to dig into the cam gears and bearing ledges, and be prepared to have the car down for some time so that you can physically take those parts out to determine what is really wrong before you pluck down all of the $$$ for the parts. Also, to be aware that there is the 10 year extended warranty for the defective cam gear units. In my case, even if I had known that cam gears could be a cause for the 2A87 code, I had no way to tell whether it was bad bearing ledges or bad cam gears because the car basically drove just fine. I drove ~4k miles from when I first got the 2A87 until it got fixed. I had no symptoms like the loud rattling sounds some people get from the bolt head hitting on things while backed out. I don't even know when the bolt head sheared off and I'll never know.

Anyways, hope this helps somebody in the future. If anything this was therapeutic just to get it off my chest. I still occasionally feel the desire to set the car on fire, but that's a story for a different time.

[6ixSpd]

Good work!

I've been chasing a 2A87 code myself for a few weeks now. Swapped solenoids, no bueno. Still on the exhaust side. Tried changing out the check valves but they wouldn't pop out after being loosened. It seems as if the o-ring is keeping enough tension on there to not let them fall out and there wasn't space to try and pry them so... Anyways I figured there's not much to lose with trying aftermarket solenoids. Put one of those in, and the car is driving perfectly fine again! I'll have to keep an eye on it and see how long this "fix" lasts... My guess is there is some crud in the engine that's going to eventually gunk up the new solenoid too.

Really hoping to avoid having to do a full teardown. That's beyond my DIY skills unfortunately

[E91ME]

The non-return valves should come out pretty easily once you’ve unthreaded them completely. I went in thru the fender well so it was a fairly straight shot to reach them. If you think there might be gunk in your oil it’s worth it to check those.

[Saico]

Nice story, good read. Happy to see things sorted now!

[E91ME]

Originally Posted by Saico

Nice story, good read. Happy to see things sorted now!

Thanks!

[CobraMarty]

Can these cam gear bolts be checked for tightness when the valve cover is off without any further dis-assembly?

[3002 tii]

Great job diagnosing the car and not giving up man!

[PhaseP]

The service bulletin on this (there may be updated ones):
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...45283-5967.pdf

[E91ME]

Originally Posted by CobraMarty

Can these cam gear bolts be checked for tightness when the valve cover is off without any further dis-assembly?

I think you can. The screws that were loose on mine could be turned easily by hand. There were no signs of thread locker on the threads. The tricky part would be getting access to the screw heads, which are facing the cams. You can probably turn the cams gears to expose a screw or two at a time. Word of caution if you want to use a torx bit, tie/tape a fishing line or something to the tool in case you drop it.

[E91ME]

Originally Posted by 3002 tii

Great job diagnosing the car and not giving up man!

Thanks! Dumb luck helped a lot here!

[E91ME]

Originally Posted by PhaseP

The service bulletin on this (there may be updated ones):
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...45283-5967.pdf

Thanks for posting this. I somehow never came across this when I was looking up the 2A87 code. Wish I had.

[Pinscher]

According that bulletin, the build dates are from 2009 to 2012.

Is it save to assume that my 2007 328 will not have broken or loose Vanos blots?

[E91ME]

Originally Posted by Pinscher

According that bulletin, the build dates are from 2009 to 2012.

Is it save to assume that my 2007 328 will not have broken or loose Vanos blots?

I would trust the bulletin and not worry about it. In my case the broken bolts still allowed me to drive the car without getting stranded. If you ever take the valve cover off you can take a peek at the camgears just as a sanity check, but if your car is driving fine then just keep driving it.

[Pinscher]

Originally Posted by E91ME

I would trust the bulletin and not worry about it. In my case the broken bolts still allowed me to drive the car without getting stranded. If you ever take the valve cover off you can take a peek at the camgears just as a sanity check, but if your car is driving fine then just keep driving it.

That's a great comfort. Thank you.

I am getting the same error code, and I did clean the forward Vanos solenoids, cleared the error codes and the errors came back there after.

This weekend I'll do the solenoids from behind the driver side wheel well.

Okay thanks a lot!

[E91ME]

Originally Posted by Pinscher

That's a great comfort. Thank you.

I am getting the same error code, and I did clean the forward Vanos solenoids, cleared the error codes and the errors came back there after.

This weekend I'll do the solenoids from behind the driver side wheel well.

Okay thanks a lot!

Oh, I didn’t know you have the error code already. I thought you were just wondering if your car could have this problem down the road.

When you said you cleaned the “forward vanos solenoids” and the codes still came back, I’m guessing that the code did not change from exhaust to intake, or vice versa? I’m also guessing you are going to work on the non-return valves behind the right side wheel well next, and not solenoids. The non-return valves are just spring loaded check valves. They are not powered solenoids, so no wires going to them.

For your year look up the bearing ledges tech bulletin and see if you fall in those build dates. I’ve seen at least 2 versions of those, with one that was revised for the build date ranges that it covered.

[Pinscher]

Originally Posted by E91ME

Oh, I didn’t know you have the error code already. I thought you were just wondering if your car could have this problem down the road.

When you said you cleaned the “forward vanos solenoids” and the codes still came back, I’m guessing that the code did not change from exhaust to intake, or vice versa? I’m also guessing you are going to work on the non-return valves behind the right side wheel well next, and not solenoids. The non-return valves are just spring loaded check valves. They are not powered solenoids, so no wires going to them.

For your year look up the bearing ledges tech bulletin and see if you fall in those build dates. I’ve seen at least 2 versions of those, with one that was revised for the build date ranges that it covered.

I had read around and found out that my car is not a part of the defective bolts on the vanos actuators. *fewph*

After clearing the return valves, my codes went away. They were not dirty like some of the pictures around the internet, but maybe something was caught up in them.

Now I only have 1 error and that's a light bulb that is not functioning, while all my bulbs are functioning, lol.

Thanks for your help.

[Steelewheels]

Had the recall completed this week on my 2011 328i xdrive with 135K km. Check engine came on witj ppor idle and no power soon followed by an ear piercing whining noise from the top end. Of course it happened late saturday afternoon but fortunately not on the long trip planned the following week.

Managed to limp it to a local garage and had the codes pulled 2A87 and 2A7A. Had the car towed to the local dealer to prevent further damage monday morning. Call from the SA to confirm vanos bolt recall campaign and all work done under this campaign no charge. I looked up the parts list online afterwards and estimate tje parts alone at 2500 CDN plus a day of labor at 138/hour. Both exhaust and intake vanos replaced at 1000 each unit.

The technician cracked the valve cover while removing it and noted on the invoice brittle plastic cracked while removing. This gave me a new valve cover and gasket at about 600 CDN included as part of the warranty eork. I would say Christmas came early.

Im happy with the service i received from BMW. The technician know their stuff. One thing that mystifies me and i think the technician eluded to it in the repair is why on a performance german import do we have plastic valve covers that are unserviceable and aluminim bolts securing Vanos units? My exhaust Vanos had two bolts with sheared heads and both units had bolts that had backed out.

[E91ME]

Originally Posted by Steelewheels

Had the recall completed this week on my 2011 328i xdrive with 135K km. Check engine came on witj ppor idle and no power soon followed by an ear piercing whining noise from the top end. Of course it happened late saturday afternoon but fortunately not on the long trip planned the following week.

Managed to limp it to a local garage and had the codes pulled 2A87 and 2A7A. Had the car towed to the local dealer to prevent further damage monday morning. Call from the SA to confirm vanos bolt recall campaign and all work done under this campaign no charge. I looked up the parts list online afterwards and estimate tje parts alone at 2500 CDN plus a day of labor at 138/hour. Both exhaust and intake vanos replaced at 1000 each unit.

The technician cracked the valve cover while removing it and noted on the invoice brittle plastic cracked while removing. This gave me a new valve cover and gasket at about 600 CDN included as part of the warranty eork. I would say Christmas came early.

Im happy with the service i received from BMW. The technician know their stuff. One thing that mystifies me and i think the technician eluded to it in the repair is why on a performance german import do we have plastic valve covers that are unserviceable and aluminim bolts securing Vanos units? My exhaust Vanos had two bolts with sheared heads and both units had bolts that had backed out.

Glad to hear your problem was resolved fairly painlessly.

My Bentley manual has this section at the beginning that describes the E9X lineup, including changes/updates that happened during the model run. The plastic valve cover was listed under the N52KP engine update for 2007-2011. 2006 cars came with the N52 engine with a cast magnesium valve cover. The way Bentley describes the N52KP redesign is that it was "an improved and cost-optimized version of the N52". So, basically the plastic valve cover is a cost reduction move to replace the expensive magnesium unit. As for the aluminum bolts on the VANOS cam gears my guess is that it's for weight reasons. The desire to keep these fast spinning gears light weight probably drove the material choice. That I can understand. What I can't understand is not coming up with some type of thread/bolt locking, like interference threads that deform when engaged, serrations under the bolt head to bite into the mounting surface, etc...

[stacyleigh]

I feel like this is exactly what is going on with my 2011 328i but I have the N51 SULEV engine & its is getting ready to turn over to 78K miles. I have replaced both VANOS cylinoids & the Valve cover but my car is now throwing the same codes as urs (2A7A & 2A87) but is driving fine. Does anyone know if the N51 SULEV engines carry the 10yr/unlimited miles warranty for the cam gears?

[E91ME]

Originally Posted by stacyleigh

I feel like this is exactly what is going on with my 2011 328i but I have the N51 SULEV engine & its is getting ready to turn over to 78K miles. I have replaced both VANOS cylinoids & the Valve cover but my car is now throwing the same codes as urs (2A7A & 2A87) but is driving fine. Does anyone know if the N51 SULEV engines carry the 10yr/unlimited miles warranty for the cam gears?

The service bulletin linked above by PhaseP does list the N51 engine in it. Check the production date of your car against that service bulletin. If you fall in the range give your BMW dealer a call and they will find out if you are covered or not under the warranty extension. Good luck.

[xavi718]

Help, first time posting here my problem

I have a 2006 330xi( Automatic ) last month i was having the "Service Engine Soon" every time i wanted to get the code it never shows up anything, finally a week ago the code show up it was 002A87. After doing some research i decided to buy the 2 vanos cylinders and replace them, well after driving for 4 days the code came back now I am thinking if it is because they are after market ones. Plus my inspection is already expire and one of the mechanics told me is not going to pass inspection because of this.

For some extra info 2 years ago I already replace my 2 Timing Camshaft Gears. Could be this problem again ?

[E91ME]

Originally Posted by xavi718

Help, first time posting here my problem

I have a 2006 330xi( Automatic ) last month i was having the "Service Engine Soon" every time i wanted to get the code it never shows up anything, finally a week ago the code show up it was 002A87. After doing some research i decided to buy the 2 vanos cylinders and replace them, well after driving for 4 days the code came back now I am thinking if it is because they are after market ones. Plus my inspection is already expire and one of the mechanics told me is not going to pass inspection because of this.

For some extra info 2 years ago I already replace my 2 Timing Camshaft Gears. Could be this problem again ?

Assuming you know for sure the 2 new camshaft gears are of the new part number then I wouldn't assume those went bad again.

As for the vanos solenoids, did you ever do the swap test, either with your original solenoids or with the new ones? It's probably not as likely that you got 2 brand new solenoids and they happen to both be bad, so a swap test could show if you really coincidentally put a "bad" new solenoid on the exhaust side. Also, these things are 12VDC, so hooking them up to a car battery would make them actuate, and it's very obvious when they do (nice loud click). Of course this is testing with them at room temperature (and not hot like in a running engine), but is a quick sanity check.

You didn't mention having done anything on the cam bearing ledges. If your car is a 2006 then it's very likely it falls under SB-10032779-2821 (You should be able to find a PDF of this bulletin out in the web). Check your production date against this bulletin. Unfortunately there's no way to physically check for this without taking the exhaust cam bearing ledge out. Good luck.