VANOS Rebuild Cost

[johnrando]

That’s really helpful. I’m going to try my hand at the vanos oil line myself and see how I feel doing that. Someone locally has offered to do it with me and teach me for a couple hundred in labor (including the VCG) so I may do that.

Might as well. It's not hard, just a LOT of steps. If you do it with someone who has (which is how I did mine), you'll be just fine).

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[t.er]

Youtube & forum DIY guides are a great resource. 50skids videos are excellent step-by-step and you can watch it on your phone as you work on your car. If you're not confident in working on your car start off with small jobs first, then work your way up. Following a good guide to a tee, along with making sure you're doing your due diligence with your handiwork (making sure you aren't crossthreading bolts, not over-torquing, not breaking plastic clips, etc) will result in the satisfaction of having done the job yourself, and money saved.

The only thing you can't really deal with yourself is rust, which would mainly be rusted exhaust bolts. You can possibly get it out with a small propane torch and penetrating oil, but for really severe cases you'd have to turn to a shop with an oxy-acetylene torch to get them off for you.

[28firefighter]

So, for sports fans at home, I started on the VANOS oil line - new one is coming today so I figured I’d get the old part out and clean everything up.

Getting the lower banjo bolt off was a pain, but removing some of sensor plugs opened it enough to get a ratchet in. The upper end was messy, but the lower bolt was something else - way worse than any video I’ve watched.

Upon further investigation it appears that someone has been here before. Why? Because the lower banjo bolt had three total crush washers installed - one by the block and two by the bolt head. My understanding is there are supposed to be two per bolt. Anyway. Mess cleaned up - hopefully installation goes a little faster.

Also, if no one cares, let me know. This is a big deal for me for attempting it so I figured I’d share.

[jtamayo027]

So, for sports fans at home, I started on the VANOS oil line - new one is coming today so I figured I’d get the old part out and clean everything up.

Getting the lower banjo bolt off was a pain, but removing some of sensor plugs opened it enough to get a ratchet in. The upper end was messy, but the lower bolt was something else - way worse than any video I’ve watched.

Upon further investigation it appears that someone has been here before. Why? Because the lower banjo bolt had three total crush washers installed - one by the block and two by the bolt head. My understanding is there are supposed to be two per bolt. Anyway. Mess cleaned up - hopefully installation goes a little faster.

Also, if no one cares, let me know. This is a big deal for me for attempting it so I figured I’d share.

Glad you decided to get under the hood!

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[fredo]

I care. I'm not a DIY person, perhaps this info will motivate me.

[28firefighter]

Well, it’s in and no immediate leaking is obvious at either end. Unfortunately I dropped one of the power steering reservoir bracket bolts and given that I can’t see it, I’m assuming it’s in the splash guard at the bottom or somewhere else out of the way.

I need to order a new one with washer since I can’t find one locally. But other than that no issues.

[t.er]

Good job! Hopefully you have more confidence with future DIYs. I had the same thing too, actually had both washers on one side, and none on the other. Not sure how it didn't leak!



If it's just the bracket bolt which isn't really anything critical you can probably head to your local hardware store and get a generic replacement. Just take one of the other bolts with the same thread and length for reference, it should be a standard metric thread like M6 or M8.

[johnrando]

Good job. This site is full of people who care/are interested.

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[Will]

Thanks for sharing, I love reading about people's DIYs - that's the main reason I browse the boards! There's plenty of knowledge and experience on this forum for any input or guidance you might need.

If you have a thin magnetic pickup tool you might be able to fish around and catch that dropped bolt.