[DesertBMW]

Originally Posted by norsairius

Would you happen to be able to get the part number(s) on the bolts somehow? I'm curious to see and I'm sure others would like to know too!

It looks like there are no updated bolts. New bolts are and not new but the version from N52. They lack the center pin. And it looks like there is no part number for the bolts only, you got to buy the whole vanos units

Old non failing vanos bolts:


Early N55 failing vanos bolts:

[norsairius]

Interesting observation regarding the difference in the bolts. Thanks for sharing!

[N55Jamaican]

Originally Posted by norsairius

Glad it could get taken care of! Would you happen to be able to get the part number(s) on the bolts somehow? I'm curious to see and I'm sure others would like to know too!

I need the part numbers on these too. I may have to just do the change myself. I have no warranty. Dealers where I live have no idea what I am talking about.

[birry335]

Just got mine replaced yesterday at the dealer

[Schmidty335i]

if my car was made Febuary 2012 should i be good on the bolts or worried? what exact years have problems? thanks

[birry335]

Originally Posted by Schmidty335i

if my car was made Febuary 2012 should i be good on the bolts or worried? what exact years have problems? thanks

Just call a dealer and give them your VIN. You should be just fine, but that's the way to be 100%

[snaimpally]

Originally Posted by Schmidty335i

if my car was made Febuary 2012 should i be good on the bolts or worried? what exact years have problems? thanks

The NHTSA maintains a website.
http://www.safercar.gov/Vehicle+Owners/

Amazing what you can find on the Internet if you enter a few keywords and press "search"

[Dark_Knight_335]

Originally Posted by norsairius

Interesting observation regarding the difference in the bolts. Thanks for sharing!

Agreed- thanks Desert!

[Schmidty335i]

Originally Posted by snaimpally

The NHTSA maintains a website.
http://www.safercar.gov/Vehicle+Owners/

Amazing what you can find on the Internet if you enter a few keywords and press "search"

thanks man! i looked up my VIN and it said i had 0 recalls.

[snaimpally]

I've been bugging my SA but still nothing.

[E90Mack]

I have a car built in early 2011 and I had several bolts replaced today

[Tepr05]

Another victim here. 2011 390 335, eligible for the recall. Limp mode and service engine soon while driving about 20mph home from work Monday night. Pulled codes and saw 2D5B - intake vanos control fault. On cold start i'm now getting 2D55, which is the cold start code for an uncontrollable intake vanos. Flatbed, a rental, confirmed busted vanos bolt. Hopefully have it back tomorrow. 43k miles.

[Dozhdbog]

My car has been in the shop since thursday for a bumper mend, regular maintenance, AND they said they could do my VANOS bolts. Yay!

[norsairius]

Originally Posted by Tepr05

Another victim here. 2011 390 335, eligible for the recall. Limp mode and service engine soon while driving about 20mph home from work Monday night. Pulled codes and saw 2D5B - intake vanos control fault. On cold start i'm now getting 2D55, which is the cold start code for an uncontrollable intake vanos. Flatbed, a rental, confirmed busted vanos bolt. Hopefully have it back tomorrow. 43k miles.

Just curious, what's your car's build date/assembly point? You should be able to check on the door jamb sticker or here: http://www.bmwarchive.org/vin/bmw-vin-decoder.html

My car was built 19 May 2011 at BMW's Rosslyn plant in South Africa and based on BMW's site where I plugged in my VIN, the recall does apply to my car. I'm currently scheduled to have the service done this upcoming Monday... after my weekend road trip! I think I'll be fine though. Most failures are occurring at higher mileages than mine (~35-36k right now) and have earlier build dates.

I suppose the question though would be are the build dates more relevant to the failures or actual mileage? It would make sense that a certain range of build dates would apply right now because most of those cars are hitting a certain mileage range at around the same time.

[Jsoboti]

October 2010 build date. Getting replaced this coming Monday. Sucks I have a road trip planned for this weekend. Let's hope the time bomb doesn't go off

[elinstylez]

Just got the recall done at New Century BMW - apparently they just got the parts in. Takes about a day to perform.

[Bimmer28312]

My in the shop as we speak. Looks like I won't get her back till tue. All good they gave me a loaded 3 series hybrid which I'm finding pretty cool.

[111R]

I just got my car back from getting the recall done. It's a 2011 335i built in May, 2011. I only have 22,500 miles and (2) of the (4) bolts on the intake side were broken off. The tech removed the oil pan to retrieve the bolt heads and the oil was changed.

I did not think to give them an oil sample kit to check for metal particles, but the tech stated that when the bolt heads break off it's a clean break and they haven't seen any small pieces in any of the engines they've done. The oil was changed only about 2k miles ago, so it was relatively clean to begin with. Since the old bolts are made of aluminum, hopefully fine particles (if any) wouldn't have as much effect as would steel ones.

The car runs great now, but I didn't have any codes or other issues when I took it in for the recall. I guess I'm lucky in that one or both of the other bolts didn't break before I got this done.

[norsairius]

Originally Posted by 111R

I just got my car back from getting the recall done. It's a 2011 335i built in May, 2011. I only have 22,500 miles and (2) of the (4) bolts on the intake side were broken off. The tech removed the oil pan to retrieve the bolt heads and the oil was changed.

I did not think to give them an oil sample kit to check for metal particles, but the tech stated that when the bolt heads break off it's a clean break and they haven't seen any small pieces in any of the engines they've done. The oil was changed only about 2k miles ago, so it was relatively clean to begin with. Since the old bolts are made of aluminum, hopefully fine particles (if any) wouldn't have as much effect as would steel ones.

The car runs great now, but I didn't have any codes or other issues when I took it in for the recall. I guess I'm lucky in that one or both of the other bolts didn't break before I got this done.

Holy crap! Glad you got that fixed! I should have asked how things looked in my car when I took it back, but I forgot.

For what it's worth, I feel like my car is a bit smoother and that the engine is a bit less chattery. However, that could be down to the placebo affect of having the recall done.

That said, the behavior with longer cranks only when the engine is warm that I mentioned to the service manager doesn't seem to be there anymore since I took my car back. Now that I said that though, I'll probably notice it again.

[Gate7]

Just dropped off my car this morning for bolts replacement. I forgot to ask the sa, will they put in a new valve cover gasket as they are doing this, or replace anything else?

[dcaron9999]

Originally Posted by Gate7

Just dropped off my car this morning for bolts replacement. I forgot to ask the sa, will they put in a new valve cover gasket as they are doing this, or replace anything else?

Yup. That's what they did on mine. Mandatory when removing a valve cover...

[sy2767]

Mine goes in on Nov 3 for the recall, do they change the oil after doing this??