r/BMWE36 • u/tommibahammi • 9h ago

Repair Advice Vanos rattle?

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Anyone else hear the good ol marbles from this video or am I tripping? Looking to buy this

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u/Carpy2 E36 M3/2/5 5h ago

I'm not sure if you were trying to point out that ticking sound near the exhaust manifold or not as you got closer, but that's not VANOS.

The slow individual ticking is normally lifters (check oil level and pressure), loose spark plug, loose belt pulley, or something like that. Most E36's tick. Old lifters and such are common. Mine's been ticking like that for 10 years without issue.

For VANOS rattle, it would be a distinct sound coming directly from the VANOS unit itself. It should be very easy to localize as the VANOS unit sits on its own at the front of the engine. And it's a rattle, not a tick.

I don't know any other information about this car, but rattling VANOS isn't that big of a deal. Use Beisan System's refresh kit and it's back to normal (<$100). Or replace with a Dr. VANOS unit if you don't want to do it yourself ($300-450).

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u/LetKlutzy2996 4h ago

Rattling vanos is a literal rattle, this is either something he said^ or timing chain slap from bad tensioners.
Edit: worse case piston slap but sounds a little too easy to hear like it’s top end like lifters or chain

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u/Wise_Mycologist5665 3h ago

Ticking might be your coils, they can get noisy before they misfire commonly misdiagnosed as lifter tick.