hi people about to purchase 98 ish evo

 can anyone tell me what goes wrong with these things (vanos the dreaded)

 and can i expect to smoke a scooby ??

 also any tips would be a great help. what about  the independent motor

 company in reading   are they reputable dealers and do you know of any

 others sorry for the list  thanks john.

Hiya,

Look at m3 vs scooby thread for details on scooby smoking etc, as for Independant; mixed bag, we had a thread on them not too long ago. Some had major problems, some couldnt praise them enough........ I bought mine from James Paul, (still a BMW specialist), havent had any problems with it so far. I bought it last aug and out of the last 9 months, ive been away for 6-7months. Rest of the period has seen me do 11,000 miles. I love my car!! Have a look at their website; http://www.jamespaul.co.uk">www.jamespaul.co.uk As for a quick answer on the scooby thing, youll easily beat it, inc the wrx sti's, old and new.

Hope this helps, Regards

Andy.

 thanks andy for your info not much at james paul but have added it to my favourites

i still need to know what a/the vanos is

cheers. 

John

In a nutshell the vanos issue is that the earlier 3L M3s used a single VANOS and the evos used a double VANOS. The problems with them going seems to be down to pot luck and not mileage or date etc. The problem does not seem anywhere near as prolific with the earlier 3L engine.

I got mine from http://www.jct28.co.uk">www.jct28.co.uk

Scoobs n porsches too!!!

John

http://www.angelfire.com/mac2/m3power">www.angelfire.com/mac2/m3power

John,

Showing off your car again eh.............?? You must be getting ready for the posing! LOL.  And defintiley agree with simplyred, try for the best warranty you can get.

Scoobs, porsches and EVO's, (the silly mitsi thingy)....

Andy.

I found out after i bought my car that it'd undergone vanos replacement, only bought the car 4 weeks ago. Never had any problems with my old M3.0, but this time i bought from a BMW dealer and haggled a two year BMW warranty for total peace of mind.

As far as smoking standard Scoobies and Mitsi Evo's go, you'll have no problem out on the motorways, but will have problems over 1/4 mile standing starts , race tracks and country lanes if you leave your car unmodified.

I had a good experience tonight racing an MR2 turbo running 265+bhp. The MR2 is no slouch in standard 220bhp form, rated 0-60 in 5.5+ secs and 150mph top end. The little Toyota kept up for about 10 secs then became a spec in my rearview mirror. In less than a mile i was hitting a very silly speed that i'd rather not disclose but has made me realise, it's not what your car can do, it's how quickly it gets there.

To a hard working 24 year old, my M3 Evo is everything a car should be and so much more. Having owned 2 M3's i'm going to sacrifice comfort, build quality, exclusivity and drop dead gorgoeus looks for sheer performance, R34 Skyline GTR getting modified next year.

Howdy,

Ive done two mitsi's, porsche boxter 's' and kept up pretty well with a noble m12  on the track. As well as a porsche 911, (993) mitsi evo 6 and 2 e46 m3 + Ferrari 512m on standing starts. (Although the ferrari wouldve been pulling away from 90mph+ !) Unmodified too.......... Skylines are a very nice car though, very tempting to me as well...... but prefer to try and do mine as its not that common to make the e36 faster! out of interest which do you prefer driving? pre-evo or evo?

Andy. 

ref Independant Motor Company, I was one of the (many) unlucky ones that had a v. poor experience. Just finished paying for the last piece of work they should have sorted under warranty (Vanos you'll be pleased to hear).

All in all, the problems I had with the E36 they sold me have cost about £1,800 to sort out, not to mention the clutch, gearbox and numerous other problems they grudgingly put right after months of haggling.

My advice (and that of others here) is get a bloody good inspection done from someone you trust who knows what they're looking for - or don't buy from them (their "warranty" is a misnomer).

If you get a good one, it'll be fine from them (quelle suprise) but any problems with it and you'll regret it forever. The thread which told the various sorry tales about IMC got taken off this forum because of the anger so many people felt. The language became heated and the thread removed. Howard who runs the forum explained why in a measured e-mail, so the story will be retold here soon in more gentle terms.

thanks everybody who has given me all this excellent advice come on now dont be shy how much is vanos replacement or repair if this is an option

try as you might you wont discourage me a jot

thanks again

I believe double VANOS is approx £1800 and single £1000 or thereabouts-depends on the dealers hourly rate I would have thought.

Chris-the car was sold to me with supposedly a stainless steel exhaust-personally I doubt it but the cars gonna get a supersprint back box this year. Apart from that its got a k&n panel filter and thats it.

Porsche drivers all over down here m8 and they all could do with retaking their tests-the 1 on Saturdayshot up my inside on a roundabout then nearly had my front wing off as he carved me up going from the inside to outside lanes coming off the roundabout. Would have been rude not to leave him standing.

PS-ROFL earlier-Sitting at roundabout on Oxford ringroad with a clio in front when a ferrari roars up the inside of us and theguys revving the engine hard ...lights go green and........the clio has him, not just at those lights but through the next set too!!!!!!! Shows that the cars performance plus drivers ability are both important.

Andy-that mean you're up to the car club bash then?

John

To get a better idea of prices check out the vanos threads on http://www.bm3w.co.uk">www.bm3w.co.uk

From what I can gather theres no rhyme nor reason as to why it goes-not age or mileage but apparently the oil filter in the vanos needs changing at service intervals.

Apparently 3Ls are less prone than the 32.s for this.

John

Howdy John!!

I guess im going to have be really....... Ill probably feel the wrath of my garage and a few others if I dont!! Im in the process of buying my first flat and moving hopefully in July/August so thats why the hesitancy. Money etc... But yeah will be there! Any news on whether your portable gatso detector is going with you??!!

Andy.

The portable gatso detector??????got me with that 1.

Not a good weekend so I'll keep it short n sweet......cars about to cause me a headche- I reckon it isnt performing properly so am going to put it into a stealers for their opinion and get it sorted.

Drove the car today and....1st the 10stack cd in the boot packed up working,wouldnt load cds from the cartridge...2ndly the front loading cd in the car wont play cds, just skips n jumps all over......worst of all coming up the dual carriageway towards home I get a bang and a horrible noise-pull over to find that something has hit me and pulled the splash cover under the engine down and it wont go back up-had to limp home with the damned thing held in place with bandage tape from the 1st aid box!!!!!!!

John

re: Portable gatso detector; youre father!

Sorry to hear bout the splash cover, I know how much of a bugger it is. A few months after I got my car, I started hearing a grinding noise over speed humps as well as on full lock. It turned out the wheel splash cover  had snapped off one of its mountings and caused the whole engine splash cover to fall down. Result of which a whole new cover and two wheel covers. My car is in the garage at the mo cos it wasnt performing as I think it shouldve been. Did you ever try the bg44k??

Andy.

The ferrari's a sore point-cam e across him again doing the same thing and it was whilst blitzing him that I had the mishap with the splash tray!!!

Andy, have got the car booked in at a dealers for the splash tray this weekend. I'm going to take it in and see if I can persuade them to do a diagnostic or check it over. I know the cars got Jekyl n Hyde characteristics but I'm not convinced its performing right. A bit of throttle gets slow pulling, halfway and its pulling but still feels slow and the only way to get it to go is to lock the foot on the ground and keep it there.

Keep you updated.

John

Cost me around £1200 for a new double Vanos.After a lot of badgering BMW cust service paid 50% of new part. £1240 for Vanos part alone!

Did ok though the car is a 96 model,but low miles, 50K.

Some warranty providers know about Vanos and won't pay up-be warned!

all im going to say is dont expect to smoke a scooby in the wet, or snow !!!

but in the dry, .. its another story !!