How do I change the VANOS chain tensioner?

CHRISTOPHER SA

MEMBER
1993 BMW 320I
2.0L
6 CYL
2WD
MANUAL
116,000 MILES

This engine is the same as the 325. Since I will be taking the head off soon I thought it would be a good idea to change the tensioner as I have seen many videos that state that it will fail at some point.

Wednesday, September 28th, 2022 AT 10:51 PM

5 Replies

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
42,878 POSTS

Yep, that is a good idea. Here is how to change out the timing chain lower guide which means you will need to remove the front cover as well. Here is how to do the job in the images below. Check out the images (below). Let us know what happens and please upload pictures or videos of the problem.

Images (Click to make bigger)

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Thursday, September 29th, 2022 AT 11:27 AM

CHRISTOPHER SA

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206 POSTS

Thanks for this Ken. This may have to wait a while as I need to budget the cost in. I also need to sort out the drawings as they seem to be in no particular order.

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Thursday, September 29th, 2022 AT 12:12 PM

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
42,878 POSTS

Sounds good, the images are in the order the manual gave them to me FYI. Let me know if you need anything else to get the problem fixed.

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Friday, September 30th, 2022 AT 11:57 AM

CHRISTOPHER SA

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206 POSTS

Hi Ken,

It looks like I will not be removing the heads as there is now no need to. See this thread as to why: https://www.2carpros.com/questions/car-stopped-working-suddenly

Thanks for the images and your time. If I do need to change the timing guides in the future I will come back here.

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Friday, October 7th, 2022 AT 2:41 AM

KEN L