what does this mean, do i have to go into the top end to repair? what replacement parts should i look at getting before i open up the engine? i just retimed my cams and got this fault afterwards but i checked motion before hand and it moved pretty freely so not sure what is happening. any help would be appreciated.

bump

I think there are three possible causes:

1) The Vanos solenoid is stuck
2) There's been a mechanical failure within the Vanos
3) The engine is sludged up and the Vanos is so full of sludge that it can't operate

You can pull the Vanos solenoid and see if it moves when power is applied. The other possible faults require going into the engine.

Most likely the Vanos solenoid is either stuck or disconnected (or otherwise non-functional). You can test it by manually applying current to the solenoid to activate it, and listen for it to actuate. (check out PelicanParts for a write-up on this). If you need to replace the vanos solenoid, it only runs ~$130 IIRC.

thanks guys the car has 115k on the ODO so i am going to replace it anyway, if it does not do the trick i guees it is into the engine i go the replace worn out parts.

what does this mean, do i have to go into the top end to repair? what replacement parts should i look at getting before i open up the engine? i just retimed my cams and got this fault afterwards but i checked motion before hand and it moved pretty freely so not sure what is happening. any help would be appreciated.

I have the exact same code coming from my 98 528i on the peake tool... Along with mysfire on cyl 6 and crankshaft sensor.. Is the actual vanos unit and solenoid 2 different things ? Im used to working on my non vanos 92 and know nothing about vanos systems.. Did you solve your issue ? What parts did you change ?

Yes.

The misfire on #6 could be oil in the plug well (leaking valve cover gasket), a bad plug, or bad coil. Or is could be that the other problems (Vanos and crank sensor) are responsible. Fix those first and clear the fault codes. If you still get a misfire on #6, check for oil in the plug well and repair as necessary. Otherwise swap its coil with #5 and see if the misfire moves with the coil.