When I was recently doing the first Inspection 1 on my 94 euro M3, I traced an oil leak back to the vanos solonoid cover which was loose.
When I undid the Allan screws to remove the cover, I found one broken off.
I put it together with some hylomar sealent and the remaining screws and have ordered some new screws and a gasket,which has to come from Germany.!!!
I was reading an English Mag last night where they said something to look out for on an M3 was the vanos housing bolts breaking and complete loss of oil.
Now it seems to me that the solonoid housing should not have much stress on it, but does anyone know which housing bolts are known to break. Are they these bolts on the small solonoid housing or the bigger ones on the main vanos housing.
I cannot see how the head broke off , but reading the article rang a bell.
Regards Philip A

Yes, it is the small ones, Allen headed ones, that can come loose. I believe there was even a recall of sorts, and GoBuff knows more about it.

I don't think the problem was them breaking actually, so much as coming loose. If they come loose, oil can catastrophically leak out of course if the whole damn cap starts to come off...the solenoids will break free.

I rather suspect that breakage occures when someone trys to open it, and snaps it off.....

Before working on the vanos solenoids, it pays to pre-soak for 24 hours with something like PB Blaster I think..... then be damn careful undoing them. Over torquing is probably VERY easy to do on these. I don't have the torque specs however. TIS would list them I'm sure.

Thanks for that.
One of mine is definitely broken where the shaft meets the head.
I have ordered all new bolts and gasket.
The others were loose so came out easily.It should be easy to remove the broken one as it sticks out about 3mm.
Must have been faulty bolts.
Regards Philip A