BMW 11121745458 Cylinder Head

The 6-cylinder engine uses double-VANOS on Cylinder head; detachment of the VANOS unit requires extra tools and processes. Before doing repair, it is important to know the process, because if camshafts are disassembled, or removed and assembled, or cylinder head is removed and assembled without enough tools, it is possible to damage or break something. Valves may get bent from contact with the piston crown as can the camshafts which may break if improperly stressed during removal or installation. 'VANOS' is an abbreviation for 'VAriable NOckenwellen Steuerung' which is a German name. The process of removal and installation of cylinder heads is somewhat different as the intake manifold has to be removed before the cylinder head. For such a substantial amount of reconditioning after pulling a cylinder head, there is a remanufactured version obtainable from an original equipment BMW parts supplier.

VANOS is mounted to V8 engine cylinder heads, and some specific tools and processes are required for removing the VANOS units when the cylinder heads are removed. Generally, one should be aware of the whole process before proceeding to the repair task. This can be done without special equipment, and if done loose valves can bend from contacting the piston crown and camshafts can bend if overstressed as when removing or assembling. As for VANOS - the acronym derived from VAriable NOckenwellen Steuerung, which is German - stands for variable camshaft timing. The disassembly process for VANOS is described under camshaft and camshaft timing in this page. There is separate information on the removal and installation procedures of the right and left cylinder heads; also, the intake manifold must be unbolted before the removal of either cylinder head. If for some reasons a cylinder head needs extensive reconditioning after removal from an engine, a remanufactured cylinder head is available from the BMW authorised source.