Dr. Vanos

[UdubBadger]

Very good promise of product and quality (over OEM) but not apparently that isn't always the case (as I am sure most of you have heard of my troubles over the last 3 days).

Yes the install was a bit easier than the Beisan System seals/rattle kit and should have shaved off an hour or two of total time, but when you run into issues as I did with the solenoids not being cleaned properly and pistons getting stuck, you will double your time spent under the hood fixing things in the end.

I am not going to say I can recommend this or not yet as I am still considering it a pending issue. However I was able to fix everything finally.

Aaron (and Dr. Vanos staff),

I was able to get to the exhaust solenoid after a last minute trip to the hardware store and about 3 hours of trying to remove it in tight engine bay quarters tonight. I cleaned out all of the grit, relubricated and reinstalled all of the components and got the car working the way it should (for now). I don't need a warranty unit sent out for now but thank you for that offer. To be honest, it would have been harder for me to go through an entire vanos removal again than it was to fix it this way, as my skills under the hood are fairly limited.

With that being said, I wanted to voice my displeasure with the entire process I just had to go through to get to where we are now. Originally I weighed the pros and cons of your product, a total vanos replacement swap, with the one of 1/2 the price in the Beisan Systems seals and rattle kit. Your kit is advertised as one that is "professionally rebuilt to a much higher standard than the factory refurbished units" and claim that you are second to none in the vanos industry. It was because of this claim of high quality and ease of install that I chose your product.

With the 6 hours I spent on the actual vanos install with my friend helping me, plus the 2 issues of both of the solenoids needing to be removed, cleaned out and reinstalled I doubled the install time on this project at just about 12 hours total (which doesn't count the time I had to take researching things or making multiple trips to the hardware and auto parts stores over and over). The problem is that the extra 6 hours (under the hood of the car) was to no fault of my own, but rather on Dr. Vanos's end for not properly cleaning/refurbing the vanos units as your claim states you do to each piece you sell. Had I gone the other Beisan Systems route with my original vanos unit, the extra time spent replacing the seals would have still made out to be much less than the total time I spent on the project using yours. Also, since my solenoids operated properly I wouldn't have run into these extra unforeseen issues. Additionally, I wouldn't have spent an extra $100 on a code reader and $50 in extra tools needed to remove the solenoids and pistons. I won't even try to put a price tag on the frustration of the daunting task of the trial and errors needed to actually get it done but I'm sure you can imagine.

I realize that sometimes these little things happen, and that is understandable. However, since it was clearly explained to me (by both you and Chris via phone) that it is a common occurrence that these chambers have built up grit and gunk from not being fully cleaned out properly, I believe the liability rests with Dr. Vanos in the failure to sell a quality product to me (its customer) as it promised to do.

So this is where I ask you, what can be done here to compensate me for this hassle? My time is valuable (as I'm sure yours is too) and I put a several of my friends out, irritated the hell out of my wife and most importantly rearranged my life and schedule having to deal with this issue over the last 3 days. Because of these reasons, I feel that some kind of compensation for the trouble is appropriate in this case.

I await your response with great anticipation.

Sincerely,

Seth August

I'll let you all know how it goes.


See the conclusion here: http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showt...148#post192148

[JupiterBMW]

Please do... I was considering ordering the Dr. Vanos unit, but now I'm thinking about waiting...

[gammagoblin]

Wow that sucks.

FWIW I had no issues with my Dr. Vanos.

[danewilson77]

Have you found through your research that this vanos solonoid issue happens often/not often/a few times/etc?

[UdubBadger]

Dane both guys I've spoken with (Aaron and Chris) over there told me flat out they have recently been having issues with there being build up in both intake and exhaust solenoid areas that cause the piston to become jammed in the chamber. They said it was because they aren't cleaned out as well as they should be. I take that as an admission of fault, don't you?

Hopefully they give me a partial refund and this also causes them to do some QC on the units they send out.

[danewilson77]

Mmm....That clears up my question. Thank you.

[UdubBadger]

kinda surprised no answer to my email today.

[KevinC]

Just went through my own similar headache. Ordered a rebuilt VANOS from the good Doctor. Had my very experienced indy mechanic install it a week ago today, along with a DISA Gold. During test drive, car ran like shiite, refusing to rev, then threw a CEL. Returned to shop, read the fault codes, and there were issues with both the intake and exhaust sides. Called the doc, left message, sent email, finally heard back from Chris. Explained situation, he sounded genuinely surprised, wanted to know the exact fault codes. Gave him the indy's phone number, said he'd call. I check back with the shop 4 hours later, no call yet from Chris. Shit. Finally Chris gets hold of him Thursday morning, and after hearing exactly what they were experiencing, decides it must indeed be a bad unit, agrees to send replacement. Never contacts me again, I now get all info from the shop. I ASSume he'll overnight the thing - heck it only weighs a couple of pounds, and he knows my car is down. Nope. Monday, Tuesday come and go, no delivery. I email him last night, politely asking for tracking info and explaining that I'm a week without car as of today. No response. Call the shop at about 2pm. New unit arrived today, they are buttoning up the car now. Sheesh, finally. I get home and Chris has finally responded to my email, and has the nads to ask that I send back the core & bad unit right away, as they are in need of cores. REALLY? Oh, let me jump through hoops and get them RIGHT back to you! Thanks for the same consideration while my car was down.

He's agreed to make "some kind of adjustment" but he'd better knock at least $100 off or I'm gonna get real testy with him. I understand a bad unit, but the way he handled the followup and replacement is just unacceptable. He actually told the shop he had another rebuilt unit "right here" and ready to ship, so they can't use the excuse that another wasn't immediately available. Even if that had been the case, it should have been communicated to me.

All's well that ends well, I suppose. The car is fine now, my shop cut me a great deal on the labor, despite having to do the job twice, and lock my car up for the past week while we waited for the part. But between my experience and what I'm learning from this thread, I'd have a real hard time recommending the doctor to others. I'll post back when an "adjustment" has been agreed upon.

[Sockethead]

I wonder why the issue with quailty?
1) they send the parts out for the cleaning process.
2) they have too many units going through and are rushing the process.
3) they have some new guy or stoner doing the cleaning process.
4) they say they test every single unit before shipping.... they must only test the operation of the pistons;

In either case, by doing just the seals on your own unit gives one control over the quality of the process.... having done both, the Besian isn't that much more work... looks like I'll be recomending that until they get their quality issues fixed...

[danewilson77]

The issue I have, is that the vanos unit you get is not your vanos unit. You have no idea, how the car was maintained, regarding the vanos unit you end up with.

I think this is important ragrding the inscindiary and related components.