Hello all, I have reached the proverbial "fork in the road". My 09 S vert has reached my saturation point. Now it needs the Timing chain and associated parts replaced, of course it is out of the extended "lawsuit" warranty, and yesterday it gave me the p0012 code (suspect VANOS solenoid). Does anyone know where the solenoid is located? I have seen many videos for replacement, however none of them show the location on the N14 Turbo !!! This car is sooo much fun, but I just want to fix it and send it away.......I guess I'm just tried of the unnecessary complexity Any help would be greatly appreciated ..........Gabe

 

there's a 10MM bolt on the back side of the head, in the area of the tensioner (the tensioner is a 27mm bolt and hard to miss). It helps to get your bearing using a mirror to see the back side of the head, but you can do the job with one person and no mirror once you understand what's what. I think you need to remove the PCV host at the back of the valve cover. Once you remove the VANOS solenoid bolt, you can gently massage the solenoid out by twisting and pulling. If you HAVE to use pliers or channellocks to free it up initially, do it very carefully. Remove it, clean up the mess you just made, then inspect it and spray it out with brake or carb cleaner. Check the o-ring and replace it if necessary. put it back and plug it back in.

They get plugged up or outright fail. They're not that expensive after-market either, I think <$50.