ianbmwe60

A sticking or jamming vanos exhaust solenoid any one have this

eaton18

Yup, replaced both solenoids and haven't had the problem since. Cleaning and swapping like most people recommend did not help at all for me.

seanjordan20

I concur with the post above. I had a friend with the same code and changing them out did the trick. I never tried cleaning them maybe that would help.

I would suggest starting future posts with year model and mileage so we can better assist you in troubleshooting your issues. Some issues these cars have are specific to manufacture date, model and/or mileage.

richie281vn

I'd second that.

I used to have 2a87 and and 2A98 intermittenly with rough acceleration at times. So I decided to bite the bullet and replaced both solenoids, camshaft sensors and the 2 return valves at once since I'm on it. The car is now running much smoother like a brand new car, except for my fuel pump problem but thats another story.

The return valves should be replaced since both of my solenoids looked clean but the return valves look like cr*p

ianbmwe60

We're are the return valves

ianbmwe60

Sorry never mentioned mine is a 05 525i petrol

richie281vn

I have 06 525i petrol so presumably we have the same engine.


The returns valves are located in the valve cover gasket, on the passenger side of the engine. A bit hard to get into with a long screw driver, make sure you have the magnetic one.

ianbmwe60

Yep I located the return valve and the top one was bad Wud that be causing the 2a87 code

richie281vn

I replaced 6 of them at once so I cant say for sure which one caused it. You might want trying out one by one. Started with the return valves and solenoid first

ianbmwe60

6 of what richie