First a brief of the thread: Cylinder head replacement doesn’t work for my car, the ticking noise continues shortly after the replacement and never stops.
Now the long story:
There is a long thread about the ticking noise from the N52 engine (
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13504), BMW has recommended dealers to replace the hydraulic valve lifters and replace the cylinder head to solve the problem. According to the thread, most people’s problems go away after the cylinder head replacement. During the three years I have the car, I had been to the dealer’s SIX times because of this problem, they had performed almost every steps according to the BMW bulletin (engine bleeding, replacing the lifters a couple of times) and finally a month ago they replace the cylinder head for me. I thought the problem was over and I was happy to get my car back at 12/02/2010. I was wrong. The ticking noise comes back a few days after the work was done.
I called my service advisor and was told I need to break in the car for about 200 miles as the cylinder head was replaced. Since then I took the car out almost every weekend for a decent long trip (average about 200 miles per trip, and I put on snow tires on the car) and now I had close to 1000 miles since the cylinder head replacement. Still the noise happens EVERY SINGLE morning. I park my car in my heated garage every night. It’s not the normal sound when you start the car cold. It sounds like an old diesel and is totally not normal. The sound is extremely loud when the weather is very HUMID. I am not sure if this has anything to do with my engine being the N51. Do any of the N51 owners experience the same problem as I do? (FYI here is a post regarding the difference between N51 and N52:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52608)
Here is a list of trips that I have made to the dealership for the problem:
03/2008: Performed bleeding procedure to the engine.
11/18/2008: Dealer states the sound is due to jammed fuel caps and replaced the cap
(This kept happening in 2009. I was busy with my first child and didn’t go to bug the dealer)
03/08/2010: Removed and replaced all exhaust hydraulic valve lifters. SI B11 09 07
10/21/2010: Replaced exhaust hydraulic valve lifters AGAIN. SIB 110907
11/24/2010: PUMA CASE #36150185 submitted
12/02/2010: Cylinder head replaced.
01/22/2011: Brought in the car again. Dealer said BMW NA will probably DO NOTHING.
Now the list of parts for cylinder head replacement, in case you are interested.
11-12-7-591-619 CYLINDER HEAD WITH
11-12-7-548-799 BOLT CYLINDER HEAD
11-12-0-392-547 SET OF ALU. SCREWS
11-12-7-521-167 ASA-STUT BOLT
11-36-7-524-954 COLLAR SCREW
11-12-7-555-757 CYLINDER HEAD GASKE
11-12-7-571-963 GASKET SET CYLINDER
33-32-6-768-354 HEX SCREW WITH COLL
82-14-1-467-704 ANTIFREEZE
11-42-7-566-327 SET OIL-FILTER ELEM
07-51-0-017-954 MOTOR OIL SAE 5W-30
83-12-0-405-186 WINDSHIELD WASHER A