[shadowcoder]

Do we know for sure that the cylinder head change solves the problem long term
because of its new design? Can people who went through this with their dealer
verify that this is a new design? Or perhaps our BMW techs I've seen post in the
thread? TIA.

I had the bleeding procedure done 5 times per the SIB. Initially and while I was
at the dealer, the engine did sound better. By the time I got home the ticking
was more intense than before and the engine sounded like a diesel again. They've
been very good so far though and after having a long discussion with the service
manager they assured me that if the noise persists to bring the car back and
they will open a PuMA.

[Shocked@BMW]

The DEALER believed me and tried to get this fixed, but could not do anything without BMW's say. Remember they told me "it is normal they all do it". Most people just get in and drive it like that. BMW handled this wrong and should not be selling these engines with this defect. When the dealer and BMW tried to keep me as a customer. I had thought about getting a new $50,000+ 335i Coupe. When my salesman started the car and pulled it out of the lot for me to drive TAP, TAP, TAP. Mind you this was a brand new 2009 model. I would not have taken delivery of my car had it sounded like that when I picked it up. The dealer told me allot of times when someone test drives a car and it does this they say "whats that" but after the test drive it's gone and they buy the car anyway. This has been happening for years and BMW knows all about it, yet they are still putting theses parts on BRAND NEW CARS! Just taking a chance the customer does not complain about it. Most people lease these cars and don't care anyway. This BLEED procedure is a joke and will not FIX anything, you may as well put a brick on the gas pedal and do it yourself. This is a premium car with a premium price tag and never thought I would get treated like this, not acceptable. I BOUGHT my car with hard earned money and lost my shirt as a result by not keeping my repainted clunker. This should not happen to anyone and it is a result of BMW's policy of handling this issue.

[5erman]

This new design is indeed new and addresses the problem. My ticking was immediatly gone with no problems into the second week. Trust me at 8k a pop bmw is NOT going to make this mistake twice. This is going to be the sturdiest, non-ticking engine they ever make. I am sure this head was designed VERY carefully and like I commented they would not do all this work and pay 8k for each person if they did not know darn well it hurt the engine.

My dealers as well had a procedure to bleed twice and then submit puma-that is the general concensus.

As I also stated this head was clearly designed with better oil flow in general as the performance is much improved. The rev's get up there way faster and the engine is much stronger. I think they wanted to reward all of us who had to deal with this with a few extra horsepower in this head design as it is noticablly faster.

[Rekla]

3rd week after the replacement, engine runs smooth as silk.
Observed fuel consumption is -10% from before the replacement. Maybe it also has to do with the smooth revs in DS mode - the needle swings very easily into the 3rd quadrant. Driving in D feels the same, driving in DS does feel somewhat more "play-full".
Glad this issue is over for me. GL to all the others trying to get it "resolved".

[rambalu80]

I had my cylinder head replaced in July 2008 and all is well. All dealerships are aware of the issue and for me I had no trouble letting them hear the noise because it ticked all the time and didn't matter if the engine was cold or hot. I had to take my car in twice and the second time, they initiated the PUMA case and had my car for about 10 - 12 days but replaced the cylinder head for me without a fuss.

[5erman]

I actually have seen better gas mileage and remember give it some time to break in. The performance and mileage is only going to get better after a couple thousand miles so if you notice better performance now wait a few months. My car feels better than it did when it was new. It feels like a rocket and this is ocming from having a 335 recently.

What I love about this engine is that it pulls harder and harder up until redline where as the n54 engine pulls WAY hard down low and in the middle but then plummits as you approach redline so from 6-7k you just feels a dead zone and thus are better are shifting at 6. However I like reeling it out into the high RPMs for that sound and feel of pull. The n52 gives you the biggest strongest pull at 6850 and as soon as you hit that it shifts so you never feel a flat low spot. Hhowever bottom end is flatter than all flat and its lack of torque is really noticable on the low end so if you do not drive this car in the mid-high rpm range all the time, then you see the engine's flaws. If you keep it in the right rpm zone this engine is sweet.

Kind of like most M cars-they are made to drive and race therefore its the upper RPMs they make power. The n54 is a much more driveable car with power at the bottom.

anyway I am glad this problem is fixed and could not be happier, especially with 40k miles I landed a new engine in a car I own, cannot be happier than that.

[mkiszka2000]

After 1 year of ownership at 10k miles, I got my cylinder head replaced recently on my 328xi. The dealership (Erhard BMW, Farmington) was great and I had my car back in 2 days after scheduling a service appointment. No evidence of the ticking noise now, but I have noticed a 2-3mpg reduction. This should improve with time. I had to admit, I struggled with getting this job done but feel its worth it, expecially at resale time.

[avandss]

god damn! i have a brand new LCI 323i with about 10k on it! tick tick tick tick tick and i already burned 2 liters of oil WTF????

is this normal?????? i mean i dont care much since its a lease but that tick is getting annoying and missing 1 liter in 5000km????

should i go to the dealer or am i wasting my time?

[Ferg]

Got a PUMA case initiated today. We'll see what they have to say.

[Laredo]

Hello!

I just pickup my car, it had the famous tickling noise, went thru the routine PUMA case and authorized a cylinder head gasket change. I am listing the parts they changed. Now after reading all the previous replies I am noticing they only changed certain parts and not all the parts everyone is posting, for example no oil change and antifreeze. What should I do??? Was this done correctly???? Please comment!!

[BK]

^^ If they changed the cylinder head, there's no way they did it without changing oil and coolant.

[Laredo]

I asked the SA and he said it was not needed, how is this??

[5erman]

Wow you are missing a ton of parts that were replaced on mine with the head change.

I do not see a new head gasket??? YOu cannot re-use a head gasket!! If they re-used your old gasket I would raise hell because you are askin for leaks and problems down the line.

Also there is no change in oil filter or oil whereas mine was changed twice, once after install and once after driving car for a bit by the dealer.

Here are the parts I see you are missing

11127548921-gasket set
11127555757-cylinder head gasket itself
11127529997-two sets of torx screws
Oil filter
Motor oil bmw synthetic
antifreeze

The bit thing that would worry me is the lack of changing a gasket, and not changing the oil filter or oil. If they drained and re-used your oil that would be no good at all.

[F32Fleet]

Mine has been tick free for 2 months with head replacement

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by 5erman

Wow you are missing a ton of parts that were replaced on mine with the head change.

I do not see a new head gasket??? YOu cannot re-use a head gasket!! If they re-used your old gasket I would raise hell because you are askin for leaks and problems down the line.

Also there is no change in oil filter or oil whereas mine was changed twice, once after install and once after driving car for a bit by the dealer.

Here are the parts I see you are missing

11127548921-gasket set
11127555757-cylinder head gasket itself
11127529997-two sets of torx screws
Oil filter
Motor oil bmw synthetic
antifreeze

The bit thing that would worry me is the lack of changing a gasket, and not changing the oil filter or oil. If they drained and re-used your oil that would be no good at all.

It's there atleast the gasket is

[Laredo]

Yes the head gasket is there.. I did ask about the oil change and filter,they said it is not needed only the antifreeze, which they topped off but did not bill it to warranty.. I have to say I dont hear the tickling noise in the cabin, however if I lift up the hood I can still hear it a bit, is this normal after all this??? I feel I took it to the wrong dealership...

[rce90]

Originally Posted by Laredo

Yes the head gasket is there.. I did ask about the oil change and filter,they said it is not needed only the antifreeze, which they topped off but did not bill it to warranty.. I have to say I dont hear the tickling noise in the cabin, however if I lift up the hood I can still hear it a bit, is this normal after all this??? I feel I took it to the wrong dealership...

Wow...this is still going on, I wonder if the 09's have this problem? I had my cylinder head replaced right about this time last year (June 08) and the car has been perfect ever since. No tapping whatsoever. Laredo, if you can still hear it when you lift up the hood, I suggest you take it back or go to a different dealer, and yes you are missing quite a bit of parts that should have been replaced. My motor sounds the same as when i took delivery of the car. Smooth and quiet.

[Shocked@BMW]

The fact BMW makes there customers go through all this makes me want to. And yes the 09's do it they are still selling these defective motors hoping no one will say anything. I do not doubt the 2010's will do it. If I had leased my car I would not have bothered to do anything about it, let it be there problem. I still can't believe BMW can let these cars drive around sounding like they have junk yard motors in them, what a black eye for a PREMIUM car.
As I explained earlier BMW corporate did not care (AT ALL) how unsatisfied I was with this problem. I told them I found this thread on the subject, and they basically said it was hearsay. I had also told them I would tell anyone about the BS they had made me go through, that was all for nothing to be done anyway. They just don't care! If anyone wants the contact info of the people I talked to at BMW let me know I will be more than happy to share any info.
And yes the oil MUST be changed when doing this invasive surgery! I would never let it go to 15,000 miles no mater what they say, the fact you can't see or smell the oil is a joke anyway.

[Laredo]

Thanks everyone.. I hate the hasle and the waist of time to take it again and expain... it is ridiculous.. can anyone recomend a good dealer in Houston, so I can take it and have them look at it again...??
thanks

[Vacek]

Glad I found this thread ...

My SA was telling me that my "ticking" in my 08 328xi was "Normal" , "They all do it"

It is bad enough, that in a drivethrough, I sometimes turn my car off ... as I'm embaressed. He continued to tell me again, "they all do it" and it is completely normal.

My SA has been very good to me over the last year, however something didnt sit right this time around for me. It is NOT normal for my $60,000 car to tick like a 25 year old chevette.

Any suggestions before I go to the dealer tomorrow?

[DESI4life10]

^^ usually the dealer needs to hear it first before they do anything (stupid excuse). There is a SIB out there that bleeds the system. In the end this ticking is still there and maybe even worse.

You have to really push the dealership and tell them that this is how it has to be done (replace cylinder head). Tell them to open a PUMA case on this etc. There is a lot of good information in this thread about it.

I have got mines replaced about 3 months back and she purrs like a beauty now

[Shocked@BMW]

And by the way as I said earlier, I had also had the noise on video tape but that was not good enough for them. Both BMW or the dealer would not accept it. I said I am not talking about the injector buzz this is a METAL on METAL TAP.