[ff54976]

i am looking at buying a 06 330i mt but the lifter tick things scares the crap out of me!!! is there a way to have a mechanic check the car for this problem ahead of time? do all 330i's have this problem or is it hit or miss? and last do the 09 328i's come with the redesigned head already?

[krnboy817]

i believe the last time i searched on this issue for my e92 was that sept of 06 models to jan 08 models have this issues... or more prone to the issue.

the tech isnt going to check since there is no light or sounds on the dash to let you know of the problem... you simply have to find it through the ownership of the vehicle and make a complaint when found.

they are aware of the issue and if you can prove it with a recording (which i did for mine) then they will fix it with no questions asked.

once its been fixed with step 1 of the process which is changing the exhaust valve lifters then you have to be cautious to issue coming back because they will not do step 2 head replacement with out step 1 failing.

if buying the car, make sure to buy the CPO vehicle and maintenance package that way your worries are covered.

mine has been through the step 1 and after about 10k miles seems like the issue is coming back... and i would need a step 2 process if it comes back for sure. and since i am at 47k miles on the odometer i would be in a crap hole if my car wasnt a CPO with extened maintenance and etc.

another issue you might want to consider also is the coil packs going out... buddies e90 2006 330i was prone to coil packs going out constantly over 1.5yr ownership. not a costly fix but it still adds up.

[ff54976]

man that really sucks. it will be hard to find a cpo that has enough warranty left and worse if the ticking starts after the warranty is up. has there been a range of mileage that this has been occurring? like 40k miles to 80k miles. i guess a 09 328i is starting to sound better. but i want the power of the 330i. man this blows

[krnboy817]

if you do step 1 before youre warranty runs out and need to do a step 2 being out of warranty. i believe BMW backs their work up to 15k miles. just on that same issue.

to be honest, if you ask me... 330i isnt that much different from 328i based on daily driving and daily use.

if you want HP, go for 335i you will have better luck there. i picked up an 2008 e90 335i for 30k with 24k miles CPO about an year ago with my 328i so its not that expensive now.

but for daily driving i love driving the 328i with NA motor over 335i since the car doesn't tire you out and is less demanding and that power surge when boosting gets tiring some times.

330i has faded out for awhile now so if it was me i wouldnt go for it unless the mileage is under 30k miles and price is under 26k CPO'ed with no idrive and with sport package.

oh and your biggest part of ownership is the depreciation... so being an 2006 model, its already 6 yrs old so you might want to keep that in mind as well.

[wakeboarder109]

Originally Posted by krnboy817

if you do step 1 before youre warranty runs out and need to do a step 2 being out of warranty. i believe BMW backs their work up to 15k miles. just on that same issue.

to be honest, if you ask me... 330i isnt that much different from 328i based on daily driving and daily use.

if you want HP, go for 335i you will have better luck there. i picked up an 2008 e90 335i for 30k with 24k miles CPO about an year ago with my 328i so its not that expensive now.

but for daily driving i love driving the 328i with NA motor over 335i since the car doesn't tire you out and is less demanding and that power surge when boosting gets tiring some times.

330i has faded out for awhile now so if it was me i wouldnt go for it unless the mileage is under 30k miles and price is under 26k CPO'ed with no idrive and with sport package.

oh and your biggest part of ownership is the depreciation... so being an 2006 model, its already 6 yrs old so you might want to keep that in mind as well.

Just to clarify, if my lifters are replaced then 5k later the head needs to be replaced, BMW would cover the cost even if I'm out of warranty?

[Dr Zoidberg]

I dont think so.. They will most likely refer to your CPO .

However, I thik you could get them to associate it the earlier incorrect "bad lifter" diagnosis, and say if the head was done then , like it should have been done the first time, we would not be at this point.

BTW, they replaced my lifters, and then the entire head. .It is always the head that fixes it.

[krnboy817]

Originally Posted by wakeboarder109

Just to clarify, if my lifters are replaced then 5k later the head needs to be replaced, BMW would cover the cost even if I'm out of warranty?

if you do any work from the BMW dealer with BMW certified tech, you get a print out sheet of the work that has been done on your vehicle. this also means that your vehicle will always have a history of what ever that has been done on the vehicle by the tech so they will know if you ever need to prove it. so with that said, lifter issues seemed to be a mass defective issue (especially if yours fall in the model range they specify) and not just hit and miss since BMW even has a TSB number for it. so if you get your vehicle fixed before and the warranty runs out, i think they will fix it within some range of mileage or days.

plus they also know that its a two step process to fixing the issue. the step 1 (replacing the lifter) and step 2 ( replacing the heads) and even on the TSB it states that step 1 must be done first and if the issue reoccurs over a period of time/miles, step 2 is needed.

i think the list on the sheet goes like this.

after the name of the tech.
your complaint towards the vehicle.
tech's diagnostic results.
parts used.
what was corrected.

then at the end, the work performed listed on this document is warranted to 15k miles and this issues only.

i dont know if its the dealers that set the mileage or even guarantee at all but when i asked the SA after getting my lifters replaced, he said that if i were to run out of warranty on this vehicle with same issue reoccurring then it would be covered at this dealer with in 15k miles.

if in doubt ask SA David Powell @ Autobahn BMW Ft. worth

[ZZZZ]

Problem is, usually the engine has to be cold to really get a good listen to the lifter tick. So if you bring it in, he won't be able to hear it properly.

For the record, I just picked up my car and it had lifter tick too. Added some Molyslip to the crank case and no lifter tick at all now.

[RupertPupkin]

Originally Posted by ZZZZ

Problem is, usually the engine has to be cold to really get a good listen to the lifter tick. So if you bring it in, he won't be able to hear it properly.

For the record, I just picked up my car and it had lifter tick too. Added some Molyslip to the crank case and no lifter tick at all now.

Is this what you added? http://www.molyslip.com/products/oil...il-supplement/

How much and what oil do you use? Curious.

On many other vehicle forums and sites I read about sticky or noisy hydraulic lifters and it all seems to come back to buildup in the lifter itself. So additive that are a detergent or solvent seem to clean out that lifter and allow fresh oil to get back in.

[AddictedToBavarian]

This damn ticking noise. I bought my car CPO and the previous owner replaced the lifters. It's been 5,000 miles and I think I heard it once on a cold start. Is it intermittent? Sucks I barely drive the car and won't really notice this problem until it might be too late.

[Dr Zoidberg]

Originally Posted by jimmydever

Is this what you added? http://www.molyslip.com/products/oil...il-supplement/

How much and what oil do you use? Curious.

On many other vehicle forums and sites I read about sticky or noisy hydraulic lifters and it all seems to come back to buildup in the lifter itself. So additive that are a detergent or solvent seem to clean out that lifter and allow fresh oil to get back in.

I'm not too sure about that since the ultimate cause of the vavletrain noise in n52k - n52n motors , are the incorrectly sized/shaped oil galleys in the original head found on cars earlier than around 2008. The fix was to replace the lifters ( more of a temp solution) and then replace the head. ( the ultimate fix)

http://www.rtsauto.com/bmw-e90-valve...ter-ticknoise/

[RupertPupkin]

Originally Posted by Dr Zoidberg

I'm not too sure about that since the ultimate cause of the vavletrain noise in n52k - n52n motors , are the incorrectly sized/shaped oil galleys in the original head found on cars earlier than around 2008. The fix was to replace the lifters ( more of a temp solution) and then replace the head. ( the ultimate fix)

http://www.rtsauto.com/bmw-e90-valve...ter-ticknoise/

Let's say you're out of any kind of warranty (me), very handy and have the proper tools to swap the head to a new one, What is the revised head part number, and what is the approximate cost of it? I do not have the ticking yet but if it arises down the road I will just do the work myself. Thanks.

That document I believe has all the part numbers on it. Thanks for the link.

[RupertPupkin]

A quick "googling" Shows the revised head to be over $4000

Then you need like ten more items-bolts,gaskets,etc.

Damn

Parts
(1) 11-12-7-591-617 N52 Cylinder head with valve
(1) 11-12-9-391-547 Set of Alu. screws F Cylinder
(1) 11-12-7-548-799 Bolt cylinder head
(1) 11-12-0-392-547 set of alu. screws
(3) 11-12-7-521-167 ASS-Stud Bolt
(2) 11-36-7-524-954 Collar Screw
(1) 11-12-7-555-757 Cylinder head gasket
(1) 11-12-7-548-921 Gasket set cylinder head
(1) 11-12-0-409-288 set of alu. screws
(2) 13-62-7-530-413 Torx screw
(2) 11-12-7-529-997 Torx Screw
(6) 33-32-6-768-354 Hex screw with collar
(1) 11-42-7-566-327 Set oil-filter Elem
(7) 07-51-0-017-954 Motor oil SW30
(1) 82-14-1-467-704 Antifreeze
(1) 22-11-0-392-551 Set of Alu. screws

[ZZZZ]

jimmy - same thing I found, around $4k. I wonder if the 328i head is the same, can probably get it from the scrappers off of an X3 with a blown engine and put new lifters with it.

Also, that's the same molyslip I'm using. The previous owner did an oil change 3 weeks before I picked up the car, he used Mobil 1 synthetic, I added the molyslip as soon as I got the car and no lifter tick yet. (this includes every morning at around freezing temperatures driving at 4am when lifter tick is usually more noticable and oil is thicker). I plan on running the Molyslip in there for around 4000km and doing an oil change to RS200 or Lubromoly.

[wakeboarder109]

My lifter tick came back tonight. I got a quick video with my phone but it was too dark to see the VIN so I don't know if that will be enough for any dealer to try and help out. I am hoping it ticks again in the morning since I have an appointment on Thursday.

That's interesting about the Molyslip. If the dealer doesn't help out, I'll have to try that as well.

[ladius]

so it seems those of you on the east coast have had or are having this tick, except of course for the fine boys from texas. I'm out LA and wonder if the tick is more prone to happen when it gets cold and in colder areas. Hoping thats true, anyone else out in the west have this problem?

I got a 330i about a year ago that had ~28,000 miles and I put on 17,000. no ticking sounds yet, at least that I can tell, and no problems whatsoever. Hoping I luck out!

[mapleridge]

after reading this thread I realized that the ticking wasn't normal. I took a video and went to the dealer today. I had another issue with rough idle so they are looking at both problems. He mentioned on the service report what he saw in the video and said he would call me tomorrow. We'll see what they say. I have been battling with them to fix the rough idle. They keep refusing to do a software update.

[onevrsix]

man, 330's sure are finicky, I miss the M54 3.0...

[Lush335]

I had the lifters and camshaft in my 2007 328 replaced at around 70K to get rid of the ticking. It's at around 85K now and I've noticed a bit of ticking again a couple times as the mornings get colder. Great.

[krnboy817]

from what i experienced...
i picked up my car in Oct of 2010 and the service was done right before i picked up the car with 33k miles. drove the car about 10k miles and about July of 2011 the ticking issue appeared slowly so its not the cold weather that plays the major effect. i wasnt due for another maintenance for another 7k miles according to my dash so i drove the car only once a week which is on saturday for about 200 miles.

then as i got closer to the maintenance down to about 5k miles i took the car in for brake pad replacement and also asked for the maintenance but was turned down because their limit was 2k miles at most.

so then about Sept 2010 i took the car and recorded it then took it in and the lifters were replaced with oil change and the noise was gone.

now Dec 2011 i have 47k miles on the car and its been about 5k - 7k miles since the replacement and ticking is coming back. im finally due for that maintenance and actually over by 700 miles.

so my guess is that its the engine oil that has something to do with it as well. seems like when its new and fresh it works fine, but once you go over that 5k - 7k miles it seems to come back slowly (tick). but its also not like you can take it in for a service when ever you want either.

im sure head and lifter replacement will do some what of a fix but im beginning to think its not just that, perhaps its that these engines parts werent designed correctly with the BMW maintenance intervals like they should be.

[mapleridge]

You don't need to wait for service if your having an issue. All of my visits have been outside of scheduled maintenance. If you already had the lifters replaced and you still have warranty just book a time to have it inspected. Given you had the lifters done they should replace the head now.

FWIW They replaced my lifters today and did the software update. I am not sure if they threw in the update because it was a must with the lifter change or the video sold them. Anyways, I will be all over this tick. If it comes back, I will definitely demand they change the head.

[krnboy817]

the maintenance and warranty service are two different thing.

you cannot do the maintenance service unless you are at 2000 miles away or at service interval according to the dash comp.

warranty work can be done at anytime when there is a problem but if your service intervals do not meet the BMW requirement guide lines, they will not do BOTH at the same time.

they will do the oil change at the head and lifter replacement since all the oil has to be drained to be replaced, but nothing else will be replaced and service interval will not be reset.