[mikerow]

Good day chaps, newbie here from the UK.

I found this place while searching for information and experience of problems with the petrol, sorry 'gasoline' engine BMW 3-series. This thread, given 'sticky' status at the top of the board confirms my suspicions that I am certainly not alone.

gsandha99, I am wondering when your car was manufactured. Your profile lists an 07 335i but what month? My car is an 07 330i built in October or November 2007, it has the N53 engine and that is the root of all my troubles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_N53

Regards,
Mike.

[bsamoul]

Originally Posted by Pulse

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE

Replacing the HVAs will NOT fix the problem! Do NOT accept the revised HVAs as a fix!

I had mine done a few months ago, and the noise has returned. I am now awaiting approval from BMW UK for an entire cylinder head.

We have no choice but to accept it. The noise has to come back in order to submit a request for a head.

Originally Posted by rault18

so i started hearing this..im way over warranty but have extended one...whats basically the issue with this? and whats the solution to it. I read the thread and so many mixed opinions..any techs?

Spark notes: car ticks at idle (usually n52 engines), dealer replaces exhaust lifters. noise is supposed to go away. if it comes back most of the time you will get a new cylinder head.

[VIZSLA]

Originally Posted by syl2us

ok, so I am going to take my car in for this problem and will be showing them the bulletin posted a few pages back.

My question: I did my own maintenance to the car, I KNOW for a fact that this noise was happening before I did my recent oil change, oil filter change and a few other things. Now the only way of proving that I have done the maintenance is by showing them the receipt for purchasing the parts from Tischer. Another thing, I did not do my servicing close to the DATE that it was supposed to be due. There is a yearly oil change, but I waited a couple months after one year to change the oil. What is going to stop them from saying this is my fault, when they question the maintenance what should I tell them?

TIA

Don't assume that they're going to hard ball you. Its a recognized problem and BMW has willingly performed expensive repairs on a big number of cars. Be prepared to fight if necessary but don't go into it with a bad attitude right off the bat.
Good luck.

[syl2us]

ok, so I am going to take my car in for this problem and will be showing them the bulletin posted a few pages back.

I have CPO warranty to 100k btw.

My question: I did my own maintenance to the car, I KNOW for a fact that this noise was happening before I did my recent oil change, oil filter change and a few other things. Now the only way of proving that I have done the maintenance is by showing them the receipt for purchasing the parts from Tischer. Another thing, I did not do my servicing close to the DATE that it was supposed to be due. There is a yearly oil change, but I waited a couple months after one year to change the oil. What is going to stop them from saying this is my fault, when they question the maintenance what should I tell them?

I know that they can only deny warranty issues if they can prove its a direct fault of mine when changing oil... what stops them from bullshitting me?

TIA

[mikeokimster]

Even after 3 months of getting the cyl head swapped, there is still ticking on some cooler days.

[HTran]

I can sort of deal with the ticking, but its not that harmful if left unfixed correct?

[donleycott]

A ticking noise probably wont cause any harm, but a loud tapping from a lifter
can cause damage to associated parts. I would let the dealer decide..

[33five]

just had my lifters hydraulic fluid or whatever its called bled and flush. i told my sa and he went on to see what was wrong and did what he could accordingly. however the clicking noise came back about a week later

[HTran]

Originally Posted by donleycott

A ticking noise probably wont cause any harm, but a loud tapping from a lifter
can cause damage to associated parts. I would let the dealer decide..

well, mine sounds exactly like that clip shown above.

[raihansdg]

Originally Posted by 33five

just had my lifters hydraulic fluid or whatever its called bled and flush. i told my sa and he went on to see what was wrong and did what he could accordingly. however the clicking noise came back about a week later

Did you take it to the dealer again? What did they say? Also you have a 335i right?

Originally Posted by VolcomFrenzy

well, mine sounds exactly like that clip shown above.

Yeah mine sounds like that too. The dealer says it normal. After the engine has competely warmed up the noise disappears.

[waqiidepp]

I had the same issue in a 2007 328xi with only 25K miles. I took it to the dealer (BMW westmont) even when the noise was gone, he was aware of the issue and since my car was under warranty he replaced the hydraulic lifters, no questions asked.
Then the sound came back within 2 weeks i think. I recorded it on my phone, coz by the time u take it to the dealer it goes away. But anyway i took it back to the SA at westmont. He saw my recording and said we might have to replace the cylinder head. So he asked me to leave the car with him. and within few hours he called and said they will replace the head and will have the car ready witihin 5 days.
I havent heard the sound again. Its been over 1000 miles now.

[BLACK DOGG]

Originally Posted by BLACK DOGG

'06 E90 ZHP w/ 25k miles from Montreal
Weather @ -1C/30F
Winter storage

It wasnt too cold today here in Montreal so I decided to let the car run for a bit. Ticking sound lasted for about 10 minutes (I can hear it IN the car - really obvious when your outside). After 45 minutes the ticking sound fainted. I opened the hood for about 90 seconds in the fresh cold air, (just to see what would happen) ... well, the ticking sound came right back. Closed the hood for 5 minutes, let the engine bay warm up again, and low and behold.. Sound was gone.

I'm due for an oil change, that may be my problem, however that ticking sound is still messing with me!

I don't know if that's normal, change my lifters, or top head... !!!

I'll keep you guys updated as the weather changes...

'06 E90 ZHP w/ 25k miles from Montreal
Weather @ 18C/64F
Out of storage

+Fresh new oil change @ the dealership. First free oil change...

TICKING SOUND is GONE!

The car runs soooo much smoother + I`m doing great gas mileage.


She`s the best.

[joejoe652]

I had an ahh haa moment today that I feel I must get online so people could find it with Google seach. I own a 1995 BMW 525i. The car has been ticking for 5 years and I couldn’t locate it. It clearly sounded like a lifter tick. Kind of like someone was tapping a screw driver somewhere under the hood. The ticking increased as the RPMs increased. I thought maybe it was low oil pressure, maybe a lifter, ect… It went away from time to time especially if I put the car in neutral and brought the RPMs up to about 4000. After 5 years I finally fixed it by accident! I serviced my transmission! Go figure. I decided to change my transmission fluid and filter. I added three quarts of Dex111 started the car and ran it for a couple of minutes in neutral like the manual said, then preceded to add fluid until full. (How to do that is another story) well, the car was ticking like always tick tick tick tick. When I started to add the fifth quart the tick went away and never returned. Who would have quest those symptoms to be low transmission fluid? It must have something to do with a pump starving for oil or something. Strange, I hope this helps someone out there. Good luck, Joe
By the way, the transmission is GM that year if your car was imported to the US. Also, the transmission takes more than 3.2 quarts as suggested by the manual. I confirmed that with the dealer. If you don’t know how to add transmission fluid to your BMW, Google there’s lots of posts on how to.

[capitalst]

Just dropped my 330i off for this ticking noise. I should find out tomorrow what this is all about. Crappy part is they had no BMW's left for loaners so I have a crappy G35X. Not a nice car at all.

[bsamoul]

Originally Posted by capitalst

Just dropped my 330i off for this ticking noise. I should find out tomorrow what this is all about. Crappy part is they had no BMW's left for loaners so I have a crappy G35X. Not a nice car at all.

Hopefully they get it fixed on the first try!

[capitalst]

My guess is they wont. Hopefully, my second loaner is a BMW. lol

[tsuma]

Originally Posted by joejoe652

I had an ahh haa moment today that I feel I must get online so people could find it with Google seach. I own a 1995 BMW 525i. The car has been ticking for 5 years and I couldn’t locate it. It clearly sounded like a lifter tick. Kind of like someone was tapping a screw driver somewhere under the hood. The ticking increased as the RPMs increased. I thought maybe it was low oil pressure, maybe a lifter, ect… It went away from time to time especially if I put the car in neutral and brought the RPMs up to about 4000. After 5 years I finally fixed it by accident! I serviced my transmission! Go figure. I decided to change my transmission fluid and filter. ...

I dunno if that's related. My E91 328i is a 6 speed M/T. Still ticking after lifters replaced, but only after short drives and in cold mornings.

[Heartless]

brought my car in this morning for the metallic rattle noise and the SA told me its the wastegates which are going to be replaced. Hopefully we will see if that works and the boost/lag is fixed

[Zippy7575]

Probably not much I can add to this after 66 pages, but fwiw my Mazda 6 V6 has had a similar ticking noise since new and it now has 85k miles and still runs fine and doesn't use any oil. The Mazda folks say it's normal, and I find it only does it on cold days after the engine is warm, which seems to be what some folks have described here.

I'd be inclined not to worry too much about it if it's just a slight ticking that you hear at idle or just above.

[Alpine328]

WARNING: My First Post!

Simply...

Have lifter replacements worked for ANYBODY?

Got mine done about two months ago...so far...no tapping.

Granted the weather got warmer, but...

...has ANYONE gotten complete resolve with lifter replacement???

Thanks!

[Saintor]

Yes in my case, it solved the ticking issue and wonder of all wonders, 'eliminated' the oil consumption at the same time. I was taking 1 litre by 4-5000km. Stopped.

[munich2007]

I took my bmw 335 to the dealership and they told me the ticking noise is normal due to all the moving parts in the engine etc....They said in my case the noise isnt so bad and so its not the lifters. Can anyone post a link to the noise so i can compare? Is my SA bullshitting?