[threethirty]

Morning

Excuse the layman's terms but I'm really not mechanically minded!

Noticed yesterday and continuing today, my 330i has developed a ticking noise coming from the engine.

I know all engines do this to a certain extent, but I never noticed it on my BMW before. It is really noticeable. The frequency increases with revs. I can hear it when I'm in the car and even when driving (slowly).

Yesterday I was able to make it disappear completely by stopping and restarting the engine, however this morning it won't go away.

Booked in to dealers next week anyway to have the rear window demister fixed.

But in the meantime any suggestions?

Cheers.

[Oli]

Checked your oil? Or injectors make a ticking noise?

[threethirty]

Originally Posted by Oli

Checked your oil?

Not recently ... I rely on the dashboard warning to tell me if it's low. Should I be checking manually?

[NFS]

Originally Posted by threethirty

Morning

Excuse the layman's terms but I'm really not mechanically minded!

Noticed yesterday and continuing today, my 330i has developed a ticking noise coming from the engine.

I know all engines do this to a certain extent, but I never noticed it on my BMW before. It is really noticeable. The frequency increases with revs. I can hear it when I'm in the car and even when driving (slowly).

Yesterday I was able to make it disappear completely by stopping and restarting the engine, however this morning it won't go away.

Booked in to dealers next week anyway to have the rear window demister fixed.

But in the meantime any suggestions?

Cheers.

I have had this on occasion as well. A persistent metallic ticking sound.

For me, it usually developed if I had gone several days without doing a long journey and giving the engine it's legs.

It is a known issue with the 330's engine. There is a very long thread on the forum regarding the problem, but I would avoid it if I were you. Some of the posts on there are a little hysterical in my opinion.

The problem seems to be with 'valve lifters' whatever they are. There is some sort of automatic adjustment system which can stick. I also think it's related to oil circulation within the engine, since on my car oil consumption (and the noise) both increased when a service was imminent.

Oil level isn't a factor and you have to rely on the electronic readout, because the 330i has no manual dipstick.

If you give the car some beans on a longish journey, the noise disapears for a bit, but if you only pootle about for the next few days it will return.

At my 30,000 mile service BMW adjusted something on the valve lifter system and it's been fine since. The service rep noted on the paperwork that the engine should be run 'enthusiastically' to keep everything operating correctly.

Hope this helps

NFS

[threethirty]

Originally Posted by NFS

I have had this on occasion as well. A persistent metallic ticking sound.

For me, it usually developed if I had gone several days without doing a long journey and giving the engine it's legs.

It is a known issue with the 330's engine. There is a very long thread on the forum regarding the problem, but I would avoid it if I were you. Some of the posts on there are a little hysterical in my opinion.

The problem seems to be with 'valve lifters' whatever they are. There is some sort of automatic adjustment system which can stick. I also think it's related to oil circulation within the engine, since on my car oil consumption (and the noise) both increased when a service was imminent.

Oil level isn't a factor and you have to rely on the electronic readout, because the 330i has no manual dipstick.

If you give the car some beans on a longish journey, the noise disapears for a bit, but if you only pootle about for the next few days it will return.

At my 30,000 mile service BMW adjusted something on the valve lifter system and it's been fine since. The service rep noted on the paperwork that the engine should be run 'enthusiastically' to keep everything operating correctly.

Hope this helps

NFS

Thank you very much nfs, this is exactly it. Most of my driving is "pootling" as I work very close to home. It's not had a decent run for a few weeks.

I'm going to see what BMW say about it next week.

[booforty]

What a shame NFS, you have to run your engine "enthusiastically"

Your pootling days are over my friend

[Steve A]

Originally Posted by booforty

What a shame NFS, you have to run your engine "enthusiastically"

Your pootling days are over my friend

I think ths is the start of Simons Midlife crsis

[M3-FAST]

Originally Posted by threethirty

Morning

Excuse the layman's terms but I'm really not mechanically minded!

Noticed yesterday and continuing today, my 330i has developed a ticking noise coming from the engine.

I know all engines do this to a certain extent, but I never noticed it on my BMW before. It is really noticeable. The frequency increases with revs. I can hear it when I'm in the car and even when driving (slowly).

Yesterday I was able to make it disappear completely by stopping and restarting the engine, however this morning it won't go away.

Booked in to dealers next week anyway to have the rear window demister fixed.

But in the meantime any suggestions?

Cheers.

I have a similar noise on my 325i (3 litre engine model) - I booked it in the stealer for the same noise shortly after I had it. They told me it was the piezo injectors that make the noise and can't do anything about it.

Not saying it is the same noise as others are hearing, but an option none the less

[dxb335d]

Injectors do ''click'' a worn lifter will ''tap''... Somewhat louder.


The fact it goes away after a thrash could indicate an Low oil pressure problem.

[E92Fan]

Originally Posted by dxb335d

Injectors do ''click'' a worn lifter will ''tap''... Somewhat louder.


The fact it goes away after a thrash could indicate an Low oil pressure problem.

The most common source of the 'ticking' noise are the piezo injectors for the fuel rail as the engines now use direct injection technology (like diesel cars). The noise is most apparent when the engine is in a lean-burn fuel stratified mode - and goes away when the engine switches to a full power or stoichiometric mode (basically the way the fuel is managed and injected into the cylinders). All entirely normal...

And the fact it goes away after a thrash is nothing to do with a low oil pressure problem. It is just the engine management has put the engine into full power mode for fuelling, and so the ticking noise vanishes

[dxb335d]

Originally Posted by E92Fan

The most common source of the 'ticking' noise are the piezo injectors for the fuel rail as the engines now use direct injection technology (like diesel cars). The noise is most apparent when the engine is in a lean-burn fuel stratified mode - and goes away when the engine switches to a full power or stoichiometric mode (basically the way the fuel is managed and injected into the cylinders). All entirely normal...

And the fact it goes away after a thrash is nothing to do with a low oil pressure problem. It is just the engine management has put the engine into full power mode for fuelling, and so the ticking noise vanishes

Tony i was stating that a Tapping noise from low oil pressure would go away after a thrash.

Your saying the noise he is hearing is a clicking from injectors... another thing i suggested.

[booforty]

Tony, you are brilliant with your explanations

[NFS]

Originally Posted by E92Fan

The most common source of the 'ticking' noise are the piezo injectors for the fuel rail as the engines now use direct injection technology (like diesel cars). The noise is most apparent when the engine is in a lean-burn fuel stratified mode - and goes away when the engine switches to a full power or stoichiometric mode (basically the way the fuel is managed and injected into the cylinders). All entirely normal...

And the fact it goes away after a thrash is nothing to do with a low oil pressure problem. It is just the engine management has put the engine into full power mode for fuelling, and so the ticking noise vanishes

I'm sure this is right Tony, but threethirtys car and my own are earlier models without direct injection.

The ticking sound we are talking about here is something to do with the valve lifters and it is affected by the flow of oil around the engine.

The BMW service guy who dealt with mine told me that there was an automatic adjustment mechanism which keeps everything aligned correctly, but that this could stick. I'm sure he said that it required 'bleeding'?

Anyway, it seems to me that Carl is partly right, as I reckon the reason it goes away after a good drive is related to the fact that the oil does not get fully circulated on short journeys.

Whatever they did to mine, the ticking seems to have gone altogether.

For those that are interested .. this is the main thread on the issue:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...tallic+ticking

Someone has kindly edited the first post and added a diagram showing the valve lifters.

This is a video that someone posted to show how it sounds:

http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/c...orVideo002.flv

Lot's of people on the thread seemed to find that the bleeding did not work and they ended up with engine parts being replaced under warranty. In my case it worked fine.

Edit:

And here is the SIB from BMW:

http://www.bimmerpost.com/forums/att...3&d=1209750792

[roofer]

The lifters are not pressurising fully. Put 1/2`a litre of oil in and give it a good hiding. but preferably, an oil/filter change.

130 did it, long service intervals/dirty oil are responsible.