[Limpmode]

Metallic rattle after a cold start up on an N54 engine is just waste gate rattle. Once the computer takes over it starts governing all the parameters, waste gates, exhaust valve on the left tail pipe, ect. Start your 335 cold, after ten or so seconds you'll hear the waste gate rattle go away, walk to the back of your car and you'll hear the exhaust note change when the exhaust valve closes. Basically the computer leaves everything wide open on a cold start until it has some parameters to go off of.

[wannos@googlemail.com]

can any one post a yout tube clip of the actual sound so i can listen.. i think my car may have this too.

[bumevu]

Hi folks,

I have a 335i 2010 N55 and i have this ticking sound when i start the car, this sound is heard when my car is parked for several hours ( lets say for 6-7+ hours).

If i start the car trough out the day I dont hear the sound. We already did some work on alternator ( we changed used bearing), we have changed all the belts, pulleys and etc but the sound is still here.

So what do you think? The ticking noise is heard for 10 seconds and it goes away.

[STR8-6IX]

thought I would share my experience with the HVA tick on the N52 engine

I have a late model N52, so I was puzzled why I would sometimes hear the ticking on cold starts, until oil temp would come up.

I realized it was tied to the oil interval. My valves were becoming really noisy on cold starts and the ticking would be there for almost 20 minutes (I used castrol 5w40)

switched to shell rotella t6 5w40 and the valve clatter on start up, HVA ticking was COMPLETELY GONE.

this is why I recommend to change oil every 5000 miles. if you are near this oil interval and are experiencing noisy valves on cold starts, now you know why.

[hassmaschine]

nobody cares dude. Lots of people follow the CBS and don't have ticking, even on early N52s. Your OCI has likely has nothing to do with it.

[6ixSpd]

Originally Posted by Sxanth

The ticking noise of Hydraulic valve adjuster is a known problem with the N52 (3.0L) engine fitted with manufacturing date prior to November 2008. An occasional ticking or rattling noise from the HVA elements may occur during cold engine starts or frequent short-distance driving, recently known after the engines reach 50.000 miles. In these situations, the HVA elements may not yet have been supplied with sufficient amounts of air-free oil. This condition will not cause any damage to the engine, and usually remedies itself with a longer driving distance or operating times at full operating temperature. BMW dealers' first response is to perform HVA bleeding procedure, however this procedures seems not to resolve the matters. The second attempt to solve this problem is a replacement with improved HVA parts, however this procedures also does not fully address the problem. Finally, a newly designed cylinder head replacement solves the ticking noise problem for vehicles under warranty. Vehicles produced after November, 2008 have already been fitted with improved cylinder head that resolves this HVA problems.[

+1 . Lifter tick is a rest of air trapped in the system. BMW's own procedure to remedy this is to bleed the valves by holding at 2500-3000 RPM for 3 minutes once the oil is at operating temperature.

There is no harm from this, just an annoying sound on cold start until your car has warmed up enough and the air is purged.

This should be edited into the original post of this thread.

[PhaseP]

Originally Posted by 6ixSpd

BMW's own procedure to remedy this is to bleed the valves by holding at 2500-3000 RPM for 3 minutes once the oil is at operating temperature.

Or you just drive the car, 15~20 minutes later noise is gone.

[6ixSpd]

Originally Posted by PhaseP

Or you just drive the car, 15~20 minutes later noise is gone.

Well duh, unless you actually want to have cold starts without a tick for at least a few weeks. Then you need to bleed them. BMW itself recommends bleeding them every 6 months for tick-free start ups.

[PhaseP]

Originally Posted by 6ixSpd

Well duh, unless you actually want to have cold starts without a tick for at least a few weeks. Then you need to bleed them. BMW itself recommends bleeding them every 6 months for tick-free start ups.

Do they recommend Rotella engine oil too?
Driving the car until noise goes away is bleeding it, there is no difference.

[6ixSpd]

Originally Posted by PhaseP

Do they recommend Rotella engine oil too?
Driving the car until noise goes away is bleeding it, there is no difference.

That's nice.

[Axel135]

OK, so this is a few days apart. Both cold starts.

13th March (very quiet ticking, could be the injectors? Or that the lifters have gotten a proper bleed from driving a longer distance the day before.)

18th March

Is this a "normal" lifter ticking sound?
It comes from what I can hear mostly from the exhaust side.

[PhaseP]

The second video sounds exactly when mine ticks. And yes it happens on the exhaust side lifters first, probably starts with only one lifter, which has that distinct tap tap sound as if something hammer is tapping periodically.

Which model do you have? You have the silver cover, but also oil cooler on the oil filter housing. I only saw on X70 X5 N52 oil cooler.
Probably not US model?

[Axel135]

Originally Posted by PhaseP

The second video sounds exactly when mine ticks. And yes it happens on the exhaust side lifters first, probably starts with only one lifter, which has that distinct tap tap sound as if something hammer is tapping periodically.

Which model do you have? You have the silver cover, but also oil cooler on the oil filter housing. I only saw on X70 X5 N52 oil cooler.
Probably not US model?

Hey, no this is a euro model. built in germany and sold in sweden.
Its a 2007, 325i.

[PhaseP]

I see, you have a real 2.5 liter N52, not the US 3.0 liter made to output like 2.5 liter.

The ticking in your 2nd video is typical. In my experience it only happens after starting a cold engine and leaving it idling for a few minutes and shutting down, or driving it short period with low rpms and shutting it down. Then next time you start it up, it starts to tick. If you can avoid those patterns it won't tick. And the tick is just annoyance.

[slyyoung28]

Got my 330xi used and it has this problem. Short trips it ticks the whole time but after the motor is heated up it is fine.

[aymen_a22]

I seem to have a rhythmic ticking that comes from the engine.

I have had the valve lifters ticking in the past which sounds different (a constant ticking which suddenly goes away after a few miles). This time it is about 5 ticks then it goes quiet, then another 5 ticks, then silent etc. Eventually it stops but not always.

The frequency of the noise increases with engine speed too.

I have no idea what it could be. I did think the DISA flap may be cycling, but it seems metallic not dull and plastic sounding. It also seems to fast for it to be DISA and as it changes with engine speed I have ruled out the DISA so am still stuck.

Any ideas please?

[bobchuong58]

Originally Posted by chris7520

This is a very long thread and full of good info and I'd like to add something and since i don't have the time to read all 119 pages

I hope Im not repeating something that has been said many times. my apologies I am.

I've seen oil level mentioned out of speck lifters and even octane. So here are my observations, The e9x engines are very oil dependent in running various systems beside bearing lubrication. any bit of sludge, low oil level or small solids will play havoc with the Lifters, Vanos system parts and of course bearings and the oil pump its self. the other thing is these motors like is to be run hard from time to time. the oil pumps are variable to the load you are placing on the motor, so unless you are pushing the motor the oil volume and pressures can be quite low, and of course some lifters are just bad from the factory, but not changing the oil enough for your given driving conditions is the biggest culprit of the clicking lifter issues mentioned in this thread or Vanos system codes, most can be traced back to not taking care of the oil in your car over long periods of time. constantly having low oil, (thats needing at least a 1 quart or more less oil equals hotter oil) oil that has reached its service limit and is dirty or has broken down because you should be changing it more often because of driving conditions the car does not alway catch this. like short trips will allow condensation to build up putting water in your oil always a bad thing even small amounts.

I have never bought into BMWs 15K interval for oil, 7500 is more realistic given most owners driving styles and if you only do stop and go driving for short distances 75% of the time change that to 5K. only the guy or gal putting consistent long easy 70+mph highway miles on their car can even consider the 15K service suggestion. I do that and still do 7K for changes. as an example I have 206K on my n52 still sounds like a swish watch. and sounds even better after I've pushed hard on a winding road. Hope this helps.

My E90 had been gone through 1 time with 12K miles Engine oil change interval, the ticking sounds started to develope during acceleration, then during cold start up, during that time I removed the intake and outtake Variable Valve Timing Solenoids cleaned them up, swapped and reinstalled, the ticking sound went away, since then I changed Engine oil every 5k miles, so far so good.

[allanfan]

wow, didn't realized this is such a common problem. I've the same issue on my '08 E93.

On a side note, seems most reports are from N52, mine is N51. Are N51 also known to have the same issue? As I'm way out of warranty, any possibility to DIY lifter change?

[ibuka]

Originally Posted by Axel135

OK, so this is a few days apart. Both cold starts.

13th March (very quiet ticking, could be the injectors? Or that the lifters have gotten a proper bleed from driving a longer distance the day before.)

18th March

Is this a "normal" lifter ticking sound?
It comes from what I can hear mostly from the exhaust side.

Originally Posted by PhaseP

The second video sounds exactly when mine ticks. And yes it happens on the exhaust side lifters first, probably starts with only one lifter, which has that distinct tap tap sound as if something hammer is tapping periodically.

Which model do you have? You have the silver cover, but also oil cooler on the oil filter housing. I only saw on X70 X5 N52 oil cooler.
Probably not US model?

I have the exact same ticking with the 2nd video. I got it after a 600mile trip. I don't know what might be the cause since I don't have it in the last 2 years since I own it. Do you guys solve the problem already? If yes what did you do? Mine is a 2009 3.0L N52 (euro made I believe). I'm bring it to the dealer tonight but afraid of getting a big repair list.

[Mashman]

Originally Posted by ibuka

I have the exact same ticking with the 2nd video. I got it after a 600mile trip. I don't know what might be the cause since I don't have it in the last 2 years since I own it. Do you guys solve the problem already? If yes what did you do? Mine is a 2009 3.0L N52 (euro made I believe). I'm bring it to the dealer tonight but afraid of getting a big repair list.

Read this, and feel better.

http://www.quirkyuncle.com/2013/04/1...w-lifter-tick/

[Schultz8100]

Hello, I recently purchased a 2007 328i Sedan with 115k miles from the original owners who took good care of the car. Upon first looking at the car I noticed the ticking noise but after reading up more on the N52 and ticking lifters it seemed very common and didn't think there was anything to be concerned about besides the annoyance of the noise. When asking the original owners they said that the car has always ticked and never had any issues arise due to it. I don't drive very far each day (probably 5 minutes to school and 5 minutes back home) so it is almost always ticking. However when taking the car for a longer drive say 30 minutes the ticking goes away presumably due to the oil reaching the head and lifters. I took a few videos of the ticking and the car set revving at startup which i find odd and am not sure what that could be indicative of. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks,

Ticking Video 1:

Ticking Video 2:

Self rev on start (1st start of day 7am):

Self rev on start (2nd start of day 1pm):

[CantComplain]

I posted the response below on 1addicts because I happened to have a thread open there when I did the thing that "fixed" my ticking issue. My car was an absolute diesel before I did the 3 things listed below and although it's only been a couple months (and a few hundred miles), the car sounds exactly as I would expect at this point. It's not quiet but it doesn't tick, and my understanding is that's how these things sound. Re-posting it here in case a $20 "fix" helps someone. I may have gotten the Lucas idea from this very thread--I don't know but have researched it multiple times on various sites.

~~

I know this is a super old thread, but thought I'd throw my "solution" out there. I picked up a 07 335i with 130k on it that sounded like a diesel. I focused on other things, believing it was a minor cosmetic (not cosmetic, but you know what I'm saying) issue. Inconsequential, I guess that's the right word. Still believe that's the case BTW. Haven't heard of anyone's car exploding from ticking too loud.

I did an oil change as a result of valve cover and oil filter housing gasket replacements. Think I used 5W30 Castrol. Did a bunch of other stuff too. Ticked as loud as ever. Found it about a quart low after driving around a while, I believe after getting everything up to temp and run in after the oil change. I think I only put in 6 quarts, so that could explain it. Either that or I'm burning some, which may or may not be related to anything. I have original (index 1) injectors, if you can believe that.

Anyway, long story short (I know, too late), I fixed the quart low with a quart of Lucas Synthetic oil stabilizer, put on the engine cover which had been removed for all of the other work, and nary a tick anymore. I think it was a combination of all of the above: low oil, no sound deadener from the cover, and the Lucas stabilizer. I had read about the Lucas product from one of the many other ticking threads on e90 post and figured it was worth the $20 to check it out. Only have a few hundred miles on it since but it's the difference between obnoxious and reasonable. Worth $20 to give it a try for sure.