ticking noise from cold engine....again?

[stevetaz]

I have a sdrive 3.0 October 2009 and it’s done about 5k mikes. I notices the knocking noise from the engine about 3 months ago and notices it went when the car had done about 2 mikes. I booked it in to our local dealer and they had it overnight they found nothing wrong. When I went to collect it they said if it comes back to let them know, i went out to the car and started it and it was knocking got the service guy out and the technician who had worked on the car and they both hear it. They both said it should not be doing this. I rebooked it in but had to wait two weeks, dropped it off and said i would leave it with them for a week to see if they could find the problem, They have had my car now for two weeks and they said it has not been knocking when they start it. The original technician was on holiday for those two weeks he is back today so the chief technician and the service manager were going to speak to him. I spoke to the service manager on Friday and he said there was nothing wrong with the car that they could find. I did a bit of searching on the tinternet and found all the you tube recordings and emailed him the links have not had a call or email from them !

Has anyone found the answer yet some people seem to think it’s the lifters ? seen the link with the diagrams on very helpful.

I have a 39 year old landrover that quieter then this z4 when it starts !

[teagueAMX]

Originally Posted by stevetaz

I have a sdrive 3.0 October 2009 and it’s done about 5k mikes. I notices the knocking noise from the engine about 3 months ago and notices it went when the car had done about 2 mikes. I booked it in to our local dealer and they had it overnight they found nothing wrong. When I went to collect it they said if it comes back to let them know, i went out to the car and started it and it was knocking got the service guy out and the technician who had worked on the car and they both hear it. They both said it should not be doing this. I rebooked it in but had to wait two weeks, dropped it off and said i would leave it with them for a week to see if they could find the problem, They have had my car now for two weeks and they said it has not been knocking when they start it. The original technician was on holiday for those two weeks he is back today so the chief technician and the service manager were going to speak to him. I spoke to the service manager on Friday and he said there was nothing wrong with the car that they could find. I did a bit of searching on the tinternet and found all the you tube recordings and emailed him the links have not had a call or email from them !

Has anyone found the answer yet some people seem to think it’s the lifters ? seen the link with the diagrams on very helpful.

I have a 39 year old landrover that quieter then this z4 when it starts !

Read the entire thread. From post No. 3 you'll find that I have been saying that ticking sounds are normal for BMW engines. Just because something makes a noise or certain type of sound doesn't mean it needs to be fixed.

[stevetaz]

ok if that is true why does it sometimes do it and sometimes not and that I have had comments from other people saying it sounds like a diesel ! one guy even said I didn’t know they did a z4 in a diesel and he was being totally serious !

[teagueAMX]

Just for the record, based on the information you have provided, it appears that you feel that something is wrong with your car in spite of what the majority of people tell you.

If you've read up on this subject, and watched Youtube vids including those by people who disagree with you, then you would know the sound is coming from the lifters - it's called VANOS, and it's noisy when it's cold. The last time I calculated a typical BMW inline 6 cylinder engine with Double VANOS has on the order of 200+ more moving parts than a typical 24 valve DOHC engine. Your Landrover, American or any Japanese car you may have listened to has no bearing on what your BMW sounds like.

But for your comfort level, keep badgering the dealer until he gives in and starts replacing parts. Maybe he'll replace your entire engine - but of course you'll be disappointed because as soon as you start it the next cold morning it will sound the same.

Here the key to an honest analysis of your issue: The key factor is that 90 to 95 percent of the sound you hear always goes away when the engine warms up. I'd ask how many miles does your car have, and it's always acted this way with apparently no ill effects thus far? Now to make a case there is something wrong I would say that if the sound suddenly became much harsher and/or it affected driveablity (which I suspect is not the case), then you might have a problem.


Cheers

[BMWZ4]

+1 TeagueAMX....my 06 mx5 did it, my wife's ex C240 did it and now my Z4 does it....sounds is gone 5, 10 minutes later or maybe I just can't hear it over the ROAR of my fantastic engine. Normal....

And...definitely doesn't sound like a diesel....

Dave

[zoefzoef]

Certainly not the correct thread for me considering the BMW model, but I have an E36, with a non-Vanos M50 engine, and ticking sounds (only when cold).

This video gives an idea on the issue. Note that the problem does not start right away at starting, you need to wait 1 minute or so.

Then the sound remains for a couple of minutes/miles. After that, the sound is still there, but much less clear.

The engine is high mileage but delivering power correctly

[siscobmw]

when I start engine no problems at all, then the idle sets itself to 5-600 rpms, and noise appears.this noise now comes off after 1 minute,and now I use the car very often , with hot time....and it is on the way to vanish itself....I was told that some engine(always 3 liter non -turbo, often on e89) have this noise when oil temp is under 55C degrees.....
my friend use his 30i as a daily car, did almost 30 k kms and that problem is nearly forgotten.
this ticking sound from your engine
anyway another italian got engine videos.....
lusebra:

the noise at first is the normal noise you can hear and rec with usual and non professional microphone(mobile phone mic and similar....), its the backgroudn noise amplified by the engine bay .... then you cen hear irregular noise.....
after 28 seconds....
if your car has this sound, BMW stated is a comfort issue, not a problem for the reliability or the durability of the engine...sometimes it goes away itself, sometimes someone changed a lot of valvetronic lifters and some other stuff(someone to no avail, someone to solve the problem)....In BMW they know this problem but it is not important for safety or for other important causes....so they are studying the soultion not so quickly....if it was something that colud kill us the proble was solved months ago....

[siscobmw]

huh bmw told me the problem is more serious if this noise appears also when engine's hot......but it's not this (quite common)scenario....
Francesco