deltabox

So I took my car in to the dealer for the recall on the battery cable and mentioned to them about this ticking noise. They said it's the lifters.

I did a little research and I guess BMW knows of this problem due to a flaw in design. Wondering if anyone else here has had this issue and had good outcome?

Here's a link on more information if anyone is interested. Ticking Lifters

korrosive

I definitely have the issue, but opt for the spirited driving option to keep the ticking away

deltabox

NICE ! I mentioned it in passing, but the SA called me hours later and told me that they were going to keep my car through the weekend to work on it. So I guess they consider it serious enough to keep it for days and, I guess, they are going to swap out the lifters for the updated ones? I hope so. I'v read in previous posts that this sometimes fixes it and sometimes doesn't fix it. Gonna be done under warranty, so good for me.

I just don't want to get my car back with other problems arising, like bad gas mileage or something due to this fix. I've read horror stories about how new problems arises after taking your car in for service.

If the ticking noise is still there after I get it back, I'll just do the "spirited driving" fix.

leese8080

I'm going to take my car in tomorrow for the same issue. See E60 members with the lifters/header getting replaced:

https://5series.net/forums/topic/934...eing-replaced/

deltabox

Does anyone know if they will have to do an oil change also? I'm guessing they will, since they are opening up the valve cover?

KyleB

You might be getting a new cylinder head, not just a set of lifters. In fact, I'm betting you are.

porsche911targa

Hey, I'm the OP on that thread. I'm happy to report that the car is still very quiet. I guess I can say that replacing the exhaust valve lifters did the trick.

Funny you should mention this. Just last week they replaced the HVA lifters and rockers on my E93 to fix the ticking noise. Naturally, I did a lot of research and it seems that the head replacement came at the second attempt (after they replaced the lifters the first time). When my car was in the process of being CPO'ed, last October, they replaced the HVA lifters for ticking noise.

I mentioned this to my SA and asked her if since this is the second replacement in less than a year and 6K miles, shouldn't they replace the heads as the internet says? She replied that they USED to do that, but found that it did not work in most cases. They figured out that just replacing the lifters AND the rockers does the trick. Since they only replaced the lifters, last October, they are now replacing both the lifters and the rockers.

One week into the repair, the car is very quiet. Of course, I won't declare victory for about two years.

Good luck to the OP.

KyleB

your SA is wrong. BMW did redesign the cylinder head. here is a link to BMWs own SI stating how to identify an older casting vs. newer casting: BMW SI

The 'they used to do that, but it didn't work' procedure is the "bleeding" procedure whereby BMW tried to bleed air pockets from the lifter bores. So I guess she's half right.

I'd make a trip down there with a printed copy of that SI in hand.

I hate to say it, but this is why I spent 8 months hunting down a clean M54 powered car.

porsche911targa

I just looked up SI B11 09 07 (again) and it validates what she told me. In it, they delete the previous procedure, which was to bleed the valves and then they instruct the tech to replace the lifters AND the rocker arms. Nowhere does it say anything about replacing a head.

Look: SIB_1109071.pdf

korrosive

If I was under warranty, I'd absolutely take it in to get fixed however many times they want to take a stab at it. From what I'd read up on the long term damage was not definitive enough for me to warrant paying for a head replacement out of pocket. I recently left my car at the airport for 4 days and did not notice any issue with the ticking. I was also not actively looking for it as it's been months since I encountered it.