JHG

Oil line blew. N54.
I got the pull over now message and did, but as we did, we did hear a rachet drive like clicking from the engine before shutting down.
It dumped the oil, but the car was off in seconds.
Oil line is replaced and now the motor turns over but doesn't try to start. The plugs are wet and they are getting fire.
There is no noise of any kind except the starter and the engine turning. It is not showing any signs of trying to fire.
I only have a simple code reader. The relevant codes are: P0012 "A camshaft position-timing over- retardation bank 1"
: P3284? Could be "Crankshaft position sensor"
When I pushed it a few feet using the neutral override, the car pushed easily by hand bit there was rachet like clicking.
A few minutes later when I towed it a parking lot, using the neutral bypass there was zero noise and it moved easily.
I initially got a transmission position sensor error, but that went away on it's own.
The shifter shows that it is in park when I attempt to start it.
This car reminds me of an old girlfriend I had trouble letting go of...
Is there a link to help me trouble shoot? I'm still new to the BMW world.
Thanks for any help.

habbyguy

Low oil pressure means the VANOS system isn't going to be working correctly. I don't know if there's any special oil pump priming procedure for your engine, but if oil pressure hasn't built up everywhere (because of starvation, or - hopefully not - damage to the oil pump when it ran dry, then you're going to have other issues.

It's a little (OK, VERY) scary that you heard bad things from under the hood before you got it shut down - hopefully you didn't damage anything.

seanjordan20

Personally I would unplug the negative battery terminal, clean the 2 vanos solenoids. Put them back in, plug up battery, erase codes, reset adaptions and see what I get.

JHG

I'm here for help, so don't taker this question the wrong way, but why would you say clean the solenoids?

JHG

I was hoping turning it over after the repair would pump up the system but it doesn't seem to have done it.
There is zero sign that it's even trying to fire..
There was no spun bearing noise or anything sounding catastrophic, I shut it off quickly. I don't remember as I was driving and there was traffic, but he said it sounded like a rachet drive.

seanjordan20

I say this because the generic code P0012 code points to the solenoid. I've only seen time retard with either a solenoid issue or a timing chain issue. I've never had to replace a solenoid before but I've cleaned quite a few including mine. If you had ISTA you could actually test it and get the actual code to pinpoint it more. The thing I worry about is the noise you heard at the end which could be the worse possible issue. If it were the crankshaft sensor it would of been accompanied by a transmission fault. Been there done that.

JHG

@seanjordan20
Not funny that you should mention that. After I repaired the hose, we did get a "transmission position sensor" error that went away. I thought it was related to using the neutral bypass.
A crankshaft position issue is one of the things P3284 could represent. I added to a previous post, my son said before we shut it off it sounded like a rachet drive clicking.
I had my hands full getting off the road at the time...

habbyguy

The ratchet sound could have been the hydraulic lifters "deflating". Hopefully there wasn't any significant damage due to the loss of oil pressure.