Jack-E61

Hi All,

got very, very good news from my Service today:
Car has got a brand new engine, just having started humming ... . Tomorrow I will get the car back.

Origin of the ticking noise seemed to be a tilting piston. This totally fits with my theoretical and practical engineering experience from the past. It would also explain some very slight scratches in the cylinder surface which had been shown to me.

So, the Valvotronic levers seem not having been the origin for the ticking as assumed before. This would also mean that my feeling after first repair was not objective, because the louder noise probably had covered the ticking. Why the louder noise came up after repair and what the origin was - nobody knows ...

Tomorrow (and of course all the next months), I will concentrate my awareness on the new engine for any ticking noises !!!

And you can bet that as soon as a ticking could be of anybody?s imagination I will be back at the dealer?s place in the same second. Hopefully this problem is not a systematic built-in failure of 8 cylinder engines ...

But, why not, getting the engine changed every 30.000 miles for free could become a good deal forever which will mean for me: BMW forever

Thanks for your interest and very nice support. Keep my fingers crossed for your ticking - please let me know!

Regards

andy545

Thank you Jack E-61.
Excellent news for you. I am amazed at the reason, although not quite sure what is meant by tilting piston exactly. The piston itself ? or between rod and crankshaft ?
Please send me an PM or email with same basic details so I can foward to my dealer/FSE...at least they should be aware of this.

all the best.

Jack-E61

Thank you Jack E-61.
Excellent news for you. I am amazed at the reason, although not quite sure what is meant by tilting piston exactly. The piston itself ? or between rod and crankshaft ?
Please send me an PM or email with same basic details so I can foward to my dealer/FSE...at least they should be aware of this.

all the best.
[/quote]

Hi Andy,

could this explanation help you (Soory, its is only a sketch of an amateur) ???

Regards

Presentation10.pdf

Bimmer32

Jack-E61,

Thank you for the information. You're a great asset to this forum.

On another note, when I start the bimmer at slow speed as you described, I hear a very low hissing noise as if a hose or something is leaking air on the leftside foot well area. When I open the window (accelerating at slow speed from first gear) I do not hear the noise.

This usually happens when the engine is still cold. The hissing noise is very low, so you have to really listen to notice it.

Jack-E61

Hi Bimmer32

that's a very new noise to me- never heard at my car and no idea at all what the problem could be. What does your service comment on this ?

Regards

Jack-E61

Got the car back today:
GREAT - no ticking at all - pure V8 sound - I wonder, whether first engine had ever been so smooth as the new one! Hopefully this sound will continue forever ...!

Last statement of my Service Manager:

After replacing the levers the Service had noticed that the ticking was still present - but it was covered by the worse "peppermill" noise. At this moment they were so troubled that they concentrated on that louder noise first.

Getting back the car from me they had changed some parts without any improvement as to both noises.

Then they made a service request to BMW Munich telling them of the ticking noise not being gone yet and the peppermill noise in addition.
In a telephone conference the Munich engineers gave order to lift the passenger side Cylinder Head and to research for grooves or rills in the fourth cylinder liner (the one sitting nearest to the passenger).
My service detected demolations on the fourth cylinder and beginning grooves in the third. As to this result Munich gave allowance for swapping the whole engine. My Master Mechanics told me, that the detailed research order for grooves in the right Cylinder bank from Munich is a proof for a well known problem on V8 engines. Therfore the free change of the engine without any discussions was no problem.

My Mightmare is gone - hopefully forever. Thanks for your interest - good luck to you and your engines humming forever.

By the way, appended a picture of Porsche piston in final stage which was tortured by the (in German language) so called "Kolbenkipper" (Translation word by word means: "Tilting Piston" for me). Unfortunately no technical dictionary could help me to translate. Probably our US friends can assist us finding the translation.

Regards

Jack-E61

mclc26

I've experienced the ticking as well on my 545 and my previous car, a '99 540 sport. Seems to be very common on these V-8's. When I got the 540, not only did I hear the ticking, but other people would notice it as well. I called a few BMW service advisors at different dealers and was told that this was a natural occurance with this engine, and that it was not a problem. Unfortunately, a flood tested the underwater capabilities of the 540 and lets just say it doesn't make a good submarine. So, a replacement motor(at a cost of $13,000) in the 540 ultimately ended the ticking noise. I did not hear that noise since in that car. The 545, with 15k miles on the odometer, is exhibiting the same ticking noise...Can't BMW iron this problem out already? I'm not going to pursue the issue with them as I only have the car for another 30k miles through the term of the lease, but it is an annoyance, nonetheless...

05E60Black545i

I have the same issue, except with me it seems that at low rpms it's a ticking/thumping noise after I have pushed the car real hard, I have brought it to the dealer when I wasn't pushing the car that morning, and there was no sound, it seems to come and go.

andy545

Hmmm, sounds like the warm water pump. It is located where you refer and it's objective is to work when engine is cold and outside ambient temp is also low. At idle, the engine is not producing enough heat ( if needed ) for the climate control and kicks in to lend a hand. It's sounds like an intermitent humming from the left foot well. If it's the same sound, it's normal.

Don Juan

Now you guys got me paranoid i hear a ticking sound on the driver side of the engine today when i dropped the car for the CIP upgrade I wasked my shop foreman and he said that is normal and osund like the injectors, normal. He also pointed out that could be the low oil in my car as I have 6k miles and the Idrive shows I only have 1/2 the engine oil .. so they will check on it as the 3 and 5 series are misteriously consuming oil (his comments)