Diamond

So there has been a service bulletin out for about a year or so on the n52 engines with lifters that cause excessive "ticking" They sound like lifters that are not getting enough oil in an old car and is worse in the cold since the oil is more sluggish and has a hard tim reaching the lifters. The design of the head itself does not allow for oil to reach the lifters properly and hence the lifters do not work properly and cause a very loud and obnoxiosu ticking sound. On the e90 board someone posted pictures of their camshaft and rocker arms and valves after 20k miles with this problem due to the faulty lifters.

Bmw has been claiming this causes no damage to the engine but rather is an inconvenience. There is a service bulletin that calls for the lifters to be bled-which is a procedure where they keep the engine at 3k rpms with no load for 3 mintues and repeat this 5 times. If this does not work TWICE to cur your problem then they are replacing the ENTIRE cylinder head with cams, valves, springs and EVERYTHING that goes in a cylinder head with an updated re-designed head that allows proper oil flow to the lifters.

Now I did not know this until recently when I was randomly searching and came across this problem that sounded familiar and was this ticking sound my engine was making. I had not thought much of it before this. Took it to the dealer, they did the bleed procedure and when I got home my engine went crazy and had to have it towed in. Ended up misfiring in a few cylinders due to collapsed lifters.

They swapped my cylinder head for the new redesigned head from germany that comes in one big cylinder head piece with all the parts connected so they basically bolt on the new head and change the head gasket. My car had 40k miles on it so it is pretty much like getting the majority of your engine replaced brand new. The cylinder head contains most finicky parts of engine and if you have the old one then you are putting your engine at risk.

Bmw would not redesign an entire head and do this procedure if it simply was because of an annoying sound that did not cause any engine problems.

The repair bill was 8k billed to bmw under warranty.

Bottom line is do some searching and if there is any trace of a ticking noise (search youtube for examples of n52 ticking) then get in and have your cylinder head replaced if you plan to keep the car.

The new head also performs better and I got my car back today with it and noticed the difference. The new head flows oil better as well as air due to the new re-design of the intake tubing. This is basically a free mod and I am curious how much HP this essentially adds. Not that it is worth doing for the hp but it is worth doing to prevent long term damage of your drive train and block which will surely happen if oil is not reaching the lifters and the valves are not being lfited properly or fed with oil properly.

Big screw up by bmw on this since every car uses this engine

They also replaced my rotors and pads on all front and rear and the total bill today was near 12k with parts and labor of the cylinder head, oil change timse 2 (after they change the cylinder head they need to change oil twice ), brakes, rotors, and 2 engine mounts I had broken. 12,000 bucks under warranty and bmw is doing on average at my dealer 5 per week. BIG loss by bmw

06530-6M

You mean the N52 used on 2007+ models, not the one used on 2006, right?

faarcanal

yikes!!!!! I have tick tick tick tick coming from my n52.

Diamond

No this is all n52 engines in any vehicle that uses them. The 08 n52's finally are updated but this is for any n52 engine and year.

Here is a very informative and LONG thread from e90post.com I believe but if you have this problem or want to know more read this-I did and then a few days later got my cylinder head replaced and as I said my car runs 10 times smoother and revs so much smoother than before. It makes sense if oil was not flowing easily through the cylinder head then if they corrected a better flowing head it would rev much more freely.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13504

ssibaroma

[quote name='Diamond' date='May 9 2009, 09:42 AM' post='873441']
No this is all n52 engines in any vehicle that uses them. The 08 n52's finally are updated but this is for any n52 engine and year.

so all of e60' s with n52 engine from year 2008 and on are ok?

panaguy

Diamond,

I had this exact same problem last year and had my car in for the "bleed" process twice and then pressed the dealer to replace the head under warranty at around 30K miles which BMWUSA approved. (do a search using my user name and engine ticking noise and you will see numerous posts I made on the subject). My car sounded "ghetto" like an old Chevy pick-up with a worn engine instead of a high performance $50K auto

I am very pleased with the results and as a former engineer I also felt like you, "valve noise=no oil=excessive wear=permanent damage".

BMWUSA flew in by FedEx a whole new preassembled and preadjusted "bolt-on" head with a new redesign of the oil passages AND a new bleed down valve to keep oil from draining out of the head completely when the engine is off. All the tech had to do was take off the old head, line up the timing marks of the new head and bolt it on. As you stated the head with double VANOS and Valvetronic mechanism is really the most complex mechanical assembly of the engine and no question this would be core to the longevity of the engine.

Now that I have the new head assembly, I feel my engine with it's VERY high tech aluminum magnesium block construction, Variable valve head design and silica cylinder liners (instead of typical -yawn- cast iron) which are diamond hard and will last far longer than just about any engine out there, good for HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of miles of useful life as long as you change the oil regularly.

BTW, the N52 engine was voted as one of Wards top 10 engine designs worldwide for 2006 and 2007 only to be replaced on the list by BMW's new twin turbo engine when it was introduced in 2008. Point is the N52 engine IS the most sophisticated normally aspirated (non-turbo for you non technical guys) 6 cylinder engine design BMW has ever made. The series used in the '06 and '07 were the most potent because of additional enhancements to the intake plumbing that got 255HP out of the engine instead of the 215-225HP found on just about every other non turbo BMW 3.0L 6 cylinder since 2008. Another words our '06 and '07 E60 530's have the "creme de le creme" of this engine design!

Glad to hear everything has been fixed

Diamond

I am so glad you had this done. I feel for all the people who do not have the know how to even realize this is not supposed to be that way and letting the dealer just tell them it is "normal" Then years down the line when warranty is gone they get a surprise that their cams, lifters, rockers, vavles etc are all worn and at that point I am sure dealer would respond by "Wierd I have never seen this happen-however you are out of warranty so..." I feel this engine with this head is bullet proof as well. BMW was NOT going to have the same problem with this new head so I am guessing they designed this thing very very very carefully and well. BMW is supposed to be great at especially this part of the engine and its design so is a huge snafoo!

Did you notice your engine running stronger and revving more freely? I definetly did. The thing for me was I had JUST bought this car out of a lease about a month before learning about this problem. I as well heard the ticking start at about 35k and was told it was normal-who am I to argue with all of the BMW service people right? I then did some reading and knew this was a problem and got it fixed.

THe bleed procedure is almost unethical to me. Revving the engine at 3-4k with no load for up to 15 minutes and repeating it 5 times is their procedure? Not only does that present its own issues but this does nothing more than maximizes oil flow to the lifters and "hushing" the problem for maybe a few days since the lifters will be fully oiled for maybe a couple days. My bet is they do this and hope the customer is happy they "did something" and just lives with it. Funny they did not tell me about the replacement head and only mentioned the bleed as a fix until I brought it up.

It is just unreal that would even be recomended when they admit that there is a poor design with lack of oil flow to the lifters and thus spending millions redesigning and reproducin replacement heads. Just seems this should be a service bulletin for anyone complaining of the ticking to get their cylinder head replaced.

At first I was not crazy about some snot nosed tech diggin in my engine but was assured by two things. One and most importantly is like you said it is a preassembled complete head/valve train that simply bolts on. Surely anyone could do that! Second was the service manager and foreman worked on it and was overseen by the manager as he knew I was not pleased at this problem.

Funny part is the service manager himself told me he did not agree with bmw and their bleed recomendation but he "had to do it" since it was above him. So he did understand my frustration.

DTD

What percentage of the 06 and 07 N52 motors is this happening to? I have 46,000 on an 06 N52 and believe to not have any ticking.
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You Bimmer enthusiasts have stated 30,000 to 40,000 miles; is / does this happen later on down the road? Thanks for the UPDATE Gents. Dan
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Ohhh PS: How is the TRANNY holding up? Or for that matter the xi setup since it is the 1st year? Any issues to be concerned with? Thanks again Gents.
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2006 530 xi Dan

psam550

Anyboby see this on the N62TU (550 V-8)?

andy535xi

I have N54 engine (3.0L twin turbo) and I hear the ticking as well. That being said, my buddy's 2006 330i had the same ticking as me. Should I be concerned?