Engine Ticking / Bearings / Oil (Must Read)

[RushRuin]

Originally Posted by nick3753

My ticking started (or at least was noticed) after I had my oil changed.

Did it go away? If so, how many miles after?

I had ticking, topped off, immediately went away, got oil change few days later and it came back immediately.

[nick3753]

Originally Posted by RushRuin

Did it go away? If so, how many miles after?

I had ticking, topped off, immediately went away, got oil change few days later and it came back immediately.

Nope. Still ticking easily a thousand plus miles later. Oil at top full mark since changed. With windows down she ticks, windows up she rattles. I'm under warranty so I'm not sweating it based off of all the other post with similar noises. When I go back in for this annoying B pillar rattle (again) and now intermittent failure of the seat belt extender I will ask them to look at it.

[andysk585]

So my SA tells me its the heat shield and apparently there is nothing he can do about it. However, im still curious to see exactly where the noise is occurring. What id really like to do is get my car on a lift with the engine running and see for myself this "heat shield." Maybe i'll take to an indy shop to check it out for myself.

[RushRuin]

Originally Posted by andysk585

So my SA tells me its the heat shield and apparently there is nothing he can do about it.

How does a heat shield rattle at idle?

[RushRuin]

Originally Posted by nick3753

My ticking started (or at least was noticed) after I had my oil changed.

Did it go away? If so, about how many miles?

[nick3753]

Still ticking, around 2k miles after change:

[andysk585]

Originally Posted by RushRuin

How does a heat shield rattle at idle?

not exactly sure.. in my video you can clearly hear it. im going to take my car to an indishop for a second opinion or to see if we can do anything about the noise. keep you guys posted

[thekurgan]

Originally Posted by RushRuin

How does a heat shield rattle at idle?

Go under your car and tap the heat shielding in various places. It isn't secured all that well, so small vibrations, combined with heat/cool can cause some of these issues.

[Doc Oc]

Seems the answer was in the link the op included no? The op in that thread had the exact same sound and the dealer found this:

- BMW authorized the engine to be pulled and taken apart. Dealership Diagnosis: “Tech states clicking noise in lower end of engine when hot. Disassemble engine and inspect. Noise coming from crankshaft/block area. Crankcase manufacturing fault at the main bearing journals. Disassemble and assemble engine replace engine block.-

-The Service Manager said that the block’s manufacturing fault was that the journals were different heights (millimeters off) when the block was cast and torqued to spec. This basically caused the crankshaft to operate unevenly within the journals ultimately causing the ticking. And this is why some bearings are worn hard and others are barely touched. He concluded that the ticking/abnormal friction (in some form) was always there but when the high viscosity of the TWS broke down over time the ticking we could hear presented itself (e.g. after oil change no ticking for a while)-

-45 days later I get my car back with 49,616 miles with a two-year parts/labor warranty. NO TICKING.-

Seems cut and dry to me....

[Doc Oc]

Although I believe the exert quoted above explains the clicking noise, I have heard a very similar sound from my car after I've run the a/c hard. Condensation drips off the condenser, splatters, hits the hot test pipe and pings loudly. However, I only hear it after the car is turned off and its very sporadic....2 or 3 times in the first minute after shutdown and thats it. Definitely not what is causing the noise in the vid, but almost the identical sound. It may be that the dealers misdiagnosing this as a heat shield issue are thinking of that same noise?

[Leonardo629]

It sounds a lot like timing chain slapping against the guide, like a inline-4 sport bike.

I noticed the slapping sound emerging when OP lets go of the throttle.

I really doubt oil film thickness can alter the acoustic that much (age of the oil doesn't change viscosity drastically). AussieM3 measured a 2db difference between 10W60/0W40 at idle I think, and most human cannot even discern a 2db difference if put through hearing test.

[andysk585]

Originally Posted by Doc Oc

Although I believe the exert quoted above explains the clicking noise, I have heard a very similar sound from my car after I've run the a/c hard. Condensation drips off the condenser, splatters, hits the hot test pipe and pings loudly. However, I only hear it after the car is turned off and its very sporadic....2 or 3 times in the first minute after shutdown and thats it. Definitely not what is causing the noise in the vid, but almost the identical sound. It may be that the dealers misdiagnosing this as a heat shield issue are thinking of that same noise?

You've got the hear the noise in person..its progresssivly gettin louder now as i increase mileage which is worrying me. Just not sure if I should push the dealer and deal with the BS the OP went through or if i should just replace/upgrade my bearing with my own money. what would you guys do in this situation? any opinions appreciated.

[Doc Oc]

Originally Posted by andysk585

You've got the hear the noise in person..its progresssivly gettin louder now as i increase mileage which is worrying me. Just not sure if I should push the dealer and deal with the BS the OP went through or if i should just replace/upgrade my bearing with my own money. what would you guys do in this situation? any opinions appreciated.

Sucks that you have to be in that position at all. But personally if I was under warranty I wouldn't spend a cent of my own money. Especially if what you guys are dealing with is the same thing the guy I quoted above dealt with (and if your car sounds like the videos in question I have to assume its the same issue). If that's the case swapping the bearings is only going to lead to a false sense of security and possibly a void in your warranty. That'd be terrible because worn bearings are only a side effect of the problem, not the cause. Again I'm assuming that your block has the same casting error as the guy in the link in the ops first post. If it does, it'll wear out your new bearings too and you will be right back in the same boat but perhaps without warranty. I'd print the posts by the op in the link and take them with you to the dealer and be steadfast until they open it up. Keep in mind, worn bearings don't make noise...not until its too late. You might notice some other issues like increased temps and vibrations but bearings are seated and if they were clacking around causing the noises in these videos, the cars wouldn't be running.

[andysk585]

Originally Posted by Doc Oc

Sucks that you have to be in that position at all. But personally if I was under warranty I wouldn't spend a cent of my own money. Especially if what you guys are dealing with is the same thing the guy I quoted above dealt with (and if your car sounds like the videos in question I have to assume its the same issue). If that's the case swapping the bearings is only going to lead to a false sense of security and possibly a void in your warranty. That'd be terrible because worn bearings are only a side effect of the problem, not the cause. Again I'm assuming that your block has the same casting error as the guy in the link in the ops first post. If it does, it'll wear out your new bearings too and you will be right back in the same boat but perhaps without warranty. I'd print the posts by the op in the link and take them with you to the dealer and be steadfast until they open it up. Keep in mind, bad bearings don't make noise...not until its too late. You might notice some other issues like increased temps and vibrations but bearings are seated and if they were clacking around causing the noises in these videos, the cars wouldn't be running.

Thanks. Yea a part of me really wants to take it to BMW so they can acknowledged the problem even though its going to be stressful. Im going to start the battle so wish me luck.

[Doc Oc]

Originally Posted by andysk585

Thanks. Yea a part of me really wants to take it to BMW so they can acknowledged the problem even though its going to be stressful. Im going to start the battle so wish me luck.

Good luck. Might be worth contacting the guy in that other thread to see if they can reference his case or if he can offer some pointers.

[adamb1226]

please please keep us updated. i heard it on my car today and it has been about 5k since oil change and i have not changed plugs. i have 49k miles on it. mine seems to do it at an idle very faint but you can hear it and when it revs to 1000-1500 rpm. did not do it when cool only when i drove it and it was at optimal running temp. i do not notice any power loss which i would expect if it were bearings. i will do an oil change and spark plugs to see if that works... we shall see...

[Mr. Liu]

Jesus christ, I am having the exact same problems as everyone else in this thread. Fresh oil change, super loud ticking now at idle through the driver wheel well. Cars also running a bit hotter than usual but not sure if its just the different type of oil (LM) I am running now. It stops right when you turn off the car which means to me that its inside the motor.

[Doc Oc]

Originally Posted by Mr. Liu

Jesus christ, I am having the exact same problems as everyone else in this thread. Fresh oil change, super loud ticking now at idle through the driver wheel well. Cars also running a bit hotter than usual but not sure if its just the different type of oil (LM) I am running now. It stops right when you turn off the car which means to me that its inside the motor.

I'm surprised there isn't more discussion about the block casting issue discovered by the dealer in the other thread! Someone actually chased this clacking noise down to conclusion and got a definitive answer, but I've never seen another mention of it. I wonder how many (if any) of the bad bearings we've seen here are really the side effect of this block issue?

[RushRuin]

Originally Posted by Mr. Liu

Cars also running a bit hotter than usual but not sure if its just the different type of oil (LM) I am running now.

Quick update for my scenario that you might find interesting. I had the ticking and topped off with Castrol (car had Castrol in it) based on advice of this thread and the ticking went away. A few days later I got oil change (was at 5K and had already set up an appt due to ticking) and the independent shop used Liqui-Moly 10W-60 this time instead of Castrol. Ticking came back immediately when I got home. I have an appt in a few days to change back to Castrol TWS to see if for some reason this makes a difference.

[Mr. Liu]

good to know, did your car run hotter with liquimoly? mine certainly did

[RushRuin]

Originally Posted by Mr. Liu

good to know, did your car run hotter with liquimoly? mine certainly did

Haven't/wouldn't have noticed.

[Mr. Liu]

Well, here is my video. Pretty identicsl to how your sounds like.... only does this while warmed up.