johann

During my last session at Nürburgring I noticed some ticking noise from the valves the first day. The morning after I took it to a local BMW dealer that suggested that it could be the valves that needed adjustment.

I called Kelleners and they were able to that for me the very same day so I went there and they had the valves adjusted right after lunch. The noise wasn't completely gone but they assured me that I could go back to Nordschleife and shouldn't worry about the enigne so I did in a hurry.

The noise came back though and after Eastern when I was back in Sweden I called Kelleners again, they did some research and told me that BMW had changed the drag lever in late 2001 due to some problems with them and that I should have my local dealer have a look at it.

So I took it to the dealer and they said that they would try to adjust the valves first (like that would help). Unfortunately that did not have any adjustment plates (shims) in stock which was strange since adjusting the valves on an E46 M3 is an routine task. It took them a week to get them.

So when they were finally in place the mechanic (which is a really good mechanic) found out that adjustment didn't help and that the car would need new drag levers and that would also replace the cam shaft.

Since my car had a special cam shaft I told him to re-assemble my engine. I picked the car up the same afternoon and talked to Kelleners. We came to the conclusion that I should bring the car to Kelleners to have it repaired. This Sunday I drove down to them and during Monday they replaced the drag levers and the camshafts. I picked the car up on Tuesday and the noise was gone.

The noise from the engine reminded me of a Volvo B20 engine and if you have that kind of noise I strongly suggest that you have your dealer reapir the car. I suspect that this problem may be related to some of the engine failures and since the noise wasn't very obvious I think most people wouldn't notice.

Big thanks to Kelleners that helped both during Eastern and to finally help me resolve the problem.

Cheers,
/Johan

Dirim

That must have scared you Johan. But it's good ending story at least. You have pointed out a problem of tuning with a one shop specialist though. You can't trust anybody else, and have to go back to them for any major trouble.

Enjoy the mini beast.

Ufuk

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johann

I was really scared when I got back from a fast lap and suddenly heard ticking from the engine.

Note that the problem itself is not related to the tuning, but as you point out some problems may have to be resolved by the tuner.

Cheers,
/Johan

TCM

Johann:

Wow, scary moments. I suggest you change your oil fairly soon as valves only make noise when they hit something, you may have some metal shavings in the engine. I beleive this has been a cause for a lot of the engine failures. I was reading about how the valves are filled with some type of material that makes the engine blow when a valve breaks. BTW, do European dealerships cover that under warrenty even though you were at a track event?

__________________
T.C.
'01 Silverstone M5
AutoSolutions:short shift kit (40% reduction)
Automotive Specialist:cold air intake, swaybar brackets
Dinan:front strut tower bar, rear swaybar
Kelleners: race exhaust, suspension, ecu software
Rogue Engineering:transmission mounts
SuperSprint:X-pipe

rennen

It is common with these cars when you push them hard. Topping off your oil will help.

__________________
2003 M5 Jet Black/Black sport interior
2000 M5 Jet Black/ Black sport interior
2002 X5 3.0
2002 M3
2002 M3 Cab.
2000 Yukon
1966 427 Cobra S/C
1966 GT350H
1966 Hemi Charger
1969 Corvette
1966 Austin Healey 3000

mil

Johan,

Any information when did they exactly changed the lever? How loud was the noise, did you hear ticking inside the car?

My M3 was built late October 2001 and I was just wondering if levers were changed at that time or not? Luckily my engine sounds normal still..

-mil

johann

Actually it wasn't the valves itselff that made the noise but the drag lever.

There is nothing in the manual that states that you can't go on track events but still I am not sure that warranty covers a blown engine.

Cheers,
/Johan

johann

Do you mean the ticking sound or blown engines?

All engines should have enough oil whether they are pushed hard or not.

Cheers,
/Johan

johann

I think it was changed in November 2001 but as long as your engine sounds fine there is no need to worry.

Cheers,
/Johan

Andy G

is this ticking sound the sound of an item actually wearing in the engine (the lever/cam etc like you say) and is this due to oil starvation whilst running at high rpm.