N52 Ticking Noise when cold?

So, I recently purchased a 2007 3.0si and yesterday morning I notice ticking, which I immediately associated with a valvetrain not getting oil. After the car has been running, it goes away and when it is running and ticking, I can't hear it from inside. The car recently had an oil change (at least the receipt says so from BMW) and I am at 44,500 miles.

Apparently, there is a service bulletin out for this. My car sounds EXACTLY like this guy's Z4 3.0si....



Anyone else with this issue?

Yes, you'll find some threads on this. Example; http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...ighlight=noise

Originally Posted by John320

Yes, you'll find some threads on this. Example; http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...ighlight=noise

A few weeks back, I'd posted (in the referenced thread) that mine seemed to develop this "ticking" noise too, but it wasn't nearly as pronounced as in this guy's Z4 (or apparently, your X3)... Coincidentally, the dealer had just changed the oil in mine too...

The day I was leaving to drive from Pittsburgh to Lexington, I took it back to the dealer who had done the oil change, mainly just to hear what their opinion was about it. By the time I'd gotten there (~15 miles across town), the "ticking" had stopped (naturally), so I never bothered talking to anyone there. I subsequently drove it to Kentucky (~400 miles, averaging ~65 mph), and have been driving it daily (~35 miles/day) here -- the "ticking" never returned; the engine now purrs just like it's supposed to.

So, I leave it to you to infer what you will from my experience...

The sound is coming from the lifters. It is a common problem with BMW engines. The key factor is that 95 percent of the sound should disappear when the engine warms up. It is not a problem for the reliability or the durability of the engine. If it does not go away when the engine is hot then you should contact your dealer.

I have the same ticking noise with my 07 X3 SI and it goes away when the engine warmed up. Brought to the dealership and they said it is normal.

I wonder if this kind of noise is unique to the N52N engine, as opposed to the original N52 that's in my mom's 325i. I never hear any sort of ticking or funny sounds from her engine even when parked outside in the cold overnight.

That noise is the lifters.
Very common problem for the N52 from '06 to '08.

Short trips at low rpms will make it worse.
Long trips, driving it hard, winding out rpms in manual mode will make it go away temporarily.

The only true fix is a head replacement to a new design.

The new head design and new lifters were changed in production at the end of '08.

My '07 ticked like crazy, my '09 never has once.

Lots of info on all forums on this one. Search is your friend.

Originally Posted by jredor

I have the same ticking noise with my 07 X3 SI and it goes away when the engine warmed up. Brought to the dealership and they said it is normal.

No, it's not normal. Hopefully you still under warranty?

EDIT:
Here's something you can try yourself. It looks like after this SIB, there was another that directed the new re-designed head to be installed, but I couldn't find it in a quick search.

Wow...that you tube video noise is extremely high. I do remember I had the noticible ticking noise when I picking up my car.
But mechanic at the dealership told me that all N52 are like that and told me to drive 30 mins then he swores it would go away. (becuase he claims the car was sitting in the lot for so many days thus engine oil is sitting low.)
And it did go away after.

I get occasional ticking when cold start in the morning, but by the time I get to the work parking garage underground, I couldn't hear anything...so it goes away.

A new cylinder head is the only fix Don't let the dealer tell you thats it's normal

I had the same problem after an oil change too. Brought it to the dealer and they replaced the valve lifters. It was covered under warranty.

Ever since I started on 5-6000 mile oil and filter changes, I haven't had this problem. Now at 61k miles.

Originally Posted by PSUEng

Ever since I started on 5-6000 mile oil and filter changes, I haven't had this problem. Now at 61k miles.

Mine will get "clickety" if I go much over 5000 miles on an oil change as well. Just passed 88,000 and mine is quiet as a mouse.

I just had my 2007 serviced for the ticking noise about two weeks ago. Mine was still under CPO warranty (barely!!), so it was all covered.

The end results were replacing the lifters and the exhaust camshaft. They also replaced the oil filter housing gasket and valve cover gasket since I found oil on the #5 spark plug a couple of months ago.

All seems to be well now. I'm not exactly sure how much it would cost if it wasn't covered by CPO, but the retail price on all of the parts on my service was about $1,300.00 plus labor.

Good luck.

-w

I had the lifters replaced (under warranty) and the noise went away. A year later it came back and I had the head replaced (again under warranty). Noise hasn't come back again.