[sgill]

Like many of you, I also hate the diesel like sound of the 328 petrol engine.
Dealer said that the sound is normal and should go away after several minutes of driving. Well, it does not.

So I did some investigations and asked several mechanics what can be done.

One answer that came up more than once is that if I use Castrol EDGE 5W-40 fully synthetic engine oil, the ticking will be much less noticable. This, compared to using BMW lables, AGIP, liquy Molly or others.

Can anyone confirm this issue? Has anyone changed to Castrol and felt a difference?
I will be doing it in several weeks when my service is due. Hope it does make a difference.

Thank you

 

[John MS]

First off I would not vary from the oil BMW recommends for your car. If your mechanic is recommending heavier oil as a fix you need to find another mechanic. The ticking sound that some people complain about comes from noisy fuel injectors. A different oil obviously will have no impact on that noise. What is the source of the noise you are hearing.

I tend to tune out minor things like noisy fuel injectors when I'm enjoying the car. That slight noise disappears once the car is moving.

 

[sgill]

Im not sure where it's coming from. I was told its the direct injection. In this case, won't engine oil have an effect?
Is the 5W-40 Castrol a "heavier" oil than reccomended?

Thank you

 

[Eagle11]

Like many of you, I also hate the diesel like sound of the 328 petrol engine.
Dealer said that the sound is normal and should go away after several minutes of driving. Well, it does not.

So I did some investigations and asked several mechanics what can be done.

One answer that came up more than once is that if I use Castrol EDGE 5W-40 fully synthetic engine oil, the ticking will be much less noticable. This, compared to using BMW lables, AGIP, liquy Molly or others.

Can anyone confirm this issue? Has anyone changed to Castrol and felt a difference?
I will be doing it in several weeks when my service is due. Hope it does make a difference.

Thank you

have the same noise as you in my 320, and on my last service I spoke to my SA about this and was told that 2012-2015 N20/26 engine make this noise but BMW "fixed" it on 2016 on.. I told him that BMW should fix the problem on the other cars too..

 

[jlukja]

My Magnaflow exhaust solved the sound of the ticking injectors.

 

[sgill]

How can an exhaust solve the engine ticking problem?
Is it only since the exhaust is louder than the original one? If this is the case, I can increase the volume of the music

 

[jlbjr]

The ticking is the open and close of the injectors. Nothing can be done. The mechanic is thinking valve train noise. Oil won't help. IMO.

 

[jlukja]

How can an exhaust solve the engine ticking problem?
Is it only since the exhaust is louder than the original one? If this is the case, I can increase the volume of the music

Yes.

 

[Michael Schott]

The ticking is the open and close of the injectors. Nothing can be done. The mechanic is thinking valve train noise. Oil won't help. IMO.

This. By the way maybe my hearing is bad but unless I'm outside the running car I don't hear the injectors.

 

[Orient330iNYC]

DO NOT DO this.
the suggestion for heavier oil is for a naturally aspirated 6 cylinder E90 328i -- that engine could develop ticking in the VALVES due to air displacing the oil.
messing with the oil weight will not quiet the ticking in the turbo 4 328i -- the ticking is injector noise, not valve train noise.

 

[John MS]

Im not sure where it's coming from. I was told its the direct injection. In this case, won't engine oil have an effect?
Is the 5W-40 Castrol a "heavier" oil than reccomended?

Thank you

You could change to 90 weight oil or add one of those useless oil enhancers and it would have absolutely no effect on noisy fuel injectors. Changing to a different weight oil could have a negative impact on other engine components. Please please just read the owners manual for your car and follow those recommendations. Place your trust in the educated engineers, chemists and other professionals at BMW who designed the engine and wrote it's maintenance specifications. You are rolling the dice with some of the nonsense about oil weights, oil additives and oil change intervals found online.

On my car the ticking injector noise is audible outside the car with the engine idling. To me it is an acceptable mechanical sound. It is not audible inside the car.

The noise I find mildly objectionable is the synthesized engine noise or "Active Sound" piped in through the audio system. It only serves to increase the interior noise level above that generated by the road and wind.

 

[pdxway]

One thing you can try is to add sounds insulation material to both your front doors. Might help some.

 

[Only_Me]

What did BMW do on newer models to quiet the DI noise? I noticed a sweet Audi the other day and it was louder than mine, kinda shocked me actually.

 

[dpod25]

I'm pretty sure the ticking noise is from the direct injection. My buddy has a Mazda CX-5, and his engine also makes a noticeable "diesel-like" ticking noise, just like the 328i engine.