Clicking/Ticking sound in engine? RESOLVED

[luke42179]

Here's a video of mine making the clicking sound and me trying to show where it's coming from. Been to the dealer 4 times for this and they replaced the battery twice, giving me a trickle charger this last time even though I already use an approved one. They said it's a low battery issue. I drive it only 10 miles each way to work and not at all on weekends so apparently that's not enough time to charge the battery. I'm doubtful that it's fixed but time will tell.

[1773]

Showed dealership forum thread and they are ordering valvetronic motor.

[m20e3087]

Mine M2C just started doing this afternoon, 19 M2C 15,600 miles. Will take it in for service this week. Anyone know what causes this issue?

[millerrh]

Mine is in right now. Showed them a video but they are still trying to diagnose.

[m20e3087]

Originally Posted by millerrh

Mine is in right now. Showed them a video but they are still trying to diagnose.

Let us know what they eventually find

[luke42179]

The same sound returned yesterday morning. Per my last post, they blamed and replaced the battery for the second time. Battery read 13.28 volts at time of tapping sound. Is that within spec?

If it is, maybe I can finally get them to replace the Valvetronic.

[AlpineWhite_SJ]

Update on mine - so after bringing it up with my old dealer 2x and them saying they couldn’t replicate and it was “normal”. I took it in this week to my new dealer for some gasket work (oil pan and top of engine minor weeping of oil) and mentioned it again, along with sharing some videos of the sound so they could try and replicate and diagnose. Luckily, since they had the car for a couple days, they were able to replicate it themselves. They ended up replacing the eccentric shaft motor - servo part is 11-37-7-603-979. We’ll see if this ends up getting rid of it...

[FAM3LYCAR]

I've been keeping an eye on this thread b/c I definitely have the same noise after my F80 sits parked in the garage for extended periods of time. I captured video of this happening on my car a few weeks ago and was at the dealer today for other service so I mentioned it to the shop foreman and showed him the video that I took.

Without hesitation he recognized the sound and explained that it happens when a sensor detects low fuel pressure at a certain part of the fuel delivery system in the engine bay. Whatever is making the noise (valvetronic motor?) is essentially pressurizing a part of the fuel system so that it's at a certain spec for a cold start. Said the S55 motors are finicky about fuel pressure and it's completely normal.

Now, I'm not a technical expert by any means, and this could just as easily be a "story" to avoid having to replace anything, but a few things about this explanation seem to make sense about what I've seen and what others have said. 1) makes sense this would only happen after the car sits for extended amount of time and fuel pressure could slowly drop. 2) Unlocking / opening the door would trigger it to happen - the car would be assuming it's likely be started shortly after. 3) I noticed at least with my car the duration of the clicking would get shorter the second time or not happen again after doing it once. It was around 45 - 60 seconds the first time and then if I tried again a few minutes later it was much shorter or didn't happen.

Seems like a lot of people have had valvetronic motors replaced for this condition, and I'm curious if anyone with more technical knowledge than me could explain whether there could be any possible link between the valvetronic motor and fuel pressure...???

Anyway, not sure if this helps or just makes it more of a mystery. Hadn't seen much else here about fuel pressure so thought I would mention.

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

random thought but wouldnt service centers want to do the most work possible to increase revenue

[luke42179]

Originally Posted by G35POPPEDMYCHERRY

random thought but wouldnt service centers want to do the most work possible to increase revenue

They do want the work but their hands are tied by the Technical Service Engineer. The TSE is a regional rep working for BMW NA and decides what to approve for repair under warranty.

My valvetronic was just replaced on the 5th visit; 4th with video proof of the intermittent issue they could not replicate. It seems to have finally fixed the clicking noise. This was only after the local TSE was replaced.

Frustrating to say the least.

[luke42179]

Nope. Still not fixed. New valvetronic. Noise may be slightly quieter than before.

Eccentric shaft?

[Nerdking]

Originally Posted by luke42179

Nope. Still not fixed. New valvetronic. Noise may be slightly quieter than before.

Eccentric shaft?

I have a 535i with the N55. I have the same issue, it sometimes makes this noise after unlocking after a long cold night of sitting. Dealer couldn't reproduce.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55Ku...ature=emb_logo

[_robert_]

Originally Posted by luke42179

Nope. Still not fixed. New valvetronic. Noise may be slightly quieter than before.

Eccentric shaft?

Any resolution on this - or will you live with the ticking.

[AlpineWhite_SJ]

I haven’t had it come back since having the eccentric shaft servo replaced. Part number is in my prior update.

[millerrh]

Originally Posted by AlpineWhite_SJ

I haven’t had it come back since having the eccentric shaft servo replaced. Part number is in my prior update.

The second time I went in for this issue they replaced both the servo motor and a shaft (not sure what it was, would have to look at my records). But the noise has been gone since then. Probably been about 4 months now.

[FlyingLow78]

Originally Posted by FlyingLow78

The dealership replaced my Valvetronic motor for the engine noise, and the rain sensor because my wipers were oblivious to rain collecting on the windshield.

The work order is in Italian, and the majority of the fault description was provided on a translated document I gave the dealer. I left an old phone with them with all of the videos as well. It took them two weeks to get the parts in stock and replace them.

The Valvetronic motor they replaced was part number 11377603979, which matches what realOEM.com says my car should have. They also replaced a bunch of gaskets and a flange. They also did some software coding on my car because a bunch of the FDL work I had done is now gone, but not all of it. I still don’t have any Nav or backup warnings, but ASC is back , my mirrors don’t fold on command, and my presets are gone.

Oh, and there was quite a bit of oil spilled on the turbos while the valve cover was off, and it was a smoky, oily mess when I got home. Nice.

Time will tell if it’s fixed.

Update: Ten months later and all is well. I have put several track days and around 10K kilometres on the car since the servomotor was replaced. My warranty expires in a couple days.

[luke42179]

They just replaced the VVT motor and eccentric shaft. So far so good and I'm hopeful it's fixed based on the other posts.

[Andrew30azs]

Originally Posted by Drew@Sonic MS

Same issue on my M4, replaced valvetronic motor a few days ago. If anyone has this issue, doing a quick scan on ISTA will show a valvetronic motor code and should be easy to get dealer to replace it.

Its hard to replace that motor valve by itself ?

[FlyingLow78]

Originally Posted by Tobiasz17azs

Its hard to replace that motor valve by itself ?

Here’s how.

[FlyingLow78]

Originally Posted by FAM3LYCAR

I've been keeping an eye on this thread b/c I definitely have the same noise after my F80 sits parked in the garage for extended periods of time. I captured video of this happening on my car a few weeks ago and was at the dealer today for other service so I mentioned it to the shop foreman and showed him the video that I took.

Without hesitation he recognized the sound and explained that it happens when a sensor detects low fuel pressure at a certain part of the fuel delivery system in the engine bay. Whatever is making the noise (valvetronic motor?) is essentially pressurizing a part of the fuel system so that it's at a certain spec for a cold start. Said the S55 motors are finicky about fuel pressure and it's completely normal.

Now, I'm not a technical expert by any means, and this could just as easily be a "story" to avoid having to replace anything, but a few things about this explanation seem to make sense about what I've seen and what others have said. 1) makes sense this would only happen after the car sits for extended amount of time and fuel pressure could slowly drop. 2) Unlocking / opening the door would trigger it to happen - the car would be assuming it's likely be started shortly after. 3) I noticed at least with my car the duration of the clicking would get shorter the second time or not happen again after doing it once. It was around 45 - 60 seconds the first time and then if I tried again a few minutes later it was much shorter or didn't happen.

Seems like a lot of people have had valvetronic motors replaced for this condition, and I'm curious if anyone with more technical knowledge than me could explain whether there could be any possible link between the valvetronic motor and fuel pressure...???

Anyway, not sure if this helps or just makes it more of a mystery. Hadn't seen much else here about fuel pressure so thought I would mention.

It’s an absolutely nonsense explanation to say it’s something about fuel pressure, since the pumps aren’t anywhere near the engine. The tech didn’t know. When I filmed mine, the noise was loudest directly over the center of the valve cover, in the area of the Valvetronic servomotor. Given the number of us that have had the issue resolved through Valvetronic motor or eccentric shaft replacements, it’s a well-known issue.

I recommend you film it every time it happens, and on mine it only needed to be completely cooled off to happen.

[rufio1]

This thread saved me as i had the same issue and brought to the bmw dealership 3 times and they never found anything. This time I told them to check for valvetronic motor and they finally were able to identify it - valvetronic motor actuator. Thanks to everyone here for saving me thousands of $$ since still under warranty!

[marvinp]

Originally Posted by rufio1

This thread saved me as i had the same issue and brought to the bmw dealership 3 times and they never found anything. This time I told them to check for valvetronic motor and they finally were able to identify it - valvetronic motor actuator. Thanks to everyone here for saving me thousands of $$ since still under warranty!

Were they able to tell that it was defective?