Flutter/ticking noise

[DrewDDS]

Hey guys and girls
I have an issue that’s been going on for a few months now. A ticking noise has appeared at low rpm’s under load. It’s almost like a playing card in a bike wheel. It’s not so apparent when the car is cold, gets louder once warm. It’s fairly faint and isn’t noticeable with the windows up. It doesn’t occur when revving in neutral, only happens in low rpm’s with some load. Once it builds some boost the sound goes away. Performance is very good, just the noise. I tried the additional weight for the a/c line and it didn’t help. I’ve seen in some other threads that people with bm3 tunes may have similar sounds. I have the ots stage 1 tune. I’ve changed the oil and spark plugs which didn’t make any difference. Just wanted to get some opinions. I couldn’t capture it very well on video, but I did find one other video that sounds very much the same.

[DrewDDS]

Bump, any ideas? Hoping someone with bm3 ots map can chime in if they have the same noise. The guy that posted this video had the noise come up after flashing bm3 stage 2 and some other work. My car is totally stock besides the flash. Thanks for any input

[hellokitty]

How many miles on the car?

[DrewDDS]

Originally Posted by hellokitty

How many miles on the car?

About 25k

[hellokitty]

Originally Posted by DrewDDS

About 25k

Maybe bad pcv and needs a valve cover replacement? Does the noise go away with no oil cap on?

https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1644721

[DrewDDS]

Originally Posted by hellokitty

Maybe bad pcv and needs a valve cover replacement? Does the noise go away with no oil cap on?

https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1644721

I’m not getting any weird noises at idle, it is most apparent when in low rpm’s and light throttle up a hill. The noise seems to come from low in the engine bay, I think the turbos because it sounds more like its coming from the passenger side. Wish I could stick my head up there while driving, it only happens under load. Seems like I’m going to have to put it on a dyno or something to pinpoint the location

[hellokitty]

Originally Posted by DrewDDS

I’m not getting any weird noises at idle, it is most apparent when in low rpm’s and light throttle up a hill. The noise seems to come from low in the engine bay, I think the turbos because it sounds more like its coming from the passenger side. Wish I could stick my head up there while driving, it only happens under load. Seems like I’m going to have to put it on a dyno or something to pinpoint the location

Then maybe your wastegates need to be adjusted?

A shop can do this for you. A BMW scan tool is usually required to determine if the wastegates are out of spec.

Should be a pretty quick job.

[DrewDDS]

Originally Posted by hellokitty

Then maybe your wastegates need to be adjusted?

A shop can do this for you. A BMW scan tool is usually required to determine if the wastegates are out of spec.

Should be a pretty quick job.

Interesting. Hadn’t heard of this before. Thanks for the input!

[Can335i]

I think we have the same noise

https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...php?p=28949910

[DrewDDS]

Originally Posted by Can335i

I think we have the same noise

https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...php?p=28949910

Sounds the same to me too. Is your car completely stock? Manual or dct?

[Gunzy]

Sounds like an exhaust leak almost.

[DrewDDS]

Originally Posted by Gunzy

Sounds like an exhaust leak almost.

It really does, I’ve been stuck between exhaust leak, wastegate fluttering, or some kind of catastrophic problem with the rotating assembly (timing chain/clutch problem/piston slap) It’s really great for my mental health

The one thing that makes me believe that it’s nothing major is that I’ve been hearing it for at least 5k miles with no change to the sound or the performance of the car.

[F82Rick]

I have the same noise.

I didn't notice it until after the dealer did an oil change and spark plug service.
Noise seems to go away after oil is warmed up.
I also didn't notice any performance issues.

[Can335i]

Originally Posted by DrewDDS

Sounds the same to me too. Is your car completely stock? Manual or dct?

Completely stock, its DCT

[Can335i]

Originally Posted by charern

I have the same noise.

I didn't notice it until after the dealer did an oil change and spark plug service.
Noise seems to go away after oil is warmed up.
I also didn't notice any performance issues.

Noise is always there, cold engine, warm engine doesnt matter
got an oil change nothing changed

[DrewDDS]

Originally Posted by Can335i

Noise is always there, cold engine, warm engine doesnt matter
got an oil change nothing changed

I kind of think it’s just wastegate flutter.
https://youtu.be/CsOl-BWxPII

Really hoping that’s what it is anyway… Not sure how to confirm. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated

[Can335i]

I hope its not the wastegate or something with engine
it would piss me off

[DrewDDS]

Originally Posted by Can335i

I hope its not the wastegate or something with engine
it would piss me off

Me too. At least you haven't done anything to void your warranty

[30FF]

Sounds like an exhaust leak to me.

[DrewDDS]

Spoke with the guy that posted the video. He said that he had a bad injector, cyl 1. I did some datalogging, and nothing points to anything being out of the ordinary on any particular cylinder to my knowledge. I sent them to ptf support for them to look at. Will post back with their response.

[Can335i]

Anything new`?

[DrewDDS]

Originally Posted by Can335i

Anything new`?

Got a response from Halim at ptf. He said afr goes lean and my stft was adding a lot of extra fueling at medium load. I ran some liqui molly jectron, and although it seems to idle much smoother on cold starts and pull smoother in general, the sound is still there. I will be using a stethoscope to track down the noisy injector and replacing it with a new bosch unit.