Please listen to this clip!!

[m3f_richardacosta]

Hey guys.. please listen to my engine





[URL=http://www-scf.usc.edu/~ricardoa/99_m3_ENGINE_NOISE.MP3]Link (http://www-scf.usc.edu/~ricardoa/99_m3_ENGINE_NOISE.MP3)



99 e36 m3

42k miles

just changed oil, added lucas...... nothing



i've driven it like this for 300 miles, has not got better or worst, just annoying as hell. Mechanic friend told me it may be lifters, what do you guys think??



Thanks for taking the time to help a fellow driver!



Rich

[m3f_Sammyzuko_f27405666b]

A coworker of mine heard the clip and said it sounds like the lifters. He had to replace them on his truck and said that's exactly what they sound like when they are bad.

[m3f_richardacosta]

hey man thanks for that... anyone know how much this may cost to fix??

[m3f_Blackspeed]

Hate to say it but this is not a truck. It's a BMW which means you have a bad VANOS.

[m3f_Sammyzuko_f27405666b]

I'm no expert, but doesn't the VANOS only kick in at higher RPMs?

[m3f_Sirius_880bd69485]

That dosen't sound like your typical vanos issue. Vanos issues sounds more like a bag of marbles being jostled around, and its not as consistant as this sound.



Have your lifters looked at.



On a side note.. the car sounds like a deisal. :haha:

[m3f_Brent_Vino]

vanos is always on.... this isnt vtec.

[m3f_roc64]

Sorry for your problems! If it was my car I guarantee I wouldn't be driving it!!!! It sounds terrible.

[m3f_richardacosta]

Sirius, you might be right... the sound is very consistent with the rpms and i'm assuming the VANOS sound varies. anyone else have any other ideas before i take it in?

[m3f_///sleeper_f29d08a5a4]

That's no vanos noise. It sounds much more mechanical than a bad vanos, plus your engine would throw a code if your vanos failed. Is the sound coming from the front or middle, etc? If it's in the front it could have something to do with the chains? Good luck.

[m3f_Blackspeed]

That's how my car sounded when http://www.bimmerhaus.com/ told me my VANOS had gone bad. They replaced it and has made that sound since.



edit: has not

[m3f_////\/\ark]

That's how my car sounded when http://www.bimmerhaus.com/ told me my VANOS had gone bad. They replaced it and has made that sound since.



Do you mean it has *not* made that sound since? Or are you saying that replacing the VANOS didn't help? :???:

[m3f_///sleeper_f29d08a5a4]

Wow...if that's the vanos noise then I sure got dooped into dropping a new vanos in my car :chair: . mine sounded much more like a rattle than that.

[m3f_Blackspeed]

Do you mean it has *not* made that sound since? Or are you saying that replacing the VANOS didn't help? :???:



Thanks for correcting my error

[m3f_M3_AV8TR_09262c9aba]

Mechanic friend told me it may be lifters, what do you guys think??



Rich



Whoooooaaaa!!!!!! Wait a minute!!

Whatever you do don't let your mechanic friend touch your car!!

Our motors DO NOT HAVE LIFTERS!! They are dual overhead cams, cam-followers-valve in that order. You have lifters on engines like early V8's where the cam is on the center of the engine and it uses lifters to "lift" pushrods that go from the cam to the rocker arms that push the valves open.