Tapping/Ticking noise from engine

[Anders93]

How was the headgasket? Any breaks between cylinders?

Headgasket looked fine, no breaks. The shop did a compression test before anything was pulled, and all cylinders were 160 +/- 2%. Seemed a little low, but no red flags.

[Slideways]

It was my first time doing an adjustment on the s54, but the ticking was there before the adjustment.

Turns out, the problem had nothing to do with the recent work (headers/ valve adjustment). Something got into cyl 3. Might have been a spark plug electrode. The cylinder walls look good, so the head was hot tanked and a machine shop made sure everything was flat, checked the valve seats, seals, etc. Everything was good except for a bent exhaust valve. The gummed up parts of the head and piston were smoothed out, and the engine was put back together. The shop (BMW specific indy with expertise in BMW track cars) thinks this will be fine and won't give me any issues. I figure I'll do a full rebuild down the line (when I have long-term access to a garage) and replace the head casting and of course pistons. I'll be doing the rod bearings soon, since they were definitely stressed from the whole ordeal.

But good news is that the car runs great and there are no strange noises

How was the headgasket? Any breaks between cylinders?

[Anders93]

Andres93,

Don't sent the car to a shop, yet.

Could you please confirm you received the ticking sound after you performed
valve adjustment ?

Is this the first time you are doing valve adjustment on S54 ?

Please answer, I have something in mind for you to check.


Regards,
Anri

It was my first time doing an adjustment on the s54, but the ticking was there before the adjustment.

Turns out, the problem had nothing to do with the recent work (headers/ valve adjustment). Something got into cyl 3. Might have been a spark plug electrode. The cylinder walls look good, so the head was hot tanked and a machine shop made sure everything was flat, checked the valve seats, seals, etc. Everything was good except for a bent exhaust valve. The gummed up parts of the head and piston were smoothed out, and the engine was put back together. The shop (BMW specific indy with expertise in BMW track cars) thinks this will be fine and won't give me any issues. I figure I'll do a full rebuild down the line (when I have long-term access to a garage) and replace the head casting and of course pistons. I'll be doing the rod bearings soon, since they were definitely stressed from the whole ordeal.

But good news is that the car runs great and there are no strange noises

[Anri]

Thanks for the input! Unfortunately new header gaskets did not fix the issue. I'm going to try doing an oil flush tomorrow, then off to the shop it goes.

Andres93,

Don't sent the car to a shop, yet.

Could you please confirm you received the ticking sound after you performed
valve adjustment ?

Is this the first time you are doing valve adjustment on S54 ?

Please answer, I have something in mind for you to check.


Regards,
Anri

[Anri]

Did you actually go feel around each exhaust port/header tube for a leak?

Hi Stash1,

That does not sound like exhaust leak at all.

Regards,
Anri

[stash1]

Thanks for the input! Unfortunately new header gaskets did not fix the issue. I'm going to try doing an oil flush tomorrow, then off to the shop it goes.

Did you actually go feel around each exhaust port/header tube for a leak?

[Anders93]

Hi Anders93,

Have you found your ticking issue ?

The minor scoring and surface pigmentation
seen at the lobes on your lobes is normal for
hi miles or hi track miles on S54 camshafts.

Little more black is due to late oil changes.


Regards,
Anri

Thanks for the input! Unfortunately new header gaskets did not fix the issue. I'm going to try doing an oil flush tomorrow, then off to the shop it goes.

[Anri]

Hi Anders93,

Have you found your ticking issue ?

The minor scoring and surface pigmentation
seen on your lobes are all normal for hi miles
or hi track miles on S54 camshafts.

Little more black is due to late oil changes.


Regards,
Anri

[Anders93]

This ^^^.
The OP's engine is dirty as fuk. I would gauge for this and some of his maintenance techniques that it is just not a well cared for engine and could be anything.

To be fair, I got this car 15k miles ago. Since my ownership, oil was changed 3 times, so the gunk is probably not all my doing.

[chicane]

You pushed down on a piston with a screwdriver?

This ^^^.
The OP's engine is dirty as fuk. I would gauge for this and some of his maintenance techniques that it is just not a well cared for engine and could be anything.

[Redline]

If the noise wasn’t there prior to install then it may be a result of the work performed. That said the steel on some aftermarket headers are thinner and will result in a normal ticking noise.

s54’s tick, I have two sitting in my driveway that have some degree of a tick on the passenger side. Some engines are louder than others When it comes to s54’s. If rockers are good and valve clearance is good and no signs of scoring on the cams/rockers I’d say you are g2g.

and I saw head gasket was noted. Only in the ok they have this issue and the tick is a ping (detonation) when lightly rolling into the throttle at low speed. Not this.

[Anders93]

Call the dealer with your VIN and have them check to see if the DME has been reflashed to take care of the Cat efficiency threshold being too sensitive. I would get that code once a month until the dealer did the recall. Had them do it at the same time as the Takata airbag recall

I'm actually running CSL software, so I wouldn't want to do that. However, there actually was an exhaust leak previously when I forgot to put in the cyl 3 gasket, so I'm pretty sure that caused the code.

When you adjusted the valve lash, did you take a look at the rocker arm contact area. I have seen cars that make a similar noise and some of the rocker arms were flattened out. Even if you shim to the correct clearance, they will still make noise if they are flattened out. Hopefully its just something to do with your header install.

I did not do that. I was actually just thinking about that after watching this video this morning:

I'll check this out if the new gaskets don't work. I do have some pictures from the cyl 3 exhaust side cam and rocker arm (pics 1 and 2 in the OP). There is a wear spot on the cam and arm. Would that be enough to cause a noise like that?

Mine sounds like that when it's hot too. Video in OP does seem more pronounced.

Yea, my car used to sound very similar that (before the new tap noise). I realize these engines aren't exactly quiet, but this new tap noise is definitely new and very pronounced. I can actually hear it pretty clearly from inside the vehicle.

[BMWahba]

Mine sounds almost exactly the same as this. Can also be heard louder through the passenger wheel well.

Mine sounds like that when it's hot too. Video in OP does seem more pronounced.

[AdamM3]

When you adjusted the valve lash, did you take a look at the rocker arm contact area. I have seen cars that make a similar noise and some of the rocker arms were flattened out. Even if you shim to the correct clearance, they will still make noise if they are flattened out. Hopefully its just something to do with your header install.

[beefaroni]

Call the dealer with your VIN and have them check to see if the DME has been reflashed to take care of the Cat efficiency threshold being too sensitive. I would get that code once a month until the dealer did the recall. Had them do it at the same time as the Takata airbag recall