Tapping/Ticking noise from engine

[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.

[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.

[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]

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.

[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?

[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

[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

[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

[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]

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.