S54 vanos and tick

[Alex]

I have a BMW S54 engine with a slight valvetrain ticking noise. I’ve already adjusted the valve clearances multiple times and they are within spec, but the noise is still there.

I scanned the car and my intake (inlet) VANOS position is reading 63.7°, while the exhaust side looks normal.

Does this indicate incorrect cam timing or VANOS hub indexing? Could this be the cause of the ticking noise even though the sound seems to come from the exhaust side? the noise is not loud very faint!

[sapote]

I have a BMW S54 engine with a slight valvetrain ticking noise. I’ve already adjusted the valve clearances multiple times and they are within spec, but the noise is still there.

I scanned the car and my intake (inlet) VANOS position is reading 63.7°, while the exhaust side looks normal.

Does this indicate incorrect cam timing or VANOS hub indexing? Could this be the cause of the ticking noise even though the sound seems to come from the exhaust side? the noise is not loud very faint!

more info needed: during the test, did the IN move to the advance side or not, or it was locked at max retarded position? If it moved, then you should verify the IN cam timing setting first, then we will deal with the problem.

[Alex]

It moved it’s not locked in that specific number, but it’s saying it’s out of tolerance. I don’t know if that can cause an engine damage I don’t remember if I was holding the gas pedal or an idle when this picture is taken

[paulclaude]

Doubtful that the timing issue is the cause of the tick, but either way your cam timing is "out of range" as reported by the test. By the looks of it, both the inlet and exhaust aren't registering an adaptation value (which allows the ecu to correct for small timing errors +/-8deg). I would pull the rocker cover and check / adjust your camshaft timing, and also inspect the vanos components and upper chain guide.

[sapote]

It moved it’s not locked in that specific number, but it’s saying it’s out of tolerance. I don’t know if that can cause an engine damage I don’t remember if I was holding the gas pedal or an idle when this picture is taken

I wish the test app uses the absolute degrees for the cam timing as it's easy for me to visual them to the crank timing. The test offsets the data to make one end of the range to zero.

[sapote]

From AI:
e46 M3 bmw: what are the timing angle range for IN and EX cams?

For the BMW E46 M3 (S54 engine), the dual-VANOS system allows for a wide range of variable valve timing. The timing angles are typically measured in crankshaft degrees relative to Top Dead Center (TDC).
S54 VANOS Timing Angle Ranges
The absolute working ranges for the stock camshafts are generally defined as follows:

• Intake (IN) Camshaft:
  • Range: Approximately 60° of total crank rotation.
  • Working window: 70° to 130° after TDC (ATDC).
  • Behavior: At idle and low throttle, the intake cam is fully retarded (closer to 130° ATDC). During full throttle in the midrange (~2000–3500 RPM), it advances fully to promote cylinder filling.
• Exhaust (EX) Camshaft:
  • Range: Approximately 45° to 48° of total crank rotation.
  • Working window: -83° to -128° before TDC (BTDC).
  • Behavior: At idle, the exhaust cam is fully advanced (closer to -128° BTDC). In the midrange under load, it retards fully to increase overlap and torque.

Your first post shows the IN at 63.7 which is actually at 133.7 in absolute value (70 to 130 was mapped to 0 to 60 by the Test Tool and it's useless and more confuse to me for no gain), which is a 3.7* too retard from spec. hence the error message. Too retarded IN cannot cause piston hitting valves so that's not the cause of ticking, but you should reset the cam timing.
As for the 2nd pic showing the EX timing: If the tool mapped the [-83 to -128] to [0 to 45], then your 9.8 means -83 - 9.8 = -92.8 which is 9.8* more advance then this also cannot cause piston hitting valves to cause the clicking. Note: too retarded EX can cause piston hitting valves, and too advanced IN can cause hitting .
clicking: remove VC and check the cam lobes and rocker contact surfaces, and rocket keeper clips were installed firmly on the rods.

[Alex]

This is what the scanner came up with after driving for a little!

[Alex]

Is it worth redoing the timing or should I just leave it as is?

[Alex]

I appreciate the detailed reply very much. I’m new to this platform. I haven’t really done much research or know how the system works very well. I just did a head job on the car and I’m going to take it to track next week, but I want to make sure the car is running smoothly before I go and damage something

[paulclaude]

This is what the scanner came up with after driving for a little!

Those values look ok. You can now see it's stored an adaptation value for inlet and exhaust. Exhaust being -3.98 which is approximately the offset from the test failure. Try running the vanos test again now that adaptation values have set.

[maupineda]

Values are within range. Do you have any trouble codes? These engines are a bit chatty so a tick can be valve adjustment.

[Alex]

I took the vanos apart and found that the intake it sitting couple degrees wrong so I’m redoing the timing to make it close to zero

[Alex]

What I don’t understand is the hub where if the gears are pushed all the way back the hub dot is facing up of the cam? But when the gear is pushed all the way in is the hub facing couple degrees left

[sapote]

I took the vanos apart and found that the intake it sitting couple degrees wrong so I’m redoing the timing to make it close to zero

The cam hole tilted to the exhaust side?

[sapote]

What I don’t understand is the hub where if the gears are pushed all the way back the hub dot is facing up of the cam? But when the gear is pushed all the way in is the hub facing couple degrees left

What dot?
The hub has an oil hole and its orientation is not important. When gears are pushed into the hubs, the hubs want to turn CCW per the helical cut splines, but since they are bolted to the sprockets so the the hubs can't turn relative to sprocket, and instead the gears and cams have to turn CW, viewed from front.