87 325e loud topend - BMW Forum

dirty87e30m20b27 · 10-19-2012, 04:39 PM

Hey all i hope some one has the answers that i am looking for i blew a headgasket a week ago (leaking oil from in between the head and block ) i so took it apart and replaced all of the seals and also did a waterpump and the timing componets after reinstall i checked the valves they where at 5 thousands i adjusted the valves to 10 thousands with the engine cold as per spec . Fired it up and the top end is making 100 times more clicking then when it was at 5 thousands gap what should i do??????? Is there by chance a reason that my cars valves where set at 5 thousands she ran like a champ at that gap ?????wtf/ anyinput will be helpful -----and i did the valve adjustment right i have done them on friends e30 with great results ........i also replaced all of the valve adjustment obcentrics and hardwear ????

witeshark · 10-19-2012, 09:18 PM

If the valves are on spec, it may be okay; the M20 valves do tick a lot on spec.

dirty87e30m20b27 · 10-20-2012, 01:32 AM

thanks for the input i am about to jump on the same page of thinking that my car is just going to have a loud topend tick untill it blows up....I started off this afternoon by taking my car on a little shake down drive.(even with the loud top end tick) trying to get the tick to become more pronounced to try and better pin point what is going wrong.....The next 150 miles of driving down hill up hill in all different RPM ranges under a fair amount of abuse....(The tick didnt get any louder) so i drove back home and pulled into the driveway and set the emergency break and let it run. two and a half hours later i got bored of hearing the ticking (still didnt get any louder) so i shut the engine off.. trying to cover all bases on the tick i drained the 10W40 oil i just put in and replaced with 20W50 (still no improvement to the tick)what to do ?........I have never hurd a m20 ever tick this much even when a buddy ran his 86 almost 4 quarts low on oil.. Should i put the valve gap back to 5 thousands where it was ???? distance in between the valves and the pistons how close can i adjust the gap before I am kissing valves to pistons??

Lord Vader · 10-20-2012, 01:34 AM

Ticking can be a result of to thick oil taking too long to reach the lifters on startup. What oil are you running?

dirty87e30m20b27 · 10-20-2012, 01:45 AM

i started off with 10/40 swiched it too 20/50 still same loud tick

morganism · 10-21-2012, 06:29 PM

pull the valve cover gaskets, and use a strong magnet to see if one of the guides is too loose.

dirty87e30m20b27 · 10-22-2012, 12:55 AM

well i pulled the valve cover and ran the car with it off to see if there was anything noticable to the plain eye .....then i went to the old piece of metal rod trick all of my ticking is comming from the #6 intake valvetrain componets ? almost certian that my car has its days numbered I am in need of a new head or a cheap line on a used engine that i can swap into my car

Lord Vader · 10-23-2012, 01:17 AM

A new head should run between $200-400. Swapping it yourself will save a ton.

dirty87e30m20b27 · 10-23-2012, 08:58 AM

Found a complete turn key 87 325I engine for 300 bucks go take it out of the car on thursday hopefully have my E30 up and running with a newer powerplant by the weekend

m20enginebuilder · 10-30-2012, 01:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dirty87e30m20b27

thanks for the input i am about to jump on the same page of thinking that my car is just going to have a loud topend tick untill it blows up....I started off this afternoon by taking my car on a little shake down drive.(even with the loud top end tick) trying to get the tick to become more pronounced to try and better pin point what is going wrong.....The next 150 miles of driving down hill up hill in all different RPM ranges under a fair amount of abuse....(The tick didnt get any louder) so i drove back home and pulled into the driveway and set the emergency break and let it run. two and a half hours later i got bored of hearing the ticking (still didnt get any louder) so i shut the engine off.. trying to cover all bases on the tick i drained the 10W40 oil i just put in and replaced with 20W50 (still no improvement to the tick)what to do ?........I have never hurd a m20 ever tick this much even when a buddy ran his 86 almost 4 quarts low on oil.. Should i put the valve gap back to 5 thousands where it was ???? distance in between the valves and the pistons how close can i adjust the gap before I am kissing valves to pistons??

NOOOOOO the spec is .010, not .005. Put them to .010. Thats where mines set, and I have a freshly rebuilt top end and its still rather noisy. m20's have a very loud top end. Not sure why.