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Ticking Noise From Engine

4K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  zrobbins2000 
#1 ·
Hello,

Ive had my 93' 318i for a few months now and i love how it drives and its extremely comfortable, but theres a few noises i get here and there that are puzzling/bugging me.

When im travelling and accelerating the car, the increase in noise is accompanied by an increasing ticking noise, which gets louder/faster as i rev the car higher, is this a common noise? ive got 86k miles on my car and its the 1st BMW ive had so i know not whether the noise is around alot and whether its anything to worry about. Is it noisey tappets or something else? and can anything be done? (its definatly from the engine, ive had the hood up + listened) it doesnt seem to be affecting the performance of the car to my knowledge, its just an annoyance really :banghead

Also when traveling at speed, 60mph+ sometimes i get a weird buzzing noise coming from my instrument pod, it almost sounds like the noise when you leave your lights on, but its constant, not the BZZ BZZ BZZ tempo, but more a constant drone noise, this then decreases if i stop accelerating, and stops all together if i put the clutch in and disengage the accelerator. This one im totaly lost on if anyones got any information.... it only happens when traveling at 60mph + which is odd to me. :dunno

if anyone can offer any advice it would be appreciated greatly.

clint
 
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#4 ·
i havent checked the oil yet, i will do before i leave work as ive heard this can be attributed to not enough oil, or sludgey oil and in need of a change leading to the hydraulic lifters ticking where their not getting enough oil.

any info still welcome!

please :(
 
#5 ·
ok well, dont know if this is terrible or not, but i checked the oil and there was NO oil on the dipstick...... this either means my cars been running on extremly low oil, or there is a blockage in the dipstick holder, which of these is more likely to be true?

i bought 4 litres of multigrade 15w40 last night but i dont know how much to add or how to judge it (this is my 1st car), but it cant be good and its no suprise the hydraulic lifters are making noise if i have hardly any oil in the engine.

can anyone help me? :/
 
#6 ·
make sure you have the correct grade of oil (read your bimmer manual) then just add as much as you can!
To be honest, if you overfill the oil, it just burns off making a nice cloud behind you until it reaches the correct level.
 
#7 ·
Ok thank you, my haynes manual says anything from 10w40 to 20w50 can go in the engine (multigrade) so 15w40 is ok i gather?

ill keep adding it bit by bit until i get a reading on the dipstick, ive read some reports on here of people being about 2.5 quarts down, and needing to add that amount just to get to the dipstick (about 3 litres i think) so ill give it a go during my lunch hour :)

thanks for the reply
 
#8 ·
ok, jeezus, i needed 3 litres to get to between the min-max lines

but the noise is still there, im gonna fill the oil up to the max line and run it for a bit see if it gets any better

cars been running for over a month on this low oil level tho :/ :cries:
 
#9 ·
Epps. No oil in your car is NOT good. I run 10w30 mobil 1. It sounds like it is your lifters or a problem starting with one of your connecting rods. (which I hope its not). I would flush my engine, add normal oil (half a quart shy) and pour some lucas down there. Drive it for a few weeks then oil change time. That should silence the lifters. If that does not work you might have a problem..

My two cents.

-Steveo
 
#10 ·
i have a 92 318i that i drive 60 miles a day 3 days a week. I started noticing a ticking noise but didnt get it checked out. Because it is my only car and cant afford to not have it for a few days. After awhile the noise got worse and i took it to a shop and i had did alot of damage to the timing gear and the rear casing. It turns out that the original problem was a timing chain tensioner that would have cost $50 excluding labor to replace. But since i let it go so long i had a bill that was $900. So if you have a little noise i would rather be safe then sorry and go have it checked out.

zach
 
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