[Syndicategt]

Well as most of you know, I recently had some very bad engine problems, which was my last straw with this car. This all started when my car was having some serious rough idling on cold starts. The car would start normally but within seconds, it would idle between 650 down to 300 RPM, almost felt like it would stall. The car would stumble so badly it would throw the SES light and cause the CEL and go into limp (if driven), but with no codes were ever thrown. This wasn't the typical fuel injector/ coil pack rough idle which would spike up to 1,500 RPM. Since I've experienced that misfire idle in the past, this led me to believe this was a timing issue. I'm out of warranty but handy with fixing things on the car. The next day I removed my VANOS solenoids, reversed them, and cleaned them out. This seemed to fix the problem but the next day it appeared again without codes again. This time, I decide to change out my plugs, again it didn't fix the issue. So my car is a higher mileage vehicle and the intake valves had never been cleaned. I called my local dealership (who will remain nameless) and they confirmed they had the walnut shell blasting equipment. I bring my car in for the cleaning and recall on my HPFP (the current one has worked just fine). The next day, I receive a phone call saying my valves were caked in carbon but are now shiny clean........however (this is where it spins horribly out of control).

My car is now making a loud knock and the dealer believes they got some debris inside my cylinders. The SA says they need to remove the head to clean them out and assures me this will be on BMW's dime. I headed to the dealership to see and hear my car to confirm this sound was not normal. The tech allows me to listen to the engine, sounds normal for about 30 seconds with the typical valve ticking which we all get......then knock knock knock knock. At first I was like WTF is that, stating the car did not sound like that prior to bringing it in.

Here's a video of the sound:

The next day I get another phone call, now they claim they brought in a BMW field rep who checked out my car. It was supposidly borescoped, leaked down, and compression checked. All of these checks came out good on the top side. The dealership and the field rep came to the conclusion the top side of the engine was good and their work performed (intake valve cleaning) was not the culprit of the noise. The also concluded it was coming from the bottom end (short block) and possibly a spun rod bearing. Now how the hell does one spin a rod bearing when I baby the car and change out the oil on my own every 5K miles? Oh, I forgot to mention, BMW also did an oil change on my car. Now I was wondering if it was ran dry.

The dealership now wanted $2100 (out of my pocket) just to drop the oil pan and inspect my rods, who knows what additional cost of repairing any damage. I took my keys and drove the hell out of there. Called my buddy, who's a BMW tech, and had him look at the car. After him hearing what the dealership had to say, and quickly listening to my engine, we decided to drop the oil pan. If you don't know, dropping the pan isn't a quick job. It requires dropping the subframe, removing all motor mounts and suspending the engine. As a payment for the job, he got to keep my turbos, so that added onto the job. After many hours of labor, we got to the rod and bearing at hand. There was some play on #4, which was the one making the noise. Here's a shot of the bearing:



If you ever seen a spun bearing, this does not look like one. They usually have uniform groves that go a full 360 around the bearing. This does show signs of wear, but I'm assuming they all look this way. The bearing themselves are made of aluminum, however, my rods were forged. So after slapping a new bearing in and buttoning everything back up, it was time to fire her up to see if this worked. Pushed the button and everything sounded fine ........until

10 minutes later........knock knock knock knocn So now my buddy is pissed, as am I, not because we did all that work, but because we listened to the dealership's advice. After some more research and digging around, he discovered this was not a spun rod bearing knock, but rather a bad lifter. Turns our, the lifter on #4 was not getting enough pressure and was worn out. This is probably due to it's location, as it sits between the two turbos and is the hottest spot on the engine. Good thing is, this is a very easy fix, but it requires some specific tools, which are expensive.


Long story short, if you hear this sound, don't just assume the worst. Oh and rumor from the "other forum", no Shiv didn't threaten to sue me....we were just having some fun, which brought me some much needed good laughs.

[happy4nk8er]

Sorry man, what a hassle. Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge.

[KyLu II]

Wow!

[Kalimanjb]

I just did an oil change and i would get a similar sound once in a while.. Rpms are good will try to post video

[Ken_C]

Maybe just me, but the video doesn't really sound like rod knock.

Sucks you had to go through dropping the pan to figure that out, but good to see you're getting it fixed.

[rader1]

IMO you should've used a mechanics stethoscope before tearing into the bottom end. But I can completely understand just taking the dealership at their word.

[JamesM3M5]

That's the back side of the bearings you have in the pic. They are steel and lead/copper babbit coated, not aluminum.

[cn555ic]

Wow that sucks...I cant believe the dealer still uses the DIS 57! I thought they were using ISIS as their diagnostic tool!

[Syndicategt]

Originally Posted by Ken_C

Maybe just me, but the video doesn't really sound like rod knock.

Sucks you had to go through dropping the pan to figure that out, but good to see you're getting it fixed.

If you heard it from behind or under the car, it did.

Originally Posted by cn555ic

Wow that sucks...I cant believe the dealer still uses the DIS 57! I thought they were using ISIS as their diagnostic tool!

That's not the dealers equipment, it's my buddy's, he did all the work.

[rosskie]

i have something like that.. its the injectors miss firing kinda. the valves inside are making the nose it seems like.

[lawwailok]

hey Will, is that the root cause?
if so, do you know what causes that?

[Syndicategt]

Originally Posted by lawwailok

if so, do you know what causes that?

To this day I still have no idea what caused this. I find it a major coincidence that it happened while at the dealership, but there is no proof or evidence of foul play. Although, this wouldn't be the first time I had issues with the dealership, they once took my car on a 50 mile "test drive" and claimed a QA tech needed to inspect the fuel pump (I called BS because they accidently gave it to another customer).

I still don't know of another case in the N54 where the lifter went bad, I've seen some N52's. Lack of oil pressure perhaps when the oil was changed? Or wear and tear over time? I filed a PUMA case and the idiot receptionist told me it was just wear and tear and BMW would not open a case.

Well they just lost a life long customer.

[lawwailok]

Originally Posted by Syndicategt

To this day I still have no idea what caused this. I find it a major coincidence that it happened while at the dealership, but there is no proof or evidence of foul play. Although, this wouldn't be the first time I had issues with the dealership, they once took my car on a 50 mile "test drive" and claimed a QA tech needed to inspect the fuel pump (I called BS because they accidently gave it to another customer).

I still don't know of another case in the N54 where the lifter went bad, I've seen some N52's. Lack of oil pressure perhaps when the oil was changed? Or wear and tear over time? I filed a PUMA case and the idiot receptionist told me it was just wear and tear and BMW would not open a case.

Well they just lost a life long customer.

oh well... i heard bad more than good about that place you took to. don't lose your faith Will, im sure you will return to roundel soon =)

[dfv2]

I'm relieved to hear that this turned out to be a "minor" issue, I'm sure your insane amount of investigative work will help out if/when this occurs to others. Title is misleading btw, but it brought me in quick enough.

[Lulz_M3]

Thx for posting, info like this is what makes these communities priceless.

[n54door]

Would the gummy valves serve as a buffer for a failing lifter? Maybe removing the gunk allowed the failing lifter to reveal itself?

[Syndicategt]

Originally Posted by n54door

Would the gummy valves serve as a buffer for a failing lifter? Maybe removing the gunk allowed the failing lifter to reveal itself?

That is a definate possibility, I thought the same myself. My other theory was, the lifter was alread failed and removing the gunk (which damapened the sound) increased the harmonics.

[n54door]

Originally Posted by Syndicategt

That is a definate possibility, I thought the same myself. My other theory was, the lifter was alread failed and removing the gunk (which damapened the sound) increased the harmonics.

Exactly. I'd put a shiney nickel on it

[tscdennab]

Great to hear the problem was solved !

Don't forget to break in that new rod bearing for 2500 miles

[bigdaddycane]

so, now that it's fixed are you keeping it or getting rid of it?

[nafoo]

Originally Posted by bigdaddycane

so, now that it's fixed are you keeping it or getting rid of it?

Originally Posted by Syndicategt

To this day I still have no idea what caused this. I find it a major coincidence that it happened while at the dealership, but there is no proof or evidence of foul play. Although, this wouldn't be the first time I had issues with the dealership, they once took my car on a 50 mile "test drive" and claimed a QA tech needed to inspect the fuel pump (I called BS because they accidently gave it to another customer).

I still don't know of another case in the N54 where the lifter went bad, I've seen some N52's. Lack of oil pressure perhaps when the oil was changed? Or wear and tear over time? I filed a PUMA case and the idiot receptionist told me it was just wear and tear and BMW would not open a case.

Well they just lost a life long customer.

- This picture looks a lot more mean than the way I am saying it, but it's all I have to work with

[bigdaddycane]

I read the thread but the bolded print does not tell me if

A.HE IS SELLING RIGHT NOW

or

B.IF HE WILL NEVER BUY A BMW AGAIN.