E30 Zone

thought my 318is sounded abit noise so i went to a bmw specilist to have alook and when the bloke had a look at he said it was a little top end noisey tappety.

he said that it may just be a couple of worn out hydrolic tappets but to get the right ones he'd have to change them all. so thats £10+VAT each which is about £188 + while hes there i might as well do the cam chain/sprockets and water pump

so has anyone else done this resently how may £Â£Ã‚£Ã‚£Ã‚£ will it cost me including LABOUR??

anything else to do while am there?

what sort of noise?

if it a ticking clean your injectors first before you think about anything else

I've run sum red x through it and it made a very slight difference?

its quite loud and you can hear it over the normal engine noise at any revs especaily when you accelerate then let it coast.

Have you checked it's not a cracked exhaust manifold? Seems to be a more common problem on these cars.

Ya the mech is a sound guy and loves his E30s an got a very nice IS his self , he said its not that and sounds topend to him, which is what me dad thought aswell.

Hmm, i have a kinda ticking noise which sounds like exhaust noise on mine. Never been able to suss out where it was coming from though. Might be the manifold. How much is a new manifold and where do you get one?

A super sprint stainless one is £444 dont know about a BMW one or a GSF equivelent

I've heard a new bmw manifold is about 400 notes

My m42 is noisy aswell tho it's the timin chain tensioner, Heard a different m42 and its tappets usually go quiet once warmed up- . But am no mechanic

rc wrote:My m42 is noisy aswell tho it's the timin chain tensioner, Heard a different m42 and its tappets usually go quiet once warmed up- . But am no mechanic

If it goes when warm then its likely that its the injectors. I had the exact same problem on mine, cleaned them up with carb cleaner and my tapping completely stopped, If you take time to remove the injectors youl be shocked at how dirty they are. Even if it doesnt do the job then its worthwhile doing anyway. My mates old faded Red Is had tappet issues and it made noises at all operating temperatures

if you think its the manifold can you not examin it for cracks?

just got the quote from the garage

are you Sat DOWN???

£1200

For:

Cam chain and all the gear to go with it
Water pump
16 tappets
labour

or £1600

for the above and new camshafts if it needs them


What you all think???

i think he thinks you are minted

If you need someone to tell you not to bother I'll be free after 5:30...

Normally, no one ever bothers changing tappets, and no one ever needs to change cams on these engines. By all means change the water pump and chain if it's done a lot of miles.

go down to Halfords and buy a bottle of Wynn's hydraulic tappet cleaner, pour it in your oil and drive it. I had a bad tap on one of my tappets, this cured it! but then the head cracked a while later! obviously nowt to do with the additive, so i can't tell you the long term effectiveness of this treatment.

You'd be better off sourcing a 2nd hand engine, or teach yourself mechanics!

The tappet cleaner mark mentions is an extremely thin oil and will wear your engine out at a faster rate than it wears now. It allegedly breaks down the oil and claens the tappets that way

Like i said before, clean your injectors first i would put money on these tapping!

IF you do use the tappett oil, dont rag the car while theyr in there. were talkin no higher than about 4k? once its been in there for a day or too flush it out and change the oil. A BMW mechanic told me that another method is to chuck it in neutral, jam the accelerator on so that the engine is running at about 3000rpm, and leave it for an hour?

Before you go doing any of this though i would clean your injectors; i had the same problem as you an this cured it!

Hmmm, im definately gonna clean my injectors first then! Would love to put a supersprint manifold on it though!

I thought it was very steep and am only 18 maybe he though he could make a quick buk from a lad who ca afford to own,run and insure a BMW maybe he tought daddy would pay ( He wont, prowd to say i've worked me bo@*oxs off to pay for it ) although he seemed a pritty genuine guy!

i will try cleaning the injectors first. Hows the best way? ave got an ultrasonic cleaning bath in me garage would this be any good??

Ultrasonic cleaning would be the best way yes (lucky bastard!)

I know i bought it to clean me mountain bike bottom brackets and other parts when i used to be in to them!

before replacing tappets, try removing and cleaning them, dan's right about throwing in additives etc., unless you're particularly lazy! if the chain's being done its not much work to have the cams out and clean the tappets out.
I have a spare set of (used but quiet) tappets for a 318is btw if that's any help.
also try an oil change and some thin synth oil. do quite frequent oil changes to clean out any crap in there. make sure the old oil is warm when you remove it. mb even try flushing oil in there before the new oil goes in. might help if you have noisy tappets.

the cams can wear, but you can buy exchange regrind performance cams pretty cheap if reqd.

over a grand for the work they're on about is a hell of a lot of money. bmw themselves would be the better option if you're on about spending that much.

i would find out more accurately what's making the noise - its gotta be pretty obvious whether its water pump, injectors, or head - they're quite far apart!

the chain should only need doing if its making noise etc, and is worth trying the tensioner first anyway. how many miles you done?

ticking noise from inlet side of rocker is normally injectors, i remember dan thought his was tappets but was cured this way. worth doing as a matter of course as old injectors could harm your performance - especially as you have an ultrasonic bath!

Cars done 88-90,000 miles as for the last year the speedos was intermitent before i bought it, sorted now tho.

i was only gonna do the the chain and the water pump because the mechanic said he would have to take the cam chain off to do the tappets so i thought will he was there he might aswill fit new chain and water pump although they arn,t making any noise them selves.

what liquid should i use in the ultrasonic bath to clean A) the injectors B) the tappets? i only eva used degreaser before.

when i do the inectors would it be a good idea to put them in an injector cleaner like say redex??