Potential Z4 purchase but have concerns

IndoPilot · Post by **IndoPilot** » Sun Mar 14, 2021 4:02 pm

Hi all,

First post here as I'm considering buying the 2012 2.0i SDrive Z4 I had a look at this weekend.

It has a few things I'm a little concerned about however:

- the coolant was a muddy red colour when I first viewed the car a few days ago which the garage changed for me before I went for a second look today. It's now been flushed and changed for a green variant and all seems ok but I'm curious why it was muddy in the first place? No sign of oil in it or water in the oil though.

- the temperature gauge took forever to move off the stop (maybe 7-10 mins of town driving) and only ever got up to 90-100C, so well short of the midpoint of 120C; is that normal? I notice it's an oil temp gauge and not water like most cars.

- there's a faint but annoying ticking sound that you can only hear from the cabin. At idle it's silent but as soon as the throttle is depressed a tiny amount, you can hear it. It DOESN'T change with rpm and can be heard at 80mph on the motorway too although having the radio on is enough to drown it out. It disappears when you back off the throttle even whilst driving along and is only there when you depress the throttle. It's not the heater fan as I turned that off. Again is this a normal sort of noise for a Z4?

Other than the above, the car drove lovely and I was impressed with the solid roof and quiet cabin (aforementioned ticking noise not withstanding). Also, the autobox was probably the nicest I've ever experienced.

Cheers for any inputs

Matt

Pbondar · Post by **Pbondar** » Sun Mar 14, 2021 4:15 pm

Hi, welcome, the 18i/20i/28i versions tend to run their oil cooler than the others (the temp gauge measures oil temp), so since its oil not coolant the temp climbs slower and 85c-95c is normal.

Not sure how you would see water in the oil on that engine? No dipstick.

The coolant can be 'muddy' if someone has topped up with the wrong type of coolant and its interacted with what's there.

Cabins tend to be noisy with some rattles, not sure what the ticking sound is..doesn't accord with any noises on that model I'm aware of.

How many miles has the car done?

There is a possible cam chain issue on that age of car.

My advice would be to maybe find a car without those issues unless you can bring someone knowledgable to look at it.

There are plenty of 18i/20i/28i out there, unless you need a specific spec/colour.

Argyll Andy · Post by **Argyll Andy** » Sun Mar 14, 2021 4:23 pm

Firstly, hello and welcome.

Brown rusty water may not be a great sign, it could be something like Radweld which can be used to try and plug leaks in the cooling system. The green replacement is more what should be in it, colour varies per brand.

Temp wise doesn’t seem low, they only rise to mid point with more spirited driving.

Re the tick someone more knowledgeable will be along about that

If you’re not sure about this one there’s plenty around and buying a forum car can be a better option

Jasonn · Post by **Jasonn** » Sun Mar 14, 2021 5:00 pm

As others have said there's a lot of them out there (one advantage over the six cylinder variants) if it doesn't feel right just move on.

The oil temp had me confused at the start, but I got an agreement from the dealer and my mechanic gave it the once over too (mines a 2016 with 33k on the clock it seemed too good to be true)

mr.tourette · Post by **mr.tourette** » Sun Mar 14, 2021 5:25 pm

Plenty about for sure including a couple of nice ones on the forum, forum member Boltz is listing a cracker..If you've any doubts best looking elsewhere

Boltz · Post by **Boltz** » Sun Mar 14, 2021 7:00 pm

mr.tourette wrote: ↑Sun Mar 14, 2021 5:25 pm Plenty about for sure including a couple of nice ones on the forum, forum member Boltz is listing a cracker..If you've any doubts best looking elsewhere

I should be putting it up later next week when a fresh MOT done. Will put together some up to date pictures and a walk around video. I will give forum members the first opportunity if any interest then advertise it on the usual platforms

IndoPilot · Post by **IndoPilot** » Sun Mar 14, 2021 9:11 pm

Thanks for the quick replies all!

Yes there are indeed plenty about but not many in Atacama Yellow which is the only colour I'm really interested in

Good to know the oil temp isn't anything to worry; I'm used to cars with water temp gauges that sit in the middle of the range.

This thread seems to describe the ticking noise which again, sounds normal: viewtopic.php?f=45&t=40938

Cheers

Pbondar · Post by **Pbondar** » Sun Mar 14, 2021 10:40 pm

Of course Atacama Yellow is the only colour an E89 (or even an E85) should be!

The vacuum pump does make an agricultural noise on tickover but can't say I've heard it inside the car (with the roof up) and certainly not underway. If they are faulty they are easy to replace. Cam chain assembly not so. You didn't say how many miles it was on?

: 4A4A7A42-9872-4759-A482-2197D6FBFBDB.jpeg (315.55 KiB) Viewed 702 times

IndoPilot · Post by **IndoPilot** » Sun Mar 14, 2021 11:19 pm

It’s on 72k miles and just had a service.

I love the yellow; very similar to my 996’s speed yellow

Seems I’m destined to be drawn to cars with suspect engines... (Google Porsche IMS bearing failure)

Cheers

Matt

Pbondar · Post by **Pbondar** » Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:01 am

That year's N20 engined E89s had the first gen camchain / tensioner.. not many have actually failed on Zeds but a few have..long period oil changes and on other cars use of stop/start were alledged to be factors.

72k miles puts it into that region, what does the servicing record look like?

The camchain noise / issue is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p17B5M-PTrQ

They do sound a bit tappety especially cold because of the vacuum pump but really its best to hear two engines back to back to see whether its an issue, but like I say inside the cabin never heard any such noises..

Given that it doesn#t change with rpm its not an oil pump issue see here https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2017/ ... 6-9999.pdf

This refers.. viewtopic.php?t=125186

IndoPilot · Post by **IndoPilot** » Mon Mar 15, 2021 9:03 am

The engine sounded perfectly normal with no whine like in that video. Service history on the car is a little patchy sadly but its MOT history is perfect with straight passes each year.

For piece of mind, what’s a rough cost for getting the timing chain replaced at an indy garage?

Cheers

Argyll Andy · Post by **Argyll Andy** » Mon Mar 15, 2021 9:20 am

IndoPilot wrote: ↑Mon Mar 15, 2021 9:03 am The engine sounded perfectly normal with no whine like in that video. Service history on the car is a little patchy sadly but its MOT history is perfect with straight passes each year.

For piece of mind, what’s a rough cost for getting the timing chain replaced at an indy garage?

Cheers

Funnily enough an post from Peter I remember reading viewtopic.php?f=23&t=121232&p=1734021&h ... t#p1734021

While the MOT history is a good part of due diligence on a vehicle mainly what it shows is that it met MOT standards prior to the test. Patchy service history means you have no method of knowing how the car was looked after during its ownership.

One of the main issues on these engines can be not getting regular enough oil changes so ideally you’d want to,see usual time/distance history with ideally an additional annual oil change. You’re saying there’s not even the BMW schedule never mind the preferred additional one?

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