3.0i Tappety Noise

[EJL]

So haven't posted on here for a long time, haven't needed to as the car has been great. Any problems that I have encountered have been covered thoroughly on this forum.

I have recently bought a new to me (a Porsche 911 Carrera S :evil: ) car and I will be looking to sell my Zed shortly... although undecided as to whether sell now or wait to the spring.

So since buying the 911 the Zed has had been resting up, waiting on the cherished number to change over before I SORN the Zed. Anyway to today I was doing some DIY around the house and had to move the Zed. On start it didn't sound quite right, a tappety noise that got a little better once i let it get up to temperature but still there and noise matched the revs of the engine (sorry I should have recorded the sound).

I checked the oil, all good, bang in the middle of the dipstick. Oil was changed in January this year. The Zed has approx. 88k miles.

Doing a search on the forum I found that the ticking noise is common in the 3.0si engines bit mine is the older 3.0i engine... so could it be the sitting around for the last 2 or 3 weeks with no movement? Also, it has done very little mile this year probably around 1.5k due COVID and working from home.

Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[Mr Tidy]

Not the same car, but I had an E46 325ti with the M54 engine for a few years and had a similar problem with that once.

I was helping a friend move house, so started the car to move it off the drive for the removal van. Later on I drove her a mile or so to her brother's while we waited for the keys to the new property, then I drove about a mile to there!

When I started it a couple of days later to come home it was ticking a bit, misfiring and had an amber EML on. I put up with it for a few miles and by then it had warmed up a bit. I stopped for some petrol and when I started it to leave the garage no amber light, no ticking and no misfire.

Next time I got it serviced I described what happened to my Indy and he said it was probably an issue with one of the hydraulic lifters. Apparently they don't always build up enough pressure if you just do stop/start running without getting the engine properly up to temperature.

I think I'd try to think of a longer essential journey to make and once it's warm try an Italian tune-up!

 

[Jfgoldfish]

As Mr Tidy described, it is probably one or more of the hydraulic lifters.
The oil can seep out of them if the car if left unused and it can then take a good run to bleed the air out again. It should come right after a good run.

If it doesn't come right, it is possible that a bit of muck is stopping the little ball valve inside the lifter from sealing properly. Options at that point would be cleaning them, replacing them or trying an oil additive to loosen the muck... Or putting up with the annoying noise!

 

[EJL]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll take the Zed for a good spin tomorrow and see if that sorts it out.

 

[Z4C_er]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll take the Zed for a good spin tomorrow and see if that sorts it out.

It will... I had exactly the same problem. A couple of miles later, all sorted.

 

[Phil40]

Hi, i have a member (french board) who have same noise (Engine ticking) when cold start only. He have a N52 30i on his Z4 E89.
Do you know what is the solution ?

 

[Thermaltake]

If the noise does disappear after a good run, Then most likely will be lifters.

My coupe suffered the same, I switched to Fuchs titan race pro S 5w40 oil and its been silent ever since, Some googling around and people find the ester based synthetic oil seem good add solving tappet noise etc. Millers Nanodrive is another common ester based oil.

 

[JamesClements]

Mines always like this in the spring when it comes out of storage, one of the few times driving your car harder will cure the issue!

 

[Mr Tidy]

Same problem probably with the same solution.

During lockdowns my 330i (same N52 engine) suffered from the ticking noise but once it had a decent run the ticking disappeared.

 

[inkey$]

Yep; sounds like textbook N52 lifter noise. If mine has done short trips or not been run for a while, it can occur. Take her for a decent run out and get the revs up. She’lll be purring again within around 3-5 minutes

 

[domsz4]

Is it easy to clean these?

Any other thoughts? mine gets a regular ish drive 15 miles or so on country roads every few days to and from work.