Push Rods on 3 yr old BMW

G

glawless

New member
I bought a 3 year old BMW Z4 23i last month from a BMW dealership. It has done 35k miles.

I noticed a rattle after a couple of days so the garage took the car back 8 days ago. They called after 2 days and said there was a problem with the electric oil pump which they fixed but they said they needed to keep it in over the weekend to check the rattle was fixed. On monday (5 days ago) they called and said the rattle wasn't resolved and so they were ordering new push rods. Today they called and said it still wasn't resolved so they were ordering another part (no details provided) that will be fitted tomorrow.

I'm concerned that I've bought a car that has serious issues caused by a faulty oil pump & therefore the oil pressure plus potential further as yet unidentified issues. Has anyone experienced anything like this and do you have any advice? I'm thinking about asking for a replacement car. Thanks!
 
glawless said:
I bought a 3 year old BMW Z4 23i last month from a BMW dealership. It has done 35k miles.

I noticed a rattle after a couple of days so the garage took the car back 8 days ago. They called after 2 days and said there was a problem with the electric oil pump which they fixed but they said they needed to keep it in over the weekend to check the rattle was fixed. On monday (5 days ago) they called and said the rattle wasn't resolved and so they were ordering new push rods. Today they called and said it still wasn't resolved so they were ordering another part (no details provided) that will be fitted tomorrow.

I'm concerned that I've bought a car that has serious issues caused by a faulty oil pump & therefore the oil pressure plus potential further as yet unidentified issues. Has anyone experienced anything like this and do you have any advice? I'm thinking about asking for a replacement car. Thanks!
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Sorry to hear of your probs, there has been one or two on here with excessive noise from the hydraulic lifters requiring replacement but have not heard of the push rods needing replacement. End of the day its under warranty and although inconvienient I would let the dealer get on with sorting it within a reasonable time. It would make sense to me if they had the head off to check the cams and lifters are ok.

Tim.
 
Had a terrible rattle when starting up after leaving the Z for a couple of days. Main dealer listened & said it was the hydraulic lifters being starved of oil on start up. Solution was a software issue, the engine management controls how much oil goes where & they reprogrammed it to send full pressure up to the lifters on start up. Have to admit it sounded reasonable and it has seemed to work, no more rattlely start ups in 4 months
 
Push rods? Where are they and what do they do - I'm well aware what they do in an old BMC A series OHV engine but an OHC engine?

The electric oil pump is a new one on me?
 
ronk said:
Push rods? Where are they and what do they do - I'm well aware what they do in an old BMC A series OHV engine but an OHC engine?

The electric oil pump is a new one on me?
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Has me confused that too because I didn't think the n52 had pushrods.

Just reading into this more it seems some people call the HVA/HVL a pushrod as part of its component is a tiny pushrod.
 
Maniac said:
Just reading into this more it seems some people call the HVA/HVL a pushrod as part of its component is a tiny pushrod.
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Now you've got me puzzled M, What's the HVA/HVL ?

The Electric Oil pump also has me wondering ???
 
Hydraulic lifters. They use oil pressure to close the gap between the rocker/cam/valve assembly. No oil means large valve clearances hence noise. Old days you used feeler gauges to adjust rocker gaps. Now with hydraulic lifters the gap is null and adjusted dynamically. As for the oil pump I'm fairly sure that its mechanical but I could be wrong.
 
Now I see what the TLA's ( Three letter acronyms are!)

Hydraulic Valve Assembly/ Hydraulic Valve Lifters !

I did spend some of my youth adjusting the clearances on the Ford twin cam motors - They used a shim pad above the valve stem and the clearances were adjusted using alternative shim thicknesses. What a fiddle on that was!

The more simple method was the old pushrod system ( BMC A series etc and the Ford Kent engines) Feelers and rockers - Do you remember the "Rule of NINE ? Ie 1 open with 8 closed? 2 with 7 etc?

Like you I have never heard of an Electrical Oil Pump.The prospect of that scares me!
 
BMW garages and dealers.

Get with the times.........garage mechanics just replace parts until its fixed. They dont have many skills nowadays relying on a diagnostics device to tell them whats wrong. Dont think just because there is a BMW sign above the door assume it will be good. Customer service is good, but mechanics...well, make your own mind up.

Your case in point.
Another case, my daughter trailered her 120d to BMW Huntingdon, and they couldnt even get it started. They reported that there was good fuel pressure in the common rail. When we finally trailered it home, we found low pressure in the rail and had it pressurised by MasterTech and, hey presto, it started.

Stick to garages you know. Or maybe you could just pay dealer prices and rely on that fantastic warranty and service that comes with it.

Regards,

A pessimist.
 
I suppose times have changed. Some of the assemblies and components are just not meant to come apart and would require some very specialist skills to re-assemble.
 
Certainly some of this could be a simple misunderstanding, but it's astounding what mechanics will tell people. Electric oil pump? Push rods? DME controlled oil routing? Perhaps on an engine somewhere, but not on the N52!

I was under the impression newer N52 heads had an improved oil supply to the HVAs to eliminate the valve clatter issue. A 3 year old car should be after the transition IIRC. Regardless, if it's really valve clatter, unless it's really loud, it is said to be more annoying than harmful. If they can fix the problem, there should not be any long lasting residual degradation of components.

Once this is resolved, I'd find a different mechanic to work with though. Electric oil pump, really?
 
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