Lifter Tap - Perhaps a fix?

[evil_twin]

Why worry about the ticking then if you plan on rebuilding it?

Because rebuilding will be in a while, and knowing me, I will procrastinate like I'm doing with my suspension now.

[bostonbmw]

I have Never have any lifter tick running 0w-40 mobile 1. At the autocross this weekend I heard quite a few M5X/S5X motors with nasty lifter tick, I did not ask them what oil they were running.

[evil_twin]

Did you have lifter tap problems before? They are having lifter tap because they don't have a baffle. Not because their lifters are clogged.

[BenM]

Here is the M50 owner's manual oil chart:




I run 15W-50 in an S50 E34 Touring and I only get minor lifter-tick at start up and when the car has been running for long periods of time (4+ hours). I only run thicker weight oils in my bmws, since it is spec'd for M20, M30 and M50 engines.

The older engines especially (M10 and M30) like engine oils high in ZDDP content due to the design of the engine. A lot of newer oils do not contain as much ZDDP content due to the fact that they tend to eat eat catalytic converters.

[evil_twin]

Well, next time I take the car out, I'm going to drive the piss out of it. We'll see what happens next. The lifter tap has gotten progressively worse. If it is still bad with the flush that I did, I'll move up to a thicker oil.

[jrdeamicis]

Do you have an oil pressure gauge?

[evil_twin]

nope. not yet at least.

[mattdk318i]

amsoil isnt the greatest. I use Castrol 20w50 in both of my 24v cars.(S52,M50). I run the dog piss out of both on a regular basis and dont have any noise at all.

[jrdeamicis]

nope. not yet at least.

Just get a way to check your oil pressure. I would just replace them. Part rebuild. Use lots of assembly lube, you can flip the cam trays and not have them fall out.

[evil_twin]

amsoil isnt the greatest. I use Castrol 20w50 in both of my 24v cars.(S52,M50). I run the dog piss out of both on a regular basis and dont have any noise at all.

See, I've never heard someone say that AMSoil isn't the greatest. Some people swear by it, some people have never used it.

[Yage30]

Evil Twin, if I'm reading this right, you did the engine flush and it seemed to fix the lifter tick, but now its back?

Just trying to clarify.

[evil_twin]

Hey man, I did the engine flush. and I drove the car hard this past weekend and no lifter tap.

[Yage30]

okey doke.

I replaced a quart of my oil with some ATF, so I'll see how it reacts tomorrow when I go to work.