Noisy Vanos, Lifters or something else w/video

Hi, I just purchased a used 2002 330i through private sale. I am ok with everything except the tapping from the engine. I just want to make sure its not critical and hopefully wont need a new motor. i've listened to alot of different vanos, disa and tappet recordings so far and they all sound a little different so i figured i would post mine as well. Anyone have an idea of what this could be? Thanks!

I forgot to mention that i checked spark plugs even though i may not have checked them right. I know absolutely nothing about cars. i figured with this car, and due to the high expense of repair, i figured it was time to learn. I watched the youtue vids on how to change spark plugs, and following that i was able to check them. All of them seemed tight to me. i loosened a few and retightened them just incase. Is there another part of the spark plug houseing that could be loose that i could check?

When you rev it, Does the knocking get louder and faster?

yes it does. I also checked the oil level and it looks fine. Its little dirty but i would not say it needs to be changed yet. Supposedly the person i bought it from just changed it, but as a precaution i am changing all the fluids when i can. I ended up having a "Post" sale inspection done instead of a pre sale like i should have at a decent Indy place. The technician said it sounded like either the rocker or camshaft and that it may have been caused by not being starved for oil at one point. Anyway he said a rebuilt head could fix it if it were the camshafts. He did not take the valve covers off to check for wear. that would be the next step. Since i dont know much about cars i dont know if this is something i can check since I wouldnt know how to tell if any of the parts were worn. i am guessing if i were to remove the valve cover, i would have to replace the gasket afterwards?

If the sound gets faster when you rev it, that's not a good sign. If I had to guess, the car was overheated before and headgasket blew with introduced water into the oil and one or more of the crank or connecting rod bearings took a dump. Look for any signs of overheat/work being done on the engine

Hate to say it but that sounds remarkably like a big end bearing. Too deep a sound to be a lifter and appears louder at the bottom of the block? Sounds like one or more may have wiped. Think I'm on board with Mango.

BH

Originally Posted by Mango

If the sound gets faster when you rev it, that's not a good sign. If I had to guess, the car was overheated before and headgasket blew with introduced water into the oil and one or more of the crank or connecting rod bearings took a dump. Look for any signs of overheat/work being done on the engine

Hi Mango - just curious - what would be the signs of overheat? Visible, or perhaps new parts associated with the work after it overheated?

Originally Posted by csa714

Hi Mango - just curious - what would be the signs of overheat? Visible, or perhaps new parts associated with the work after it overheated?

Most common is a coolant smell from improperly cleaned engine bay after the mishap happened. Other things to look for is any new cooling system part or white residue around the engine bay.

Originally Posted by Nerdy46

Most common is a coolant smell from improperly cleaned engine bay after the mishap happened. Other things to look for is any new cooling system part or white residue around the engine bay.

Tnx

Originally Posted by csa714

Hi Mango - just curious - what would be the signs of overheat? Visible, or perhaps new parts associated with the work after it overheated?

Check under the oil cap for any chocolate milky type residue. They may have wiped it clean, but if not it will still be there. That's a sign of oil mixing with coolant.

I had a similar sound that started coming out of my car 2 weeks ago and was worried about it. I had to get my front brakes changed so I took my 2003 325i (130k miles) to an indy mechanic last weekend and they looked for the source of the sound. The sound of the knocking sounds more muted while in the car, but sounds pretty loud from outside.

They initially visually narrowed it down to the sound coming from my water pump pulley wheel missing two of the four bolts that keep the wheel on the water pump, and one of remaining bolts was about 2mm loose! Well, upon securing new bolts the following day, the sound didn't go away. It ended up being something wrong with the plastic impeller on the water pump that sits inside the engine. Not sure if it was warped or if a bearing went bad, but that was ultimately the source of the knocking noise. It was replaced with one with a metal impeller. Since the impeller does sit inside the engine, the sound was reverberating through the engine block.

Perhaps if you can remove the belt off of the water pump pulley wheel and spin it, you can check to see if it is seized or has an irregular rotation. I'm praying for you that it's not rod knock!

for my case (sorry to hijack OP thread), the sound definitely coming from engine bay. i tried before to take out both alternator and A/C belt and even the clutch fan, just to find the sound still exist, and confirm sound coming from somewhere inside engine bay, and more loud on bottom (crankshaft ??)

Originally Posted by hkbruin

I had a similar sound that started coming out of my car 2 weeks ago and was worried about it. I had to get my front brakes changed so I took my 2003 325i (130k miles) to an indy mechanic last weekend and they looked for the source of the sound. The sound of the knocking sounds more muted while in the car, but sounds pretty loud from outside.

They initially visually narrowed it down to the sound coming from my water pump pulley wheel missing two of the four bolts that keep the wheel on the water pump, and one of remaining bolts was about 2mm loose! Well, upon securing new bolts the following day, the sound didn't go away. It ended up being something wrong with the plastic impeller on the water pump that sits inside the engine. Not sure if it was warped or if a bearing went bad, but that was ultimately the source of the knocking noise. It was replaced with one with a metal impeller. Since the impeller does sit inside the engine, the sound was reverberating through the engine block.

Perhaps if you can remove the belt off of the water pump pulley wheel and spin it, you can check to see if it is seized or has an irregular rotation. I'm praying for you that it's not rod knock!

Yeah it doesn't sound like a noisy lifter. Noisy lifters are usually heard from the top of the engine and its a gentle ticking noise.

Yours sounds like a knocking noise.

How many miles on it?

The indy tech that looked at my car actually wasnt concerned about it, or maybe they just sucked. I had to mention the noise to them and apparently they had to listen to it again to and pay attention for it. the car has 130,000 miles, auto transmission. and going back on what i said before, No i do not think its get noticeably louder or faster when i rev it, but i would have to verify and pay attention. I can hear it best by the valve cover but definitly louder from underneath. its apparently had alot of owners and i bet at least one of ran the car really hard and didnt care for it properly. Im basing this off the fact that aftermarket springs were put on and they are starting to rust and one of them has a hose clamp wedged in it, possbily to compress the spring more. Also i saw a old receipt for falken tires in the paperwork, since they are cheaper tires im guessing the owner didnt have alot of money and who knows what other components they chinced out on for repairs.

That sir.... is rod knock...

I really hope you didn't pay much for this car....

Thanks for the input. I was afraid of that. definitly it sounds like i got ripped then. just curious, is it possbile to fix or would i just be better off trying to sell to someone as dumb as me?

Video is definitely knock.

I've had lifter tick after autocross a couple times. Doesn't sound like that.

I really appreciate the input guys. So i paid a little under 8 and it looks like i got swindled hard and apparently the Indy i took it to just sucks big time or was being nice and didnt want to tell me i got bent hard. What are my options from here? I would like to keep the money loss to as little as possible. I am guessing that fixing this would cost more than a couple thousand?

I think any comment on what exactly that is just from that rather limited video is kind of premature. One with the engine reving a bit, and also one with an open hood would help.
That doesnt sound good, but noises always sound way way worse form the wheel with the hood closed.