Do i have to pull the engine on an 2000 528i? 6 cyl. To change piston #3.

Why would you think that you need to change a piston?

Why would you think that you need to change a piston?

Cylinder 3 contacted valves. dings and dents in piston. Rebuilt the head. Car runs but has a tic tic tic tic and you can hear it. Its not too bad but you can definatly tell its haunting. They think that when the piston contacted the valve that it might have done somthing to the piston.

Now there is a guy that will give me 9,500$ just the way it is. I have 14k into it already. And im runnin a little dry. Book value on the car is 14k
but with that tic what can i do. Do i drive the car until it dies. Is this problem fixable under a 1000 dollars. Service on piston change is 6k I can get a new motor and installed for 4k. Very hard what should i do??

If your still hearing "tic tic tic tic'' Its coming from your hydaulic valve train....I will bet the guys that rebuilt it f'up somewhere and are convincing you they are not at fault.....

There is NO "tic tic tic tic'' sound that would be generated by a piston stroke.

Sometimes you will get that "tic tic tic tic'' sound from fuel injectors on motors with lots of miles but its nowhere near as loud as a bad valve.

And to answer your question..... Yes
You have to pull the motor to drop the bottom end.... Its a lot of work and if your paying somebody alot of $$$$ . But again there is lots of variables but I would say your not getting the "tic tic tic tic" sound from the pistons.


When your dealing with hydraulic valves they have to be assembled very correctly.... There are small seals on each hydraulic valve and if not lubed when assembled will fail very quikly which will result in a loss of oil pressure on that valve then you get a valve that is out of adj = "tic tic tic tic''..... They are even know to clapse and again result in a valve out of adj.

Tough call .... Its a PITA but I bet the guys that rebuilt the head are at fault.

good luck

I agree, you aren't going to get a "tic, tic" from the piston unless you bent the rod. But that would have put much more than a ding or two in the top of the piston. I'd be more willing to believe that there's a problem in the head.

I agree, you aren't going to get a "tic, tic" from the piston unless you bent the rod. But that would have put much more than a ding or two in the top of the piston. I'd be more willing to believe that there's a problem in the head.


Advised customer due to damage caused by forein metal object that piston and cylinder head need to be replaced. bottom end needs to be torn down to inspect for connecting rod damage.

Advised customer that without Inspectin bottom end and replacing piston and head that engine may burn knkock and possibly have piston/connecting rod break causing severe engine damage. Customer opted to install new valves for cyl 3 and reinstall cylinder head.

The bill 2,400$

The car is running fine but there is just a tic. I have now the worst BMW experience ever.

I bought the car on E-bay. The price for this one matched my criteria. Color M/package.
I live in Washington state. I just sold mu business. I wanted to be spontanius.
Anyway my girl and i Flew to Texas to buy this Car. The guy was a dealer. Everything is smooth.
Bought the car did all that. So we drive to Austin. No problem all seems well.
We start to take the root to EL-paso worst nightmare of my life. We get about 300 miles from El-paso
BAMM Service light thrown. Car goes limp mode. pulling off the side of the freeway. Calling the guy that just sold it to me
Yelling at him in fury. So anyway stuck in Texas Day one 6:00 pm on the side of the road i turn the ignition off then started the car
Car is running Car goes we reach 80mph wich is kinda weak for a bmw Bammmm service light limp mode to the side of the road we go. Cell phone out of range. So we reapeat this for about 10 times. 299 miles to El-paso. If we stay at 40mph the car last longer.
Pulling in to el-paso 1:00 am Get a room. 80 bucks. 8:00 Vehicle is at BMW of el-paso. Got a rental drove all around TRUST ME DONT GO TO EL-PASO. Service guys finally perform a test at 4:00 pm. Finally 7:00pm MASS AiR Sensor BAD. Replaced and left.
On the road to VEGAS. Went to VEGAS !! YEAAAA VEGAS ROCKS!! On the road to Washington. Just getting out of NEVADA we are about 50 miles from " Jackpot Nevada " Hit a Jack Rabbit. Yes My girl was driving and damm rabbit ran in front of her. Well feeling confident that we were driving a BMW...... SHe is all steady mates full ahead. Well that damm rabbit hit right where the Power steering hose is held on a Gromet underneath. Line is dragging shaving off bits at a time.
15 miles From Twinn falls Idaho POWER STEERING Goes out. Gone no more. Now the car is running but its hard to steer. Fearing my pump wont go dry and be damaged.
12:00am Finding hotels in twinn falls.. Well that night everyone must have broke down cus there was no rooms.
2:00 am Finally find a run down motel that has vacancy. 65 bucks. 7:00am on the phone with BMW of Salt lake. Having them Fed ex me the Power Steering pressure hose. 197$ NEXT DAY AIR. DONT EVER GET STUCK IN Twin Falls !!!!!. So go to the mall. Then we went to Chilis and got drunk hell there was nothing else to do. So we stay the night at the run down motel and watch discovery channel.
4:00 am Had a dream that i could not wake up from and it was actually an awakening. 7:00 am. Waiting for the ups truck to show up and save the day. 8:00 no ups truck. We are starting to get home sick at this point. Dogs fish all that stuff waiting for us.
8:05 On the phone with BMW of Salt lake. Well it seems that i Paid via credit card. They sent the part to my billing adress
and i told them 3 times to the motel. So Stuck in Twin falls day 2. Hotel ----- Discovery channel--- no dreams.
1:00 pm At the Shucks parking lot underneath my car taking off the damages pressure hose. LET ME TELL YOU HOW YOU HAVE TO GET THAT DAMM THING OFF sh*t... 3:00pm hose is finally off. 5:00 pm hose arrives at Grey hound on some bus.
6:30pm installing new hose. Install was smooth. Regained Power steering Yeahhhhh!! We out. Washington 800 miles.
Drove all night arrive in washington 6:00am. Arrived pet the dogs fed the fish all that. Woke up the next day Me and my girl took the Car for a little drive ran good everything was good. Parked the car for about 15 min. Came back and turned it on and BAMMMMMMM Service light came on and engine was missing on cyl 3. This time now for good.

This is my bmw story to whoever wants to know.

Anybody know what is should do at this point.

Were the fragments found inside of the engine ferrous? It looks like the engine ingested something and the type of metal might suggest a source. Since the object banged around in the cyliner for a while there's a decent chance that the rod or even the crank has been damaged. I'd say an engine pull and eardown is in order.

Or simply get a used engine.

Sorry :(

Another e-bay nightmare. Always spend the $100-200 to have the car PPI'd before purchase.

Sell it for $9500 and walk away.

Your post about your experience reads like something out of fear and loathing.

I feel your pain! Just paid "BIG" dollars to have the head changed on my 528i due to crack between 5&6. I wish that I would have went with the used motor. I would be more interested in where those pieces of metal came from. Some where in the motor there is something coming apart that caused those pieces. If you get the used motor you could probabaly sell the head on ebay and get some of you money back

Ok is the engine something that i can pull myslelf.
Do i have to take off the head to pull the engine?
What is all invloved.

If you are thinking of pulling the engine yourself I'd highly recommend that you get a copy of the Bentley manual. The engine R&R procedure is nicely documented in it and you'll save yourself a good bit of time and aggravation for the $100 or so that the manual costs.

Nice i bought a bently manual so maybe i can get someone to help me.

But do i have to pull the head to get the engine out?

you can pull it yourself, but I would definately be buying a bentley repair manual, so you have diagrams of what goes where. I'd also invest in a "cherry picker" type engine hoist and an engine stand.

you don't need to pull the head, just unbolt the motor mounts, transmission, electrical, fuel lines, grounding straps, intake manifold, exhaust, a/c lines... it's a big job, but with some tools and organization it can be done. good luck.