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Thread: Valve adjustment interval

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Pasadena, CA, United States
    Posts
    170
    My Cars
    2002 M3, 1998 740il

    Valve adjustment interval

    What is the valve adjustment interval after Inspection II service given that mine was at 45K?

    Every 15K or longer?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Illinois
    Posts
    404
    My Cars
    2002 e46 M3 SMG - Laguna Seca Blue
    Every "inspection", both I and II. So, generally every 20-30k.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    9
    My Cars
    04 IR E46 M3 6spd Coupe
    ^ Some people argue that you don't even need to get it done that often.. I would say whenever the motor is running louder than "usual" or feels down on power or not right in some sort of way then get it done. Otherwise just inspect every so often because 30k for me is equivalent to 3.5 years give or take of driving which is longer than I'd like to go without a valve adjustment.. Just get it done when you feel necessary, as long as you don't abuse your car on a regular basis it shouldn't need an adjustment for a while. I've heard of people even going to 60k with only 1 adjustment and some even not needing it because only a few shims were out of spec. A couple of the people I've heard this from were actual BMW techs too.. I think the valve adjustment thing is a bit blown out of proportion mainly because people drive M's the way they were "meant" to be driven. Just take care of your car and it will take care of you with minimal issues, most of the time at least lol.
    Last edited by JJ4ck0wsk1; 12-28-2011 at 05:35 PM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Illinois
    Posts
    404
    My Cars
    2002 e46 M3 SMG - Laguna Seca Blue
    The issue has nothing to do with noise or "down on power." If you wait that long, and run your car at higher RPM, you are asking to burn a valve.

    The main issue is high RPM valve seat wear. It is not like the olden days of v8 american motors with solid lifters where the problem was the ticking noise. Here, given the amount of power that BMW is squeezing out of 3.2L of NA engine, the tolerances are so close that as the valve seats wear, the valves do not fully close. While this may sound like a loss of power issue, it is much bigger than that. When the valves do not fully shut, they cannot transfer the heat they are subjected to back up into the head (which is basically a giant, liquid cooled heatsink). When that happens you can burn one up, or warp one VERY easily.

    Now, if you drive the car like an old lady, rarely taking it over 6k RPM, you can probably not worry too much about the valve adjustments. But if you drive it "like it was meant to be driven" you need to maintain it the way it was meant to be maintained. Obviously, if the car sits most of the time, then it does not need a valve adjustment every 2 years. But every inspection (which is not just goverened by time, but both mileage and how hard those miles were) is still the right way to do things.

    Our cars are not HOnda Civics, they do not go forever with no maintenance. These are advanced cars. Even though they are no longer $60k cars, they were at one time, and need to be treated as such. That's my opinion, and that's how I treat my car. Others can do as they wish as its their car and their money.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    165
    My Cars
    Z4Mc
    After rebuilding the s38 in my m5 which did not appear to have received regular valve adjustments every 15k miles and had valve seats all beat to hell, I would recommend you have them done as recommended. The first thing I did when I bought my z4m used was have the valves checked, oil changed, etc...

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