Is your motor ticking? - check your spark plugs...

[mithack13]

Hi
I just bought a 2001 bmw 540i from Los angeles and the car was simple perfect everything was tip top no leaks or weird noises, in fact the car had record of recent tune up i test drove the car and it was just perfect, well i paid for it and i drove it back to vegas when i got hear i noticed i ticking noise coming from the engine it was really kind of quite and when you rev it or play music you barely can hear it but its pissing me off cause i just bought the car and i would like to find out how to fix it. Also the car has 160xxx miles and i live in Vegas so i would appreciate if somebody can tell which will be the best oil for my car since hear is really hot.
thank you in advance!

[romelsookdeo]

spinner187, my 98 540i makes the same ticking noise, passenger side. I hear the noise about 2mins after starting the car. I used a stethoscope to help ID this noise. It seems to come from cylinder 4 or 3 or 2. Somewhere around there. Did you change plugs to fix this issue? Thanks in advance.

[jamesdc4]

spinner187, my 98 540i makes the same ticking noise, passenger side. I hear the noise about 2mins after starting the car. I used a stethoscope to help ID this noise. It seems to come from cylinder 4 or 3 or 2. Somewhere around there. Did you change plugs to fix this issue? Thanks in advance.

I don't know if you'll get a response.
His last post in this thread was a year ago, and his last post on the forum was in March of 2010.

[romelsookdeo]

jamesdc4, would you know whether plugs did the trick?

[jamesdc4]

jamesdc4, would you know whether plugs did the trick?

Read through the thread.
Plenty of evidence in here that the plugs can be the culprit and therefore the fix. It took care of my ticking twice.

[GREENMOBSTER]

Add me to this list. My 95 M3 has been ticking like crazy for 4 months now. Changed the plugs today and 3-4 were so loose I unbolted them by my hand. Replaced with new ones and tightened to 18 ft punds, and voila No more tick~!

[SnowmanPA]

Oh Wow!

I'm glad I found this thread. I've got a 93 525i with about 107,000 miles and it has a noticeable ticking-type of noise that has gotten progressively louder over the past month or so. It has finally gotten to the point that I was getting very nervous...about driving it as well as what it might take to fix it!

I'm at work (what better place to spend hours reading the Bimmer forums!?) so I can't check out the car now, but when I get the chance I'm going to check this out. It is time to change my plugs anyway (and my belts too--I've had plugs and belts hanging on a hook in my garage for about a year!) so now is the time.

I'll post my results in a couple of days when I get a chance to do the work.

Thanks again to all the members who've taken their time to share their experiences!

Ted

[NNY528I]

Well here is my response to all the hoopla on bosch and loose plugs and BLAH BLAH BLAH This and BLAH BLAH BLAH That. 60k miles, no tick, no retorque No missing prongs, no broken electrodes no nothing. just clean plugs working fine. Installed per manual threads coated in copper antiseize(per manual)

[psoma]

Alright! Thanks or posting this... Mechanic after a quick look said it was most likely the timing chain guides but after listening to a few vids, the ticking I was experiencing was for more steady and less frequent - certainly like it was isolated to the firing of a single cylinder. After removing the coil pack cover, the ticking turned into the tell tale "popping" sound of air escaping near the combustion zone so I knew I was onto a winner. Second plug in - Bosch - loose. Tightened her up and we're as quiet as a mouse now.

THANKS!

Tom

[xxstoyanxx]

wow i have a ticking sound too, and lately my car has been misfiring and runing really rough when i accelerate from a stop, but from rolling its good, CEL lights goes off and comes on when i punch it and it misfires. will check the plugs, since i put bosh in last winter. I will report back here this weekend!

[betaflame]

Having not yet worked on that part of my E39... is this what is coming lose?:

[AK_5eries]

yes betaflame

[vclifford]

Believe what you want to believe, BKphoto. I'm not trying to spread propaganda or mis-information, i'm just giving MY experience. I'm not saying that loose spark plugs are the ONLY cause for the ticking problem with these cars. This just happened to be the cause of MY car's ticking problem and i thought i would share.
.

Today almost the same thing happened to me. I had this loud ticking sound and I though something was loose. Today I removed the engine cover and sound became even louder. I then put my ear to on top of the engine and it felt as if the sound is coming from cylinder# 5. Removed the coil and yes it was 5th cylinder, The well was soaked in oil, tightened the spark plug and sound is gone.
However I did not tighten the plug more than 1/4 turn , it felt too tight, I will check back again in week or so. Spark plugs are Bosch platinum.

[topaz540i]

seems everyone that has this problem is using the bosch plugs.
thats why i didnt chance it and used the ngks.

bmw rec's bosch and ngk.

[fullthrottle540]

In Jap cars, ive had nothing but trouble with Bosch plugs.... never had a problem with NGK's...

[bammbamme39]

mine has had a ticking noise as well and when I take off I can hear getting faster ,I'm not sure how to diag this or even what to look for sothanks for the tip I'll start with the plugs !

[Petes540i6]

I have had this happen to me: Ticking noise that turns out to be a spark plug that has simply come loose.

[miarmour]

Another success story here...

was getting a weird knock/clunk/chugga type sound from the engine

I was nervous given the fact my other car's engine was ruined due to a shade tree mechanic washing out the cylinders in my impala. The last thing I wanted was to have TWO engines go to sh*t on me.

so I did some research, found this thread and gave it a try...

well to my surprise I found 3 loose spark plugs, but the one in the very back wasn't tight at all!

I took the bosch stuff out and put in some brand new NGK's and my baby is good to go

now all i have left to worry about is the power steering

thanks again OP!

[larrym3711]

I am constantly amazed at how many times I hear this story about loose spark plugs. Are the metals so different that the plugs just"unscrew themselves" or what?

larry3711
2001 540iA Sport

[aussiebilly]

Yep .Ticking = loose Bosch plug.

Can you guess which one?

[dcroghan]

this is fubar...

if a plug was loose enough to rattle it wouldn't match revs like the "typical ticking problem" that a lot of us have had which is sticky lifters...plus it really can't come out that far and find it hard to believe it could spin because of the boot and coil which is bolted down on top of it...

sorry to the OP but i'm not buying this one...

believe it. Happened on my M3.

[Emory39]

Thank you sir

[cobrajetmarc]

Found a loose Bosch plug on my car today. Totally burnt all 4 ground straps of the plug. Also the ticking went away. Can believe i was driving it on 5 cylinders. Still got 26mpg. Put NGK's in now. Runs great, saved me thousands of $'s i was headed to the dealer for a new car