[dth656]

it was a cold morning today (45F) for cali, and when i started my car for a short trip, i immediately heard the dreaded clicking noise coming from the engine (basically sounds like a ford f250 diesel--see the stickie thread in the maintenance forum)---i have an 06 330i, w/ 53k miles on it

my car had been serviced for this ticking noise at 15k and at 17k miles (they replaced the lifters the first time, 2nd time they replaced the exhaust side camshaft). that cured the noise completely, until today. i know that BMW has a revised engine head for the 330i engine, which is kind of the step of last resort for this issue

my question is, given that my car is out of warranty, do i have any recourse w/ BMW? since this problem has been tracked thru out my warranty period as a recurring issue, are they bound by any law to address it? any suggestions would be appreciated, i plan to visit my local mechanic (specializes in BMWs) when i get a chance

</begin rant>i come from an engineering/design background, i get how the product lifecycle works, why the FUCK cant BMW shift a few more engineers from product dev to product test, and improve the feedback loop from test back into design/dev??? the concepts of "design for manufacturing" and "design for reliability" don't seem to register there---based on my ownership experience, and those of my friends--admittedly, a statiscially insignificant sample, but jeez </end rant>

[Oulixes]

Originally Posted by dth656

it was a cold morning today (45F) for cali, and when i started my car for a short trip, i immediately heard the dreaded clicking noise coming from the engine (basically sounds like a ford f250 diesel--see the stickie thread in the maintenance forum)---i have an 06 330i, w/ 53k miles on it

my car had been serviced for this ticking noise at 15k and at 17k miles (they replaced the lifters the first time, 2nd time they replaced the exhaust side camshaft). that cured the noise completely, until today. i know that BMW has a revised engine head for the 330i engine, which is kind of the step of last resort for this issue

my question is, given that my car is out of warranty, do i have any recourse w/ BMW? since this problem has been tracked thru out my warranty period as a recurring issue, are they bound by any law to address it? any suggestions would be appreciated, i plan to visit my local mechanic (specializes in BMWs) when i get a chance

</begin rant>i come from an engineering/design background, i get how the product lifecycle works, why the FUCK cant BMW shift a few more engineers from product dev to product test, and improve the feedback loop from test back into design/dev??? the concepts of "design for manufacturing" and "design for reliability" don't seem to register there---based on my ownership experience, and those of my friends--admittedly, a statiscially insignificant sample, but jeez </end rant>

From your fully justified rant I know you have technical background, so I shall only say that the noise you have observed is fairly common, and it does seem to depend on ambient temperature. Search Bimmerpost Technical Forum for "Metallic Ticking noise coming from engine." You may also find at least one MP3 file posted of the recorded noise.

I cannot answer your question about recourse, but my opinion is that you have had the noise in your particular engine tracked throughout the warranty period, and have taken reasonable steps to have the matter corrected. During the warranty, BMW agents have acknowledged that noise constituted a problem, and have taken ineffective measures to rectify it, which means that now, at a minimum, (a) BMW should finally correct the problem without any cost to you, or perhaps, (b) BMW could declare the noise to be benign and inherent in VANOS, and extend the warranty for the cylinder head for a reasonable period of time. Item (b) would be contrary to the fact that previously, during warranty period, the noise was acknowledged as a conditions that required correction.

[Haywire]

There is a fantastic thread on this in the maintenance section, its about 2o+ pages long... a lot of helpful info there!

[240bhp]

I used to have two problems like that with my old E36 M3... one was the ever-popular VANOS failure, and the second was a loose spark plug that would constantly tick. Fixed both and the motor ran perfect afterwards.

[dth656]

appreciate the responses all. i am familiar w/ the long, stickie thread in the maintenance forums, and have posted there as well. the reason i posted to the main forum was for help in pleading my case w/ BMWNA or a sympathetic dealer, heh heh. i'll keep you guys posted, i plan on doing some more research and then contacting my old SA