H20+M3=Lifter Noise

[Jinya1004]

Couple days ago Chicagoland area had a rather large amount of rain come down. I ended up driving through a big puddle and my car died. The water was about an inch lower than where the bottom of my door is.

I had the car towed to my mechanic and he got all the water out of my motor. He changed the oil until is was clean.


Bad News:
1. My car sounds like a diesel, I'm guess there is lifter stickage.

2. It looks like there is pudding underneath the oil cap.
http://myspace-966.vo.llnwd.net/01255/66/96/1255336966_l.jpg

What can I do to get rid of the lifter noise. I searched and found someone mentioning Seafoam to clean out the oil.



Good News: My Mechanic says the only thing wrong with my car right now is the lifter noise.

TIA,

Jin

After running the car for 2 hours, the lifter noise is still there. I'm thinking 2 hours would be more than enough to get the lifters all lubed up. There is also some "Pudding" inside the engine around my oil cap,.

Plan A. Marvel Mystery Oil
Plan B. Bilsten Oil Flush

[BCM M3]

I hate to say it, but you may have bent some valves. Did your mechanic do a compression test? Does the car have as much power as it did before the incident?

[Jinya1004]

Mechanic has done compression test. Car has good pressure all across.

I am focusing on getting rid of the lifter noise. Then I will go about replaceing some of the other things.

[BCM M3]

Mechanic has done compression test. Car has good pressure all across.

I am focusing on getting rid of the lifter noise. Then I will go about replaceing some of the other things.

Phew - Good to hear you have compression. You could consider doing a leakdown test as well just to be sure that the water ingestion didn't do any damage to the valves.

As far as getting rid of tick, you can do a few things to help it, but sometimes it's just one of those e36 quirks. A few things that could help are overfilling the crankcase by a quart and switching to a heavier oil. People around here seem to like 15w50 for getting rid of lifter tick. Personally, I use 5w40 and overfill by about half a quart and I don't have ticking except for sometimes after auto-x runs.

If you're interested in doing an oil treatment to clean out deposits and buildup, the best one out there is auto-rx. The guys over on www.bobistheoilguy.com seem to really like it. Seafoam also works pretty well...it's best used by feeding it directly into the engine through a vacuum line such as the brake booster line.

[yod88]

do a seafoam, that should clear out any build ups of carbon, etc
have you inspected the plugs?
also, doesnt bad vanos creating ticking??

im really intrested in this "pudding" ive never heard of this...if the pudding is in the oil cap..wouldnt it be in the motor as well? im surprised it doesnt feel slower...also like a sludge or something..but im pretty sure its safe to say that the ticking has something to do with the pudding like stuff (looks like butterscotch)

[Jinya1004]

Have you guys ever ate Golden Shrimp? They have it at Tae Pang restaurants, where they cook in front of you, like Benihana's.

Anyways the Golden Sauce is basically a whole bunch of oil whipped with egg yolks. It turns into a "pudding" like substance. Its pretty good and a great way to a heart attack.

I'm gonna guess, the water mixed in with the oil and got whipped up, just like the golden sauce.

I plan on adding motor flush to my crankcase. Drive around for about 15 minutes, then doing another oil change. Then doing another oil change with 15W30 in about 500 miles.

This seems to be the general idea across the boards.

[Bassmaster]

Water is mixed with the oil. This type sludge is difficult to get out. It looks like blown HG symptoms? Is the car smoking at all. sounds like the lifters are oil starved?

[Jinya1004]

I just got back from my mechanic's shop.

We Motor Flush'd the engine and did an oil change. Still...lifter noise.

I went out and bought Mystery Marvel Oil and added it to the crankcase...still lifter noise.

I've been driving around for about 20 miles and I still have the noise.

Any suggestions or ideas about getting rid of the noise?

BTW. No blown HG or bad compression. Everything with the car is fine, minus the lifter noise.

I also noticed a vibration in my clutch pedal at the begining point of travel. Anyone know what that might be about?

[Bud Brown]

I also noticed a vibration in my clutch pedal at the begining point of travel. Anyone know what that might be about?
early signs of throwout bearing dieing?

[Jinya1004]

I looked at NA Motorwerks and they have a OEM kit for $320. Fleabay has a OEM/Sachs kit for $200, whats the difference?

Anyone have any input on the lifter noise?

[Def]

Do you have a Dinan or Cosmos intake? Otherwise I can't see how you'd suck up water in the stock E36 M3 intake system.

[Daved]

What's H twenty?

Sorry, I had to say it :stickoutt

[Jinya1004]

lol, excuse me, I meant H2O.

I had a K&N Intake. I think what happened was that I went through the puddle too fast and the water got pushed up and over into my kidney grills.

Back to the subject on hand. Any recommendations on the lifter noise?

Any input on my vibrating clutch pedal? It seems to be vibrating along with the lifter noise. Wierd....

[Jinya1004]

Suggestions anyone?

[L3000C]

bro y r u running 15w30? its been said over and over again not to run anything that is sae w 30 it is just not thick enough. U should runing 15w50 or 5w40 id go for the 15w50 though it is thicker than the 40.

they are thicker and should help a lot, also add an extra half of quart of oil, and up to a full quart more. Then let it run for 30 mins, that should do the trick. its been beaten to death over and over again on the board. just do a search for lifter stick

[marc1119]

Have you checked your cam journal caps?

The cam trays have an intricate oil injection spray setup inside of them..that lube the cam journals and lifters....
If that milky mixture clogged any of the intricate oil paths inside the cam journals..it will wear out either a camshaft journal or starve a lifter for oil..in very short order...

You cannot see the wear that is happening to a cam journal until it gets really bad, or the cam journal cap..( there are 7 on each cam tray IIRC) starts to deform or you see aluminum sticking out the side the oil starved cam cap..

My suggestion ..since you have done oil changes etc..is to have someone inspect the cam trays, cam tray caps, and cams for wear, and lifters...
And make sure none of the oil injection ports in the trays are clogged or by now..deformed....

My 2 cents..at this point.. of your dilemma...

[art@rmeuropean]

You probably did damage the valves or maybe even bent some rods. The lifter noise should have gone away after so many oil changes. Good luck on getting it figured out, hopefully you won't need a new motor. Keep us informed on what happens.

[Jinya1004]

Have you checked your cam journal caps?

The cam trays have an intricate oil injection spray setup inside of them..that lube the cam journals and lifters....
If that milky mixture clogged any of the intricate oil paths inside the cam journals..it will wear out either a camshaft journal or starve a lifter for oil..in very short order...

You cannot see the wear that is happening to a cam journal until it gets really bad, or the cam journal cap..( there are 7 on each cam tray IIRC) starts to deform or you see aluminum sticking out the side the oil starved cam cap..

My suggestion ..since you have done oil changes etc..is to have someone inspect the cam trays, cam tray caps, and cams for wear, and lifters...
And make sure none of the oil injection ports in the trays are clogged or by now..deformed....

My 2 cents..at this point.. of your dilemma...


Holy crap, that sounds expensive to fix. approx, how much would that cost me to get repaired, replaced?

[marc1119]

Holy crap, that sounds expensive to fix. approx, how much would that cost me to get repaired, replaced?

I am not trying to alarm you..
Remember the cam trays and cams are just under the valve cover...

I had a car I fixed once, that lost the OIL PUMP NUT..only drove the car for 15 seconds @ 1000 RPM..
Fixed the nut..installed a new pump, and put in all new rod bearings ..to be safe..
Well the car had a lifter tick...after that..flushed the oil several times..etc..
still the tick..

I took off the cam caps on the exhaust cam, and 2 of the journals that housed the exhaust cam were literally wiped out...In the bottom of the cam journal is an oil hole..when the journal got wiped out on those 2, it blocked any oil from coming up or squirting down to the lifter, and there was the tick...

I replaced the exhaust cam carrier..they cost ~ $400 each IIRC...and you have 2....intake and exhaust trays..
And added Schrick cams at the time..

Point is..the cam carrier trays can get clogged up and prevent proper oil flow to the lifters and the cam itself.....and cause a tick that will not go away and eventually cause a giant mess to your valvetrain...

That is why I suggest you have checked out....

I know oil pressure loss (albeit 15 seconds) is not the same as gunky oil...but they cam both certainly cause the same results..to your valve train...

Just a heads up...