serious valve adjustment problem! need help fast!

[gt90]

I did my first valve valve adjustment on my 1990 535i following bruno's article the day before yesterday. The car was running beautifully shortly after the valve adjustment. I also tightened my oil spray bar bolt (one was tight and one was very loose) i tightened it by hand with a 10mm open end wrench. After doing all this the car drove beautifully for about 70-80 miles then there was a loud ticking coming from the engine. I let the car cool off and drove it again and it was fine for about 15 miles and then started ticking loudly and idling rougher. Today I had to move the car a couple of feet and it ran worse than ever, so I shut it off immediately. Keep in mind that it is extremely cold today, about 20 deg here in CT.
The other small issue is that when i first removed the valve cover, the hose that connects directly to the cover broke on the end right where it slips over the metal. I had to order the hose and it should be in tomorrow, but in the meantime I slipped it over the valve cover as much as possible, which wasn't very much. Could this hose being partially attached effect the running of the engine like I explained?
Is it possible that easy to overtighten the oil spray bar bolt without a torque wrench?
please I need help fast!

[gale]

The loose/cracked/disconnected hose will make it idle poorly, same as removing the oil filler cap when idling. It's drawing in "false air" that isn't accounted for by the MAF and the DME is getting the mixture wrong and the idle circuit cannot correct it.

As for the ticking, I strongly suggest you open it up again as soon as you can and check the clearances. Go thru the sequence again and see if they're all within spec. It is possible you didn't get the pinch bolts tight enough and one or more of the eccentrics swiveled around and loosened the gap -- all the more reason to go back and check it again. Here's another take on adjusting valves:

http://www.nmia.com/~dgnrg/page_5.htm

I'm not too concerned you overtightened the banjo bolts to the poing of pinching off the flow, unless you tightened them to 88 ft-lb instead of 88 in-lb, but you would have stripped the threads long before that. One indication that the spraybar has been over-tightened is they will squirt the soft aluminum seal washer out to one side of the bolt. As you're probably aware, the banjo bolts are trouble on numerous 4, 6, and 12-cyl BMW motors and I highly recommend (shameless plug!) that you buy a set of my cross-drilled banjo bolts which allow you to safety wire them in place. I have 100's of very satisfied customers around the world who are using them and in my opinion, besides getting a sheetmetal tab to fold over the side of the hex head, safety wire is the only way to go:

http://www.nmia.com/~dgnrg/banjo.htm

[gt90]

I don't think the hose is affecting it because for a while it was driving fine.
Also like you said the metal ticking points to something else.

[Kalevera]

Well, I have to admit that I'm really surprised that the car was kept running, even subsequently started, after the noise began.

Kinda reminds me of my old man -- oil pressure light comes on and the engine stalls out, so he tries to start it again (got to get to work!), it runs for a minute and then it siezes. Killed a ~ 56k mile car that way.

I like Don's ideas, as always. Ticking on an M30 can mean any of an array of sounds and sources. Once you've pulled the valve cover and confirmed that the valvetrain is visually okay, you're probably alright to start the car and put a stethosocope to it.

When the valve adjustment was performed, how was the engine rotated? If it was done manually, was it turned clockwise facing the front of the motor? I've seen this a few times recently -- the hydraulic chain tensioner will fail, sometimes doing whacky things to the plastic guides and resulting in a ticking noise.

best, whit

[myles]

Be careful when tightening the banjo bolts because if they are too tight the threaded end of the bolt can come in contact with the camshaft.

[Alexlind123]

The PO on my brother's m30 over-tightened the banjo bolts and caused the spray bar to be squashed, making replacement necessary. Although i cant remember the torque specs right now, i do remember that i was surprised at how low they were.

[gt90]

Sure enough it was an eccentric that came loose on the no.1 cylinder, the very first valve I adjusted. It doesn't look like there is any damage to anything and it runs great again. Now I just have to replace the heater core, the reverse light switch, a tire and some steering components and my car will be in good order.
Thanks for the help!

[Alexlind123]

GT90, did it sound like the video i have posted of my car?

[gt90]

where do i find the video?

[gt90]

nevermind I just found the post.
It does sound a lot like mine did after the eccentric came loose. Does it get faster with engine rpm's?
If so I would check the bolts for the eccentrics

[Alexlind123]

i dont know, i guess i will post another video. The only problem is, the sound only seems to be present when the engine has been driven for 30 minutes.

[gt90]

as far as I know the valve clearance changes a little when the engine heats up, maybe you could adjust the clearence to account for that. I saw a post when I was searching for some answers to my question that had some insight into the valve clearance change when hot.

[Alexlind123]

I believe it has gotten worse, i plan to check the clearences before i start it again and if they are fine, then i will drive it to a mechanic.

[Kalevera]

Alex, was there any wear on the camshaft from oil starvation? I watched the video. Frankly, the thing may sound that way, even with perfectly adjusted valves, and many M20s/M30s sound like that. As long as the thing is functioning as it should, you don't have much to worry about.

One thing to try that may eliminate some noise -- the modern day walnut treatment -- is to run the BG system on the car. It cleans the valves and help them seat better/improving just about every running aspect of the M30. Mine exhibited significant operating improvement (but *not* noise improvement) after running a shot of the BG system last summer.

I sourced my noise to a faulty chain tensioner, which allowed the chain to clack around in the plastic guides, creating a sound much like what's in that clip.

best, whit

[Alexlind123]

http://servo.postverket.us/alex/MVI_0001.AVI

There was no noticable wear on the cam lobes, and the engine was surprisingly clean inside. The rear banjo bolt was loose, but i think i caught it in time to prevent and damage, i reinstalled it with some loc-tite.
There is a longer video of when it is allowed to warm to operating temperature.

I compared the sound to my brothers 1985 m30, and his lacked the "clatting" noise. His was mostly injector ticking, i think.

Anyways, thanks for the post whit.