Engine problem?

[jjg43]

Not sure what happened. This past Friday I was leaving work and my car seemed to lose about half it's power. I was getting on the highway and drove 1st gear up to about 5000 rpm and then took 2nd to about 4500 and then had to slow down because I was coming up on some traffic. My radio was kind of loud so I didn't hear any kind of noise. My engine was at normal operating temp when I was driving (I never take the revs above 3000 until it is warmed up). Anyway when I slowed down in the traffic and had to start up again I noticed the power was gone and the motor was vibrating alot. My temp remained the same and no warning lights came on. I also notice a loud ticking and the engine was really shakey at idle. I drove right to my mechanic's garage and he said it could be something as simple as a worn plug and as serious as a blown valve! He is going to look at it today but I wanted to see what you guys thought. The car only has 75,000 miles on it. I've had this car since 53k and have never had a problem with it. I ran conventional Castrol GTX in it until about 3 weeks ago when I started using Mobil 1 0w40. Is it possible that a valve is blown at 75k. I thought the M30 was good for at least 200k with no major problems. Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks,

Phil

[jjg43]

Not sure what happened. This past Friday I was leaving work and my car seemed to lose about half it's power. I was getting on the highway and drove 1st gear up to about 5000 rpm and then took 2nd to about 4500 and then had to slow down because I was coming up on some traffic. My radio was kind of loud so I didn't hear any kind of noise. My engine was at normal operating temp when I was driving (I never take the revs above 3000 until it is warmed up). Anyway when I slowed down in the traffic and had to start up again I noticed the power was gone and the motor was vibrating alot. My temp remained the same and no warning lights came on. I also notice a loud ticking and the engine was really shakey at idle. I drove right to my mechanic's garage and he said it could be something as simple as a worn plug and as serious as a blown valve! He is going to look at it today but I wanted to see what you guys thought. The car only has 75,000 miles on it. I've had this car since 53k and have never had a problem with it. I ran conventional Castrol GTX in it until about 3 weeks ago when I started using Mobil 1 0w40. Is it possible that a valve is blown at 75k. I thought the M30 was good for at least 200k with no major problems. Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks,

Phil The car doesn't seem to be running on all cylinders.

[TC535i]

You sure all your ignition wires are plugged in? Might be a failed plug?

[632 Regal]

Phil, I wish you the best of luck here. I'm going to venture a guess and say that a plug loosened up on you. If thats not it id say that it has to do with valve train but I doubt it, as for head gasket you would have been overheating.
Let us know!

[1992 BMW 535i]

For sure you would have heard something if the valve was blown. Did you check the spark plug wires? Or the distributor?

[bimmerd00d]

This happened to my M50. I'm guessing that a plug blew out, and took the spark plug hole threads with it. It's fine to drive to a shop for repair as long as you unplug the injector. Take it VERY easy though.

[ryan roopnarine]

are you smelling any "lawnmower" smell from the exhaust after your car achieves operating temperature?

[jjg43]

are you smelling any "lawnmower" smell from the exhaust after your car achieves operating temperature?
I took the car to my mechanic right away. Just in case, what does the smell mean? I should know what is wrong with the car in a few hours when I call the mechanic. I'll let you guys know what is was. Thanks for the responses!

[jjg43]

Not sure what happened. This past Friday I was leaving work and my car seemed to lose about half it's power. I was getting on the highway and drove 1st gear up to about 5000 rpm and then took 2nd to about 4500 and then had to slow down because I was coming up on some traffic. My radio was kind of loud so I didn't hear any kind of noise. My engine was at normal operating temp when I was driving (I never take the revs above 3000 until it is warmed up). Anyway when I slowed down in the traffic and had to start up again I noticed the power was gone and the motor was vibrating alot. My temp remained the same and no warning lights came on. I also notice a loud ticking and the engine was really shakey at idle. I drove right to my mechanic's garage and he said it could be something as simple as a worn plug and as serious as a blown valve! He is going to look at it today but I wanted to see what you guys thought. The car only has 75,000 miles on it. I've had this car since 53k and have never had a problem with it. I ran conventional Castrol GTX in it until about 3 weeks ago when I started using Mobil 1 0w40. Is it possible that a valve is blown at 75k. I thought the M30 was good for at least 200k with no major problems. Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks,

Phil Last night my mechanic & I took off the valve cover only to find that both the intake an exhaust rocker arms on cylinder 1 had snapped! We also found a tiny amount of wear on the cam. There doesn't seem to be any loss of oil. Other than the cam everything looks perfect. There was no obvious wear to anything else. The chain lookes OK and the rocker shafts are fine. He hasn't taken the head off yet and we are both unsure of how this could have happened. I can't believe this happened to an M30 with only 75K well serviced miles. The only thing I have done different with the car was running Mobil 1 0w40 (from Castrol GTX) about 3 weeks ago. He seems to think a 0 weight is too thin of an oil to be running in the M30. Is it possible that the oil did this! It seems as though everybody on this board uses it! The car is otherwise mint so I have no choice but to fix it. I have bilstein/h&r, RD sways, chip, m-parallels, short shift, etc...Any ideas on what went wrong and how much it would cost for a mechanic to fix the rockers plus a new cam. Are there any performace cams out there that would be worth buying or should I just stay stock?

Thanks,

Phil

[winfred]

i doubt oil killed the arm, about the only time i see broken rockers on bimmers is on overreved motors and broken cam belts on m20s, with the spring retension system on m10/30 rockers it's possible that something screwed up with that and one arm got in the way of the other, i've seen collars that replace the springs for race motors to keep the rockers from sneeking off the top of the valve in high rpm operation, so the springs/clips are not infalible

[jjg43]

Last night my mechanic & I took off the valve cover only to find that both the intake an exhaust rocker arms on cylinder 1 had snapped! We also found a tiny amount of wear on the cam. There doesn't seem to be any loss of oil. Other than the cam everything looks perfect. There was no obvious wear to anything else. The chain lookes OK and the rocker shafts are fine. He hasn't taken the head off yet and we are both unsure of how this could have happened. I can't believe this happened to an M30 with only 75K well serviced miles. The only thing I have done different with the car was running Mobil 1 0w40 (from Castrol GTX) about 3 weeks ago. He seems to think a 0 weight is too thin of an oil to be running in the M30. Is it possible that the oil did this! It seems as though everybody on this board uses it! The car is otherwise mint so I have no choice but to fix it. I have bilstein/h&r, RD sways, chip, m-parallels, short shift, etc...Any ideas on what went wrong and how much it would cost for a mechanic to fix the rockers plus a new cam. Are there any performace cams out there that would be worth buying or should I just stay stock?

Thanks,

Phil Also does anyone have suggestions for brand/place to buy from?

[Jeff N.]

First, be very very careful here. It's quite easy to hose stuff up more than fix it. I speak from some (expensive) experience.

You really need to do the following before you make ANY cam decisions:

- decide what specific objectives you have for torque and HP and specifically the RPM range you want to effect. Put a too hot of cam in the car and you WILL loose midrange RPM torque - what RPM do you spend the most time driving?

- decide if you plan to run the bottom end stock or change the compression.

- emissions; do you have to pass a tailpipe test? Cams will effect your emissions

That said, you have some choices in cam providers including:

- Schrick; good reputation, good selection, expensive. Korman and others resell. Likely want to go no hotter than a 284. Joe S. has one in has tweeked 535 and seems to like it. Ported head and MAF to go with it.

- Ireland engineering - regrinds of a stock cam. They offer a 284 grind (may not be the same as the schrick 284, no way to know really). Martin's in the process of putting one in his more or less stock engine. Results in a week or so.

- Racetep - LA firm that will grind a cam for you. Never dealt with them, website suggests they do a lot of BMW work.

- Metric Mechanic - I have a MM cam in my car that was purchased with a ported head. Headwork is beautiful. Cam has been more problematic. Likely best to think of MM as selling a bundled product around the 3.7 sport motor. Could not recommend the cam I have in my car at this time in a stock bottom end.

I'm sure their are more but this would be a starting point. Safest bet is likely a Shrick 276 or 282. Mild grind from a quality company with a good reputation.

Jeff

Also does anyone have suggestions for brand/place to buy from?

[jjg43]

First, be very very careful here. It's quite easy to hose stuff up more than fix it. I speak from some (expensive) experience.

You really need to do the following before you make ANY cam decisions:

- decide what specific objectives you have for torque and HP and specifically the RPM range you want to effect. Put a too hot of cam in the car and you WILL loose midrange RPM torque - what RPM do you spend the most time driving?

- decide if you plan to run the bottom end stock or change the compression.

- emissions; do you have to pass a tailpipe test? Cams will effect your emissions

That said, you have some choices in cam providers including:

- Schrick; good reputation, good selection, expensive. Korman and others resell. Likely want to go no hotter than a 284. Joe S. has one in has tweeked 535 and seems to like it. Ported head and MAF to go with it.

- Ireland engineering - regrinds of a stock cam. They offer a 284 grind (may not be the same as the schrick 284, no way to know really). Martin's in the process of putting one in his more or less stock engine. Results in a week or so.

- Racetep - LA firm that will grind a cam for you. Never dealt with them, website suggests they do a lot of BMW work.

- Metric Mechanic - I have a MM cam in my car that was purchased with a ported head. Headwork is beautiful. Cam has been more problematic. Likely best to think of MM as selling a bundled product around the 3.7 sport motor. Could not recommend the cam I have in my car at this time in a stock bottom end.

I'm sure their are more but this would be a starting point. Safest bet is likely a Shrick 276 or 282. Mild grind from a quality company with a good reputation.

Jeff

[Warren N.CA]

a manufacturing defect, at 160K. Your symptoms suggest that this is one possibilty. This tends to be a bit of an expensive repair because the head must be removed to change a rocker arm. Whatever it is, seems unlikely your engine will need a MAJOR repair.



Not sure what happened. This past Friday I was leaving work and my car seemed to lose about half it's power. I was getting on the highway and drove 1st gear up to about 5000 rpm and then took 2nd to about 4500 and then had to slow down because I was coming up on some traffic. My radio was kind of loud so I didn't hear any kind of noise. My engine was at normal operating temp when I was driving (I never take the revs above 3000 until it is warmed up). Anyway when I slowed down in the traffic and had to start up again I noticed the power was gone and the motor was vibrating alot. My temp remained the same and no warning lights came on. I also notice a loud ticking and the engine was really shakey at idle. I drove right to my mechanic's garage and he said it could be something as simple as a worn plug and as serious as a blown valve! He is going to look at it today but I wanted to see what you guys thought. The car only has 75,000 miles on it. I've had this car since 53k and have never had a problem with it. I ran conventional Castrol GTX in it until about 3 weeks ago when I started using Mobil 1 0w40. Is it possible that a valve is blown at 75k. I thought the M30 was good for at least 200k with no major problems. Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks,

Phil