L322 Td6 tapping engine what oil?

Is it just the oil treatment I need?
I've found a few stp oil additives available

Yes. It should help lacquered up tappets free off over time.

And you think 2 bottles as the rangie takes a fair amount of oil?

youmitegetian said:

And you think 2 bottles as the rangie takes a fair amount of oil?

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Up to you, put a couple in and see what you get as said earlier. Don't overfill it though. Tappets work as oil pressure expands them to take up the clearance to the cam lobes. When the engine stops pressure which is still on certain cam lobes will cause the tappets to contract. When the engine starts oil pressure then expands the tappets again to remove the clearance. Lacquer builds up on the portion of the tappet bore that is not being swept. When wear takes place on the tappet faces and cam lobes the oil pressure cannot overcome the lacquer build up and causes excessive clearance giving you your problem. You can put something in the oil to try and reduce the lacquering or remove the tappets and clean them. Tappety BMW engines can sometimes to corrected by extended high RPM, but with the gearbox in yours i would not recommend that.

Yes I'd heard of the revving for 3 minute fix but also that with this gearbox it wasn't a good idea.
I'll give the stp a go and take it from there.
Is it a big job to replace the lifters? They don't seem to be silly expensive so don't mind doing it if it's a job I can tackle myself

youmitegetian said:

Yes I'd heard of the revving for 3 minute fix but also that with this gearbox it wasn't a good idea.
I'll give the stp a go and take it from there.
Is it a big job to replace the lifters? They don't seem to be silly expensive so don't mind doing it if it's a job I can tackle myself

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If you are not reasonably mechanically experienced and have never done anything of the like before, find someone who has and didn't make a balls of it. You need to know what you are doing basically.

I've done a fair bit of maintanence work and rebuilt a few heads but nothing with a chain. Might leave this one to someone else as it's my daily driver. Any idea how long it takes?

youmitegetian said:

I've done a fair bit of maintanence work and rebuilt a few heads but nothing with a chain. Might leave this one to someone else as it's my daily driver. Any idea how long it takes?

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Not a clue never worked on this engine. Cams will have to come off to replace tappets and be re timed. So you would need special tools to do that. Possibly best part of a day in a garage with the tools.

That sounds painful. I'll try the stp and have a word with a workshop local to me and see what they will charge.

So. Good and bad news on the stp oil treatment.
Done about 20 miles with it in.
Hydraulic lifter noise is much more pronounced than it was. Can clearly hear it now but this is due to the good news
The engine as a whole is so much quieter than it was. I hadn't realised just how loud it had been. I always remember when it was new thinking it was a horrid sounding loud engine so when I got it a few months back I didn't even give it a thought.
Anyway I guess time will tell as to whether it quietens the lifters down but the whole engine being quieter in general isn't such a bad thing.

youmitegetian said:

So. Good and bad news on the stp oil treatment.
Done about 20 miles with it in.
Hydraulic lifter noise is much more pronounced than it was. Can clearly hear it now but this is due to the good news
The engine as a whole is so much quieter than it was. I hadn't realised just how loud it had been. I always remember when it was new thinking it was a horrid sounding loud engine so when I got it a few months back I didn't even give it a thought.
Anyway I guess time will tell as to whether it quietens the lifters down but the whole engine being quieter in general isn't such a bad thing.

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What grade of oil did you put in when serviced?

Can't remember the brand but 5-40 i think.
I checked at the time and bought what I'd read was the right grade but obviously with the mileage perhaps something thicker would of been better

youmitegetian said:

Can't remember the brand but 5-40 i think.
I checked at the time and bought what I'd read was the right grade but obviously with the mileage perhaps something thicker would of been better

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Yes it would.

What grade would you think for the next oil change? Just thinking for the limited cost I might do an oil change before it's due. Or would you just leave it with the oil additives in now? It's due a change in around 8 months

youmitegetian said:

What grade would you think for the next oil change? Just thinking for the limited cost I might do an oil change before it's due. Or would you just leave it with the oil additives in now? It's due a change in around 8 months

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As the oil additive tends to thicken the oil up a little and in doing so has quietened it down. I would not go for anything that started with 0 or 5. Maybe on an high miler in this climate 10 W40 or even 15 W40 and a tin of STP. 0 W30-40 or 5 W30-40 is ok if you live in Alsaka.

Ok thanks and you think change it early or leave the additive to work for a fe months?

Quote: An 5W40 oil is one that behaves like a 5-rated single grade oil when cold, but doesn't thin any more than a 40-rated single grade oil when hot. The lower the 'winter' number (hence the 'W'), the easier the engine will turn over when starting in cold climates. End Quote.

So try an oil with SAE grade higher than 40, 50 for example or perhaps 60.




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How are you getting on with this? Still tapping or did you finally solve it?

I am currently having the same problem

Sorry for the late reply I'm just on way back from Le Mans and haven't had data coverage.
The latest is I did a flush using wynns additive and put fully synthetic oil in, the noise was gone initially. It did come back pretty quickly (10 miles) Then it has been intermittent for a few days, sometimes when hot sometimes cold,
Drove to Newhaven (3 hours, then an hour back towards home to meet my mates dad who was bringing his passport as he didn't realise he needed it for France. Yes really!!!)
So another hour to Newhaven, car was quiet, get off the ferry at Dieppe and it's noisy again, got most of the way back to Dieppe today and the car was lovely and quiet. Then the rattle came back again, no change in driving or anything, seems very odd.
I think I just need to ignore it.

I have been trying to ignore the tapping sound but equally I feel something is not right in the engine.

I had a new injector, which made the tapping more obvious if anything. Next thing is to change the oil - thinking of 10w40, and Wynns.

There are a lot of 3 litre bmws with the same problem so I will search some BMW forums for causes. Will let you know if I find anything, and will update you after the oil change.

Thanks

youmitegetian said:

Sorry for the late reply I'm just on way back from Le Mans and haven't had data coverage.
The latest is I did a flush using wynns additive and put fully synthetic oil in, the noise was gone initially. It did come back pretty quickly (10 miles) Then it has been intermittent for a few days, sometimes when hot sometimes cold,
Drove to Newhaven (3 hours, then an hour back towards home to meet my mates dad who was bringing his passport as he didn't realise he needed it for France. Yes really!!!)
So another hour to Newhaven, car was quiet, get off the ferry at Dieppe and it's noisy again, got most of the way back to Dieppe today and the car was lovely and quiet. Then the rattle came back again, no change in driving or anything, seems very odd.
I think I just need to ignore it.

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