duvey

It definitely sounds to me like its coming from the injectors, or something close to them. It almost sounds like very rapid electrical arcing. Not the distinct tick..tick..tick that usually points to lifters. The other thought i'd had was that it could potentially be a exhaust manifold leak - as this can often cause very mechanical sounding noises. It also seems to blow a lot of steam, but this disappears after 5 minutes or so of driving, so I've pretty much written this off as normal.

Oil and filter change completed, 5W-30 Castrol Edge Titanium as above. Did air filter too. Seems to be slightly better - difficult to tell. I think I might actually be going mad now, I've spent far too much of my weekend listening to my engine run Take a look at the video and let me know what you guys think. Thanks again for the help.

Take 3, with a different camera and revving as suggested:

Ended up going for 5W-30 Castrol Edge Titanium - was recommended in the Castrol documentation too. Thanks for the input mate.

Thanks for your reply. I'll re-record and do an oil and filter change afterwards. Without trying to start another 'what oil do I use?!?!11?' conversation - I'm leaning towards a fully synthetic 5W-30 or 10W-40. After some extensive Googling, I read that thicker oils can cause valvetrain noise, so I'm tempted to go for the thinner option.

Thought I might as well get some opinions on what this might be. Originally thought it was the VANOS, and it still may well be. My main reason for doubting it is that it doesn't seem to be coming from the VANOS area of the engine. Lee from HellBM thought that it might be VANOS rattling resonating along the head. We more or less ruled out timing chain guides. It's really not very pronounced, and probably sounds a bit worse in the video that it does irl. Let me know what you think! Edit: Watched my own video and realised how terrible it was. Take 2! First video was taken after 30 mins of driving. Second video was taken cold. Doesn't seem to be any real difference.

Takapuna Shorecity/Berkley Cinema carpark. Black e36 m3 coupe. ACS badged, with some BMW motorsport stickers on the skirt.

Any chance you have a tidy set of style 22s off a 95' m3 available?

Good to hear you had results. Hopefully this will minimize the rattle, my m3 is at 144k, so its possible the tension cup washer might not be so far gone - it might be worthwhile replacing the whole vanos at some point if it doesn't entirely rectify the problem. Edit: spelings

So sleek! I love how it sits.

For what it's worth, I think your car looks freakin' awesome.

Its the rattle that is annoying me rather than the bogging (which is only very slight). As far as I understand, the S50B30 has vanos on the intake valve and not the exhaust valve, and is infinitely variable. Because it is not double vanos, I suppose it makes sense that the bogging isn't quite as pronounced. Anyway - I'll let you know how much it costs me all up, and what the results are.

I have a slight rattle, and typical ~3k RPM bogging. Took it to HellBM in Silverdale and Lee(Leigh?) thought it was probably the VANOS, so I've ordered a Besian Systems seal and rattle fix kit. I'll let the pros do it this time, as I'm new to these engines, but the procedure doesn't look overly complex. There is certainly plenty of documentation on the net about it.

Very clean. I'd love an e30 for a daily thrasher.

Nice! Love the colour, makes them look totally understated.

The boot latch on my M3 had been fatiguing and cracking the sheet steel it was bolted into, to the point that it was getting a bit wobbly. This is apparently quite a common problem, especially with the spoiler optioned models. With the screws removed. There were some dirty great washers on there which had been (barely) stopping it from flopping about too much. I cut out a piece of thin aluminium from a spare length of top sill of a house window. I then sanded, drilled, and countersunk it. (necessary to avoid the screws preventing the boot from closing) Sanded, painted and installed: Solid as you could hope for now. Little job, but very satisfying.

Gorgeous. Love to see a mistreated car restored to former glory. Any news in regards to the fuel pump relay?

Images resized! Here is one of the interior: I was lucky to be able to go and have a look at it very shortly after it was posted up on trademe as I live nearby.

Just recently acquired a very tidy e36 M3. I believe the last owner purchased it off Bimmersport, so some of you may know the car. I've lurked for a while - and thought now I've taken the plunge, it was time for introduction. It will be great to be able to pick some very knowledgeable minds! Anyway - I look forward to meeting some of you and your vehicles (hope you guys don't mind large images being posted) Edit: Resized images. Cheers! - Ben