Thanks again.

The car has gone in again today. This time, I had the head service tech come
with me and listen to the engine.
He could hear it this week.... despite the other guy claiming he couldn't
hear it last week.

He said they should be able to take care of it, under BMW extended
warranty...... lets hope so!!!




"Malt_Hound" > wrote in message
...
>J Strickland wrote:
>> Not to toss goo into the ointment here, but a serpentine belt can make a
>> clicking noise that sounds just like a tappet. The problem may not be
>> anywhere near as serious as you are thinking.
>>
>> I can't imagine your car having sticky lifters at this early age. If it
>> does in fact have lifter problems, the odds are very good that a chemcial
>> treatment will fix it. When I was a kid, it was common practice to used a
>> pint or so of automatic transmission fluid in the crankcase to free
>> sticky lifters. The problem in those days is largely gone from the
>> picture, but tarnish from the oil would clog the passages inside the
>> lifter, and prevent the moving parts from moving freely. The ATF is
>> highly detergent, and would clean the tarnish, allowing the lifters to
>> operate freely again.
>>
>> Today, they use stuff like Marvel Mystery Oil to accomplish the same
>> goal.
>>
>> Usually the sticky lifter will free itself as the motor warms up. If
>> yours continue ticking, then I'd be looking at the belts before the
>> lifters. There is Belt Dressing that can be applied, but the belts should
>> probably be replaced.
>
> He could just run the engine for a *short* time with the serpentine belt
> off to see if the ticking is gone.
>
> I assume (ass-u-me) that he (or anyone for that matter) could tell the
> difference between a ticking sound coming from outside the engine and one
> from inside. They do sound quite different...
>
> -Fred W