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2003 E46 318ti compact has engine rattle, possible loss of power!

17K views 35 replies 6 participants last post by  mikeykc 
#1 ·
Hi everybody! Mine names mike,

I bought a BMW 318ti compact sport about 5 months ago, after I bought it i noticed it had a small rattle from the engine, I've done a lot of searches on the web to find out what he issues could be, I've replaced the chain tensioner with a genuine BMW one, a long life oil and filter change with no fix! I hen inspected even more by taking the rocker cover off etc to see if I could see anything out of he norm, it all looked ok. I unplugged the valve tonic worm gear that's ontop of the rocker cover and the noise had gone! I then replaced this for a new one from BMW and had it coded by a BMW specialist, still no fix!

The noise happens on and off, it sounds like it at the top of the engine near the vanos. I can start it on a cold morning and the noise is there, I could start it on a different cold morning and it's fine? If he car is warm and the noise isn't there if I just rest my foot on the acelerater pedal the noise is there, I can hear it through 1st and 2nd gear nearly all the time, it getting on nerves now and can't seem to enjoy driving the car because I'm listening for the noise. Also I find car seems to be fast sometimes but the it can be very sluggish, especially below 2k rpm?

If anyone can help I would be very grateful thanks.
 
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#31 ·
Its a joke really I'm a tech myself but for audi, so the only reason I sent it to BMW was the engine locking it is so expensive! Buying one of them would of covered the price of labour for someone else to fix but it was like nobody wanted my money! Lol thank god really I've saved a fortune!
 
#33 ·
Hi yeah no problem! I took the rocker cover off, got cylinder 1 at TDC (top dead center). I then made a lining up tool for the vanos units out of a piece of wood! I marked up everything in the wood, the gaps in the adjuster at the front of the vano and drilled two holes in the wood so I put two Allen keys through the holes then into the two holes on each vano. I then painted a mark on the crank pulley and on the block, I also painted he edge of the exhaust cam to line up with somthing else, i also painted one of the teeth on the vano and the chain link ether side of the tooth.basically mark a lot of things so you no when u put everything back u can line everything up. I got a friend to hold the crank still on the bottom pulley while I loosened the vano/cam bolt. I then loosened the chain tensioner, I didn't take it fully out just enough to give me enough slack to remove the vano. I got my friend to hold the chain as I removed the vano. I got both vanos together, new and old, I then painted the same tooth on the new vano that was painted on the old one. I then fitted the new vano making sure I got the painted tooth in between the two painted links, I then knew the new vano was in the same place as the old one on the chain. I got my piece of wood and lined up the front part of he vano getting the holes in the correct position, I then nipped up the cam bolt, I then tightened up the chain tensioner making sure the chain sack was taken up and not inbetween the two vanos. I then got a friend to hold the crank again as I tightened the cam bolt (20nm 90 degrees 90 degrees) I then got my wood and double checked every mark lined up which it did. I turned the engine over by hand making sure everything was ok, I then double checked everything lined up again, built it up with a new rocker cover gasket winner winner chicken dinner it was fixed!
 
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