[mjsaville]

Hi All,

My M2 is stuck at the dealers with a valvetronic issue, I've had the car just over 4 years old from new with only 20,500 miles on the clock and out of warranty. The car has never been tracked.

I diagnosed the issue myself before it went it, the dealer has changed the Valvetronic servo motor but its still noisy and failing diagnostics.

BMW UK are now saying the eccentric shaft has to be replaced, so far I've agreed to pay £350 towards the valvetronic servo motor swap. Now BMW UK / Dealer wants me to contribute significantly more money towards the repair which is not good!!

At this point I'm absolutely raging, the M2 is a brilliant car love it to bits, best car I've ever owned. It gets serviced at BMW dealership regularly. It was literally in the dealership getting serviced + MOT test 4 months ago.

The car does not use oil, it has no oil leaks and I do not need to top up the oil between services - so why has the valvetronic issue occurred at such low mileage??

I'm assuming its due to poor lubrication of the eccentric shaft and its worn prematurely ? This makes me think what else has been poorly lubricated and started to wear within the engine. I'm now worried I'm sitting on a ticking time bomb in terms of dealer repairs and service bills are absolutely mental. This is my first BMW and the whole thing is leaving me with a bad taste in my mouth. My confidence in the car has been badly dented....

The dealer only seems interested in patching up / repairing the car with no thought to what the underlying issue is hence the reason I'm reaching out to forum members / community for advice and opinions.

All feedback appreciated, I've decided I should call BMW UK Customer Service on Monday morning so see what they say although I doubt I will have calmed down much by then - Like I say all advice is totally appreciated !!

cheers

MJ

[mjsaville]

MODS - Can you move this thread to: N55 Engine / Drivetrain / Exhaust / Bolt-ons / Tuning ? cheers MJ

[VisualEcho]

Wow, that's scary.

How did you diagnose it before you took it to the dealer?

[mjsaville]

I have used Bimmercode on my iPAD to turn off active sound generation, bleep on lock, etc. The app developer also makes an app called Bimmerlink which is only £30, scanned the error codes and emailed them to the dealer before I took the car in. Limped it 4 miles to the dealership, wouldn't go above 20mph and the DSG wont go beyond 2nd Gear - stressful !!

MJ

[Dj_Quik]

Theyre asking you for more money because if the eccentric shaft has to be replaced, that alone costs 1350 CAD or 1100 USD. How do i know? My wifes x4 n55 threw a p1030 code and i brought it in. I was confident that only the valvetronic motor needed to be changed but bmw porcedures also states that the eccentric shaft, gaskets and couple other things needed to be changed with it as well. All in all, the repair costed about 2500 usd including 5 hours of labor. But i didnt have to pay because my wife car is coverrd by CPO warranty. I cringe at the thought of this happening to my OG m2. Ive watched videos of people diy their eccentric shaft but it doesnt look like and easy job at all coz you need special tools

[mjsaville]

Originally Posted by Dj_Quik

Theyre asking you for more money because if the eccentric shaft has to be replaced, that alone costs 1350 CAD or 1100 USD. How do i know? My wifes x4 n55 threw a p1030 code and i brought it in. I was confident that only the valvetronic motor needed to be changed but bmw porcedures also states that the eccentric shaft, gaskets and couple other things needed to be changed with it as well. All in all, the repair costed about 2500 usd including 5 hours of labor. But i didnt have to pay because my wife car is coverrd by CPO warranty. I cringe at the thought of this happening to my OG m2. Ive watched videos of people diy their eccentric shaft but it doesnt look like and easy job at all coz you need special tools

Yep, special tools and the new valvetronic unit needs to be relearned to the car which requires special diagnostics. In your wife’s case did they give an explanation as to the cause? And, how long ago was that? Have you had any more issues? MJ

[Dj_Quik]

I didnt ask them what they thought the cause was. But if i was a betting man, id put my money that this car was getting its oil changed every 15000 kms as per bmw intervals and the oil gets sludgy and doesnt lubricate the eccentric shaft. I bought this car used so i can only assume it wasn’t maintained diligently by the previous owner. The car was just at bmw for 5 days and i got it back couple days ago. No problems so far.

[mjsaville]

Originally Posted by Dj_Quik

I didnt ask them what they thought the cause was. But if i was a betting man, id put my money that this car was getting its oil changed every 15000 kms as per bmw intervals and the oil gets sludgy and doesnt lubricate the eccentric shaft. I bought this car used so i can only assume it wasn’t maintained diligently by the previous owner. The car was just at bmw for 5 days and i got it back couple days ago. No problems so far.

Okay, thanks for that…. Mj

[F87source]

This happened to me on day one where I heard the valvetronic tick (caused by either the needle bearings binding up or the valvetronic motor failing), I immediately recognized the symptoms and just kept them in the back of my mind until the last year of warranty when I took it in for service. I had a new valvetronic motor + eccentric shaft, and valve cover gasket, decoupling elements etc replaced. So I am glad I got that done under warranty because that would have been expensive.


In the rare instance this happens, it happens early in the m2's life expectancy because of what I would assume to be break in wear - extra metal shavings in the oil potentially clogging the valvetronic motor worm gear oil squirter causing that to wear, or metallic debris from break in possibly making the needle bearings wear out. But the warning signs are the tick, and most people ignore that early on so the issue gets worse as the mileage racks up until it fails out of warranty. Of course this can happen on higher mileage cars as well but it is normally just attributed to high mileage wear.


So it does suck that this happens but most of the time I have only seen people repair it once and it is good for the rest of the cars life.

[mjsaville]

Originally Posted by F87source

This happened to me on day one where I heard the valvetronic tick (caused by either the needle bearings binding up or the valvetronic motor failing), I immediately recognized the symptoms and just kept them in the back of my mind until the last year of warranty when I took it in for service. I had a new valvetronic motor + eccentric shaft, and valve cover gasket, decoupling elements etc replaced. So I am glad I got that done under warranty because that would have been expensive.


In the rare instance this happens, it happens early in the m2's life expectancy because of what I would assume to be break in wear - extra metal shavings in the oil potentially clogging the valvetronic motor worm gear oil squirter causing that to wear, or metallic debris from break in possibly making the needle bearings wear out. But the warning signs are the tick, and most people ignore that early on so the issue gets worse as the mileage racks up until it fails out of warranty. Of course this can happen on higher mileage cars as well but it is normally just attributed to high mileage wear.


So it does suck that this happens but most of the time I have only seen people repair it once and it is good for the rest of the cars life.

The car did not exhibit any symptoms prior to it letting go. The ticking sound when you open the door, etc before I took it in to the dealer could easily be heard. It’s crazy BMW warranty the engine, etc for 3 years or 60k miles but this happens at just over 20k / 4 years. The car has been serviced regularly with the oil changed by the dealer as required. MJ

[F87source]

Originally Posted by mjsaville

The car did not exhibit any symptoms prior to it letting go. The ticking sound when you open the door, etc before I took it in to the dealer could easily be heard. It’s crazy BMW warranty the engine, etc for 3 years or 60k miles but this happens at just over 20k / 4 years. The car has been serviced regularly with the oil changed by the dealer as required. MJ

Wait do you could hear the ticking upon opening the door before it failed?

Also isn't warranty 4 years and 80k km?

[3t3p]

What is the tick? Don't these engines exhibit fairly loud valve tick? I know mine does...

[Dj_Quik]

Tick happens before you start the motor when you open the door. Probably the valvetronic motor adjusting itself before the motor starts

[nioh_lbbm2]

Originally Posted by Dj_Quik

Tick happens before you start the motor when you open the door. Probably the valvetronic motor adjusting itself before the motor starts

This is good info to know. I wish the F87 sections had stickied threads to keep this type of information pertinent and readily available for everyone to see

[F87source]

Originally Posted by Dj_Quik

Tick happens before you start the motor when you open the door. Probably the valvetronic motor adjusting itself before the motor starts

There are 2 types of ticks:

1) a quick rattle upon opening/unlocking the doors for the first time in a bit that's the valvetronic system sweeping through it's range of motion and calibrating. It's normal.

2) the constant ticking upon opening and unlocking the door until the fuel door cap does it's click. This is valvetronic rattle because the valvetronic system is binding.


3) the jack hammer noise, something is really wrong here as it's really binding and causing a loud jack hammer sound.

[Dj_Quik]

Originally Posted by F87source

There are 2 types of ticks:

1) a quick rattle upon opening/unlocking the doors for the first time in a bit that's the valvetronic system sweeping through it's range of motion and calibrating. It's normal.

2) the constant ticking upon opening and unlocking the door until the fuel door cap does it's click. This is valvetronic rattle because the valvetronic system is binding.


3) the jack hammer noise, something is really wrong here as it's really binding and causing a loud jack hammer sound.

On my wifes car, i was referring to the noise you pointed out in number 2. The tick wasnt continuous. It lasts about 2 seconds then goes away and the car starts up fine. But it is very noticeable and discernable from the usual noises the car makes before start up