My question is: What are your thoughts, and did I make a mistake doing this?? I was never an advocate of oil additives and this is the first time in its 149,000 mile life attempting it. The engine has been very well maintained/oiled with synthetics. I had a persistent lifter noise that was going outside the "20 minute parameter" and continued to constant. Now faced with a 3000.00 or so lifter overhaul I had to think and make at least an effort to try a "German made" product set of flush and treat. The flush alone did not change anything but when doing the treatment the change was evident after driving cycling/lugging and revving the engine! Well, I am quite surprised to have a silent lifter engine. My observations are repeatable starts in all temperatures/conditions and everyday hot .I have been enjoying this noiseless engine for a week so far. Will follow up...Thanks in advance for any info!
No experience with what you've done, so I honestly don't know if you may have damaged anything, but I don't know what might be damaged if you followed all directions correctly, and your engine oil viscosity isn't disastrously thinned-out by whatever you've done or used.
Thanks for sharing your experience! You might recall the E36 m52 engine has an annoying tendency of having noisy lifters. The car still runs and idles beautifully!! Supposedly the additive lasts apx 30k miles even after changing the oil. So far, I still saved 3k in repairs. Will post follow ups as they oil hanges etc occur.
It is possible you had some dirt stuck in the lifter causing some noise and the treatment cleared it out. Also to help with noise you may want to get some thicker oil to to help with the wearing of the engine.
E36 lifter noise....Here is a 3 month follow up on the oil additive for those with sticky lifters . It has been three months since I have used Lxxxi mxxly additives and have not heard a peep out of those pesky lifters yet!
Hey Mike, Thanks for the valuable information. My 2011 550i is aging with its 61k miles. I could not find the additive you recommended with a google search. Would you be so kind to comment on the benefit of using such an additive for a car of this age, and if so, may I have the link to the additive you recommend? Are oil additives recommended for car with more than 50k miles? Thank you for your guidance
Oil additives are always ok no matter what mileage. With your 550i I would suggest doing more frequent oil changes because of how hot that N63 really gets the oil breaks down faster. The additives would help with the oil break down and extra cleaning of the engine oil systems. Lucas oil makes a good one, the ones I use are the liqui moly products.
Hello Sar67 , If your car is not exhibiting any issues just stay with your regimen. I used a lubromoly engine flush and Liquimoly Ceratek treatment in proper ratio to the oil system capacity followed instructions implicitly, and came up with a great result from a noisy lifter issue I was suffering from. Thought I would give it a try it worked well enough to silence the lifters. Follow up story to come soon. Again, if your car is not having issues continue to do preemptive oil services and follow BMW owners handbook referencing no use of additives. I actually found a mechanical issue that I soon corrected when the noise came back. 5 months later.
I understand it is a normal trait for an initial noise at start up occasionally, but it darn sure is not normal if the lifters make noise over 20 minutes per the shop manual.
Hey everybody! Well, Five months later I ended up getting all four valves in nr 6 replaced as well as all lifters and ledges to the tune of 6k!. When the car was under CPO It had a lifter tick that was replaced during warranty, well guess what the dealer installed the wrong lifter causing a valve valve to bend causing a slight leak with compression test. I kept all the hardware for further analysis and found a lifter of a different appearance from the rest. I have yet to identify it. I recommend all to use their regular oil system maintenance and refrain from using additives except Techron per BMW instructions. I must admit that stuff worked like a champ I only wish it were a hydraulic blip but there were incorrect mechanical parts installed
Id'ing & solving the problem is good, but - yikes! Hope you don't have any other issues for a long, long time!
It has been an expensive learning experience and have used the slightly higher than 15w40 mineral oil recommended for the 97 m52 328is. I am using the mobile one 15w50 with the added ZDDP after three break in oil changes with the BMW 15w40 mineral oil. Going on 2 years since, and not a single tick in the valve train! Knock on my new BMW/Nardi Euro three spoke wood steering wheel!
