Any car guys/gals in the house?

[JimMcClain]

A muffler professional reports "most of the bolts are broken" and you come here to a photographer hangout for advice?

 

[unpopular]

Don't know why photographers have to act like snarky tweenagers all the time.

I think this is the third time mentioning this. I know the bolts are broken, the question is if the tick is consistent with that.

 

[runnah]

Oh yeah for sure. Exhaust pieces aren't threaded so if the head of the bolt is snapped off than it will allow the header to slap against the block in time with the exhaust.

 

[Dave442]

Hopefully the bolts that are broken off have enough of the bolt still sticking out of the block to allow simple removal. But exhaust bolts can be frozen in and could be the reason the bolts are broken, someone else tried to remove them. With rusted in parts, heat will often work, but the best is probably to pull the engine to give enough room to grind, drill and extract.

 

[runnah]

This is why I hate american cars, they cheap out in the worst places! I helped a friend tear down an early 90's BMW engine that had seen many miles, not a single snapped bolt or rusted on one.

 

[Braineack]

and SAE tools should be illegal.

 

[unpopular]

This is why I hate american cars, they cheap out in the worst places! I helped a friend tear down an early 90's BMW engine that had seen many miles, not a single snapped bolt or rusted on one.

Was thinking about getting a big BMW sedan, size was a big factor in our choice, but the price seemed too good to be true.

 

[Braineack]

it was probably off lease so the previous owner pretty much paid for all the depreciation and half the cost...

 

[minicoop1985]

Sounds almost like lifter tick to me. But if it's exhaust, then it's exhaust.

 

[unpopular]

No, it was at a Dealer.

Something just didn't set well with me. We didn't have a reliable car at the time, and the BMW was in Cour d'Laine, so I'd have to rent one and make pre-inspection arrangements ahead of time, so we didn't even go to look.

 

[tirediron]

Yes. Works fine.

So that probably rules out a dicky AC clutch...

 

[unpopular]

Sounds almost like lifter tick to me. But if it's exhaust, then it's exhaust.

It sounds like a lifter, but it's just not in the right place at least as far as I can tell. It could still be if it was a lifter located in the rear of the engine, the sound could ricochet off the firewall. Like I said, I'll get a vacuum tube and poke around.

 

[tirediron]

A muffler professional reports "most of the bolts are broken" and you come here to a photographer hangout for advice?

Photographers can't know something about mechanics?

 

[unpopular]

Yes. Works fine.

So that probably rules out a dicky AC clutch...

lol. you said "dicky".

I was thinking about that, it seemed to be worse when the AC was off. But at the same time, but it turned out just to be more noticeable without the blower noise. Like I said, it's BARELY noticeable from inside the cabin, of audible at all.

 

[tirediron]

Oh yeah for sure. Exhaust pieces aren't threaded so if the head of the bolt is snapped off than it will allow the header to slap against the block in time with the exhaust.

BUT... when operating at say 2500 RPM, there are going to be 1250 exhaust strokes per minute which translates into just over 150 a second. Even if it's only one port (not sure whether this uses a 'header' style manifold or not) that's 20-40 a second from which I would expect to hear a continual buzz rather than distinct 'tap' 'tap' 'tap'.

Fixing the bolts isn't a major job, but I'd do both sides, since if one has let go, chances are the other isn't far behind, and then see what sort of noises you get. If it's gone, bonus, if not... we start over again. I wouldn't leave this too long since there can be a number of serious issues, not the least of which is CO in the passenger compartment and you large-format guys are slow enough already without that.