Ticking/knocking from BHF, I have the worst luck

B6/7 S4/RS4
#1

Soooo I recently purchase a replacement 4.2l BHF for my S4. The engine has approximately 77k on it and has good compression. No oil pooling on valves and was pretty clean for being a “recycled” engine.

So I installed it myself used all OEM parts on the install. Upon firing her up the engine start ticking on the top end on the passenger side. Further investigation revealed the tap/knock is RPM dependent and gets quieter when the engine is rev 'd up. I thought is was the intake but I ruled that out and also thought it could be a lifter. So I bought a stethoscope and and listened around. The sound resonates on the passenger side, it’s quite loud in the rear on the head but gets quieter as you gets towards the nose of the car. It’s very pronounced at the rear by the timing cover below the PCV valve and can be heard under the bell housing too.

Now I’m not throwing a CEL or experiencing misfires. I drove it around for 10 minutes and it stayed the same. Power seems to be there and I didn’t find any metal in the oil filter. I’m running 0W-40 with a quart or Marvel mystery oil and planned on switching to 5W-40 but I doubt that will cure the knock.

All the guides were in tack and replaced. My only thought is that it could be coming from a tensioner.

Justin I’m hoping you have an idea what the noise is. You are king when it comes to answering my questions!

Here’s a short video of my sound

https://youtu.be/xfeniBotXhQ

Hopefully I’m not experiencing rod knock or a collapsed lifter.

#2

As always with these things I have some questions.

Its a used motor right. Do you know how long the motor you got was not started for.
Also you said no missfires on vag com right.
Did you check the cam profile blocks in vag com as well.
You drove the car is this correct.

A few things you can do. You can pull off the passenger side valve cover and start the car as long as you dont rev the motor oil wont go spraying all over the place but you can run the car and see if anything stands out you can also look at the chain and see if there is any disturbence to it.

If the car hasnt been started in several months it can be a down lifter and it can take up to 45 min for it to quiet down.

As for a rod knock i wouldnt worry you would be getting missfires if the rod was cracked or broken

#3

thanks Justin, so to answer your questions:

-The motor is used, title states 77k when the recycler took possession
-no misfires at idle on vagcom ( I only have a generic vcds cable so I ordered a Ross-Tech one last night)
-without a RossTech cable I cannot check the cam profile blocks. waiting on Ross Tech cable
-I did drive the car less than 2 miles around my neighbor being easy on the car

so I’ll take your advice and take the passenger side valve cover off and check for anything out of the ordinary. I’ve let the engine idle for about 15 mins a couple times, the sound isn’t noticeable when you rev the car above 2K rpm.

at this point im waiting on a legit Ross tech cable to give you more info which I will post as soon as I get the cable

#4

Let us know I keep checking on this thread. like I mentioned if the motor hasnt been run in a long time its not abnormal to have a lifter that has fully bleed down. Getting the lifter to come back up can take some time. Its a tough call tho because you dont want to let the car idle for a long time if there is something broken but the only way to fix a collapsed lifter is to let the car idle for a while and move it up and down in low rpms

#5

so i finally got my Ross-Tech cable!

with my work schedule its hard to find time to do some proper logging. but here is a screen shot (potato shot) of the engine at idle with measuring blocks 091, 092, 093 open. I’m still learning how to decipher vcds so i have no idea what it means. my buddy with a b5 s4 says the cams are over spec adjustment wise

https://scontent.fbos1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13557785_10153726404346538_7670659216575762752_n.jpg?oh=ea11226c0f7c4100c45e94168ea02652&oe=57FD2CE3

#6

Well your post is one more piece of proof that you shouldnt listen to b5 guys.

From what you screen shoted it dosnt look like the car is out of spec at alll. The comanded vs actual is off a bit but you would neeed to see an entire log to know more. But just from the picture of that one block at that one second nothing jumps out and says your in bad shape

#7

As far as the cam adjustment, I’ve used vcds to look at my B6 and my buddies B7 and they both jumped around a little at idle, varying from about 9 to 15 degrees iirc when the spec was showing 12, so that seems normal to me. Not that I’m knowledgeable enough to say what’s normal but there’s some anecdotal evidence for you anyways. I know the cam adjuster sprockets have a tiny bit of play when they’re locked in with the pin in the hole, so my guess is that play is the reason for the slight variation

for the phase position blocks, I noticed that mine was farther out of spec at 8 and 12 degrees when I had several broken guides, but after doing the timing they went to only 2 and 3 degrees. Again I’m not one of the experts so I can’t say what’s normal or not for the phase position but that was what I noticed on my car

#8

Update, i got the car to throw a code finally. drove the car to a friends house for the 4th, more to monitor for misfires and again try to throw a CEL. i guess it worked. didnt beat on the car. didn’t feel down on power but i did feel it stumble on my way home.

16395 (P0011) hoping this is the mechanical adjuster and not the electric one.

#9

Another update:

took the car to work last night to do some logs on the way home. it didn’t work out to well. ended up on the side of the expressway with misfires on cylinders 1 & 3. obvious power loss that was notice after trying to get back on the gas. pull over as soon as i noticed, checked DTC’s before i turned it off and had:

-Multiple Random Misfires
-Misfire Cylinder 1
-Misfire Cylinder 3

i have a secondary air injection code too but i deleted the SAI while i had the engine out.

so after getting the above codes i turned the engine off and tried restarting the car, fired right up but was still missing on 1 & 3. this time the CEL was flashing so i kept the car off until the tow truck dropped it off at my house.

there were no cam codes this time like the one i got this past sunday, P0011. not sure if thats good thing or not. also i’m more curious about whether or not the electrical adjusters are bad or whether its just the mechanical one. doesn’t seem like a bent any valves, like i said it fired right back up. i guess i need to check compression now

#10

A good thing would be to check compression and leak down.

#11

sadly i just got in from scoping cylinders 1 & 3, 2 valves kissed the pistons on both cylinders… i’m not even going to bother checking compression. this is my 2nd V8 S4 and it’s been nothing but bad luck. looks like i’ll cut my loses and part out the car.

i dont trust anyone selling these engines OR cars anymore. everyone lies about them just to pass them onto the next person so they can deal with bad timing issues and oil consumption. not saying that was my current issue but first S4 i bought i was told it didn’t burn a drop. ended up burning a quart a day. Same thing with my nogaro, was told it didn’t burn oil and it burned the same amount as my first one… i think i’ll buy a mustang then drive through a crowd…