2nd Gen R56 Cooper S Intake Valves/Lifters/Vanos Solenoid/Injector Failure Symptoms?

Hello,

Oh where to start, for a while now I have noticed every once in a while after driving long commutes a ticking/tapping noise coming from the cylinder located on passenger side inline vertically with the intake valves/lifters/Vanos solenoid/injector and only after exiting the freeway coming to a stop do I hear it.

The only way I have successfully got the noise to go away is to stop the engine for 10-20 seconds then start engine and it's gone for the day, it never occurs before (cold start-up) full operating temperatures always some time after. I know all to well how the death rattle sounds and this isn't it. To me it sounds like a noisy lifter or injector, it's got to be one of the above.

My compression tests show a health engine and each cylinder builds up psi quickly! The question is what would a ticking/tapping noise point to? What would a failing Vanos solenoid or one of the above sound like?

I really appreciate your reply!

Thank you,
Systemlord.

 

It's a 2007 Mini Cooper S, Forge DV and Borla S-Type Exhaust as far as mods go. If you were to lean over the cylinder closest to the passenger side it's easy and clear to pinpoint the sound, so we have the intake valves, lifters, Vanos and the injector to choose from as the culprit.

 

Lets rewind back to when I first started hearing this tapping noise in June, at first it was loud enough to easily hear from across the street, it was that loud and only occurred maybe 3-5 times during the Summer. It went away by shutting off the engine for 30 seconds.

On the 25th of last month before changing my oil (RP 5W-30 to M1 0W40) I poured BG's EPR or Engine Performance Restoration into my dirty oil, it does exactly what it claims to do! So as per instructions I added it to my oil before my oil changed, revved the engine for 12 minutes at 1200 rpms and shut off the engine. I then drained it and I saw pure black swirls mixed in with the dirty oil, that's the crud in your piston rings and throughout your engine.

After draining that filthy oil I grabbed a fresh 5 quarts of Mobil1 0W-40 and added it to my engine, than ran the engine for a few minutes at 1200 rpms. I then drained the oil again and saw more of that black crud mixed in with the oil, I drained the oil a second time (the flush) and installed the new Mini oil filter and added a fresh 5 quarts of Mobil1 0W-40 till it measured at the max line on the dip stick.

It was after this I started hearing the tapping noise again except it was much more quiet than it was before. I'm thinking I need to pull out the vanos solenoid and check it's screens for debris.

 

Would I cause any damage while idling with the electrical connector disconnected from the vanos? I promise to record the noise next time it gets loud, for the life of me I don't understand why I didn't record it when it happened for the first time because it was somewhat loud!