Oil Drainback issue?

[SnakeyesTx]

Just wondering if any of you M50 guys have this?

Every morning when I Start the car (new engine was put in 3000 miles ago, but I'm pretty sure the original engine did this as well), the first second or two you hear the valvetrain chatter until the oil pressure builds up. It's literally a second or two but its still annoying to hear. I'm running Mobil 10w30 and a bottle of Lucas oil stabilizer in hopes of the thicker lucas keeps lubrication up there, but it did it again this morning.

Is this a common thing?

[colo525i]

Have the same thing if the car sits for a night or two. Tap tap noise for 1-2 seconds. Never any noise after that. I'm running rotella synth 5w-40.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

when I first switched to M1 0w-40W, it sounded like an old diesel, but I changed to syntech 5w-50w, and it pretty much a soft tick and some Vanos noise when cold.

[632 Regal]

sounds like your oil canister check valve isn't checking anymore.

[E34-520iSE]

I thought that happened on all car engines? That's why oil ads claim that a large percentage of engine wear happens in the first few minutes of running. Just because you hear a noise doesn't mean there's no oil there. It just means there's not much of it. Once the oil pump gets going then all should be quiet. I've got an M20 and I get a valve tick until it warms up. This is nothing to worry about, and is common to most 1970's engines. Now if you hear a loud knocking sound you know you have problems!

HTH,

Shaun M

[Chris'91'525i]

when I first switched to M1 0w-40W, it sounded like an old diesel, but I changed to syntech 5w-50w, and it pretty much a soft tick and some Vanos noise when cold.

Maybe run a xxW/50 in your motor like Bob and I do.
I have been using the old Mobile 1 15w/50 red cap I have a couple cases of, but on this last LOF I used some Formula Shell 20w/50, (dino oil from Kragens @ 59 cents a quart after rebate) and have absolutely no ticking at all when starting.
The only times it ticks briefly is when I start it up after the LOF.

I use the mobile 1 redcap in my BMW K100RS, since I use the bike more than the car. And redcap is not available anymore.

[John B.]

I use the mobile 1 redcap in my BMW K100RS, since I use the bike more than the car. And redcap is not available anymore.

Actually it is but it no longer has the Red Cap. You can find it in Wally World, just look for the "New" 15w-50 in gallon jugs. Mobil said they brought it back by popular demand & I'm not surprised as lots of us loved the Red Cap & wouldn't touch the "extended Mileage 15w-50. More info at the Mobil1 website.

I run the 0w-40 in our 95 525 Touring with no serious noise issues. Since the M50 has hyd. lifters I would expect a little clatter at start up if its sat for awhile.

[Chris'91'525i]

[LEFT]

Actually it is but it no longer has the Red Cap. You can find it in Wally World, just look for the "New" 15w-50 in gallon jugs. Mobil said they brought it back by popular demand & I'm not surprised as lots of us loved the Red Cap & wouldn't touch the "extended Mileage 15w-50. More info at the Mobil1 website.
I run the 0w-40 in our 95 525 Touring with no serious noise issues. Since the M50 has hyd. lifters I would expect a little clatter at start up if its sat for awhile.

Yes, the 'gold' cap actually has a better additive package than the old 'red cap'.
I switched back to Dino oil in my M50 525i, for some reason (probably high mileage) it burns about 2 quarts of the full synthetic oil between oil changes.(car has no leaks)
Now with regular Dino oil, there has been no excessive oil consumption like I had with full synthetic. Uses about a half a quart every 4K miles now.
But my K100RS loves the stuff !! Runs super smooth and no leaks or burn off of oil.

Here's a post from another forum I frequent. A member there had the additive package analyzed for Mobile 1 gold cap, red cap and a NAPA full synthetic oil.
Most notably, the Gold cap has increased acid neutralizers and anti-wear additives;

Those of you who use Mobil 1 full synthetic oil prolly noticed a change
several months ago. The old bottle, hereafter called Red cap, made several
high performance claims on the label, as follows:
Performance driving formula, race proven for performance, used
exclusively by Team Penske in all their race cars, excellent for
supercharged and turbocharged engines, muscle cars and amateur race cars.
The new bottle, hereafter called Gold cap, deleted all the performance
claims and touted a 15,000 mile change interval. I feared that they had
messed up the additive package, possibly increasing the acid neutralizing
chemicals but reducing the extreme wear stuff (zinc and phosphorous). I
resolved to find out.
After consulting with Jeff DiCarlo, I sent a sample to the same lab he
used, along with a sample of NAPA 15-50 Full Synthetic as a Standard, middle
of the road, car oil. Here are the results, with Jeff's old (Red cap) data
for comparision.

Red Cap * Gold Cap NAPA
Molybdenum NL 72 0
Boron 163 196 1
Magnesium 521 17 7
Calcium 1717 2592 1637
Phosphorous 1058 1401 978
Zinc 1348 1486 1015

*Jeff DiCarlo's data

So, what does it all mean? I'm no expert but I think the Gold cap may be
at least as good in your bike as the red cap. Maybe a little better. This
applies to dry-clutch BMW's only, I don't know anything about the friction
modifiers alleged to be causing problems in some wet clutch bikes. And of
course this all only applies to 15-50.

Harv Read

[Ross]

2nd. Open it up after sitting overnight and have a look for how much is in it.

[Morgenster]

My check oil light will light up at start and shut off right when the idle gets to the normal runnig point regardless of how long it's sat.
Since I'm running 0w40 zenox noise is pretty much reduced to zero at startup and the engine responds better than ever (since I have the car anyway). The oil's pretty expensive though. Haven't bothered to check on the drainback valve.