Dennis316

so my e430 ticks under, when i bought it i thought it was an exhaust leak and dismissed it. i took it to the stealership for a full 100% inspection, when the guy sat me down and explained what was wrong with it, i asked if they noticed the annoying ticking sound under acceleration. this shut him up because obviously they didnt even drive the car. at this point i STILL thought it was an exhaust leak or broken cat. i looked under the car and found that it looks clean as a whistle under there, no sign of soot. oil, or exhaust gas. when the engine is revved (while im under the car) it sounds like its coming from the drivers side cat.


another thing, previous owner had this car for 3000 miles before he sold it to me, and changed the oil at pennzoil with 15-40 diesel grade oil, and they overfilled it (i checked yesterday). it shot a massive cloud of smoke out of the exhaust, then stopped smoking. needless to say, im going to change the oil today. could overfilled oil cause that ticking sound? and can someone give me a few things to check that could be causing this?

if anything, im going to take the exhaust off and look at it just to check it off the list if i cant think of anything better

Plutoe

If it were my car, I think I would add the front wheel bearings to the list.

I would at least pull the front bearing caps and check for proper amount of the correct grease.Good Luck

ohlord

Wheel bearings? Never thought of that. Must be he heard the ticking sound under the car while someone accelerated the car while he was hanging on down there.
Wheel bearing
Better check your WIS.

Dennis316

update on the sound! i went under the car and thoroughly checked for exhaust leaks, and found no evidence of any. i ALSO noticed that at idle and when decelerating there was no sound at all (which i REALLY hope would rule out the valve train) but which also points more to an exhaust leak. i tried hitting the cat with a rubber mallet and its solid. maybe its the air pump? (wild guess) or maybe some kind of purge valve?

i tried listening with the hood open and revving it with the little controller by the fuse box but cant move it fast enough to hear, for example, if i rev smoothly up to any rpm at a slow rate, i wont hear it, only when i really gas it its very evident (which again points to some kind of exhaust leak)

ohlord

sound with the help of a mechanics stethoscope. 5 bucks at harborfreight tools
Not the seconadry air pump it does not vary with revs and comes on at cold start only to help heat the cats quicker.
Purge valve labeled MOT on drivers side behind the abs pump ticks like a little drummer and also most noticed at cold start when it helps check the emissions system.
Get it in a quiet spot and shoot a video from several locations and post the link on youtube. Maybe we can identify the sound.

Dennis316

ill try that today for sure, i tried to film it with my phone but the video turned out crappy and i couldnt hear anything, ill use my nice cam today and try again

Reinout

Did you get your problem solved? I think I have the same sound from my e320 4matic, no idea what it is. My dealer said that it might be a possible exhaust leak or vacuum leakage...

Have you uploaded your sound somewhere so that i can listen to it?
Thanks in advance for the help!

By the way, I'm new on this site (and from Sweden)! Bought my W210 this friday and am very happy with it! Though the sound is a little frustrating...

TSmoke84

did you fix this I'm having the same issue with my E320 I think it's a manifold leak