most likely injectors. use a long screw driver to find the noise.

 

Tired it a few times. Narrowed it down to the area under the oil filter housing/above thermostat near vanos unit.

Could you go into detail about the injectors? What would cause them to tick?

Btw I have No codes.

 

injectors are solenoids, overtime they get noisy.
just use a screw driver touch the fuel rail, you will hear the ticking vibration.

 

do the vanos, is time to do them

 

Do the vanos seals regardless. Get the seals and the rattle kit

 

unplug DISA valve and check if the noise goes away

 

Reviving this thread because I might be experiencing similar issue.

The loud ticking sound only happens once a while. While I was trying to pinpoint the source of the noise, it actually just suddenly stopped . That lead me to believe it is related to a tunable parameter controlled by the computer. It is not the secondary pump because the car had been running for a few minutes at that time but not long enough to reach 96F.

Questions: When the engine goes from open loop to closed loop, do VANOS pistons move accordingly? What exactly happens when engine goes from open loop to closed loop?

 

The transition is for emissions purposes only. In open the loop the engine computer (DME) doesn’t use the data from the pre-cat oxygen sensors to determine the fuel/air mixture. Instead, it uses a preset overly rich fuel/air mixture to get the cats up to temperature quickly. It also runs the SAP to send extra air into the cats to burn off any excess fuel. The transition to closed loop occurs at a specific engine coolant temperature. That temperature sensor is located in the cylinder head between cylinders 5 and 6. During the open loop mode the other DME functions such as the VANOS operate though the DME May operate them at a more conservative level. Hey, the car and the DME were designed by Germans!

 

Thanks for the explanation on open-closed loop.

Does SAP run continuously during open loop? If that's the case, the coolant temperature will determine how long SAP is turned on. I have seen contrary statement saying SAP is on for 90 seconds.

About the loud ticking sound I hear, there are at three possibilities (or more).
1. Noisy SAP
2. Valve noise at a particular timing setting controlled by VANOS
3. Ticking fuel injectors.

The noise is louder on the passenger side. That makes fuel injectors an unlikely suspect.

I have recently rebuilt my VANOS will a full kit. VANOS rattle is probably not it since everything should be pretty tight. Could still be a lazy VANOS or weak solenoid though. There is no error code.

 

I had a ticking noise once and rebuilt my vanos. It did not change the ticking. I happen to stumble onto the bad water pump. The shaft was loose causing the noise.

 

The ticking noise I have goes away after the car warms up. Water pump, belts and pulleys are new. The DME god is doing the trick.

 

The SAP will run until the coolant temperature reaches a specific temperature. At that point the DME transitions to the closed loop mode.

 

The ticking noise might be my SAP then. Mine is a newer model with a MAF attached to it. Since the car has not throws a code yet, the pump should still be working but just noisy.