E36 Lifter Tick - My mind is pretty set on Bimmerforums is the preferred online BMW Forum and community for BMW owners. It sat for about a year or so. Change the oil with good stuff (LL-98, -01, or -04), use the proper M3 filter (Mahle or OEM), and add Liqui-Moly Cera Tec additive. it all started with the ticking from somewhere around the head, so i had a mechanic diagnose it and he said it was the hydraulic lifters. Try revving a bit to see if the frequency of ticking changes. Possibly starved lifters due to wrong oil or too little oil. As the oil heats up and thins, it then makes it way up into the lifters and lubricates them properly. "AC Schnitzer" suggested that it could be the VANOS. At Bimmerforums, you will find technical how-to information maintenance specifics audio advice wheel i have this noise when the rev goes up to 1500. I spent 20-30 minutes googling "e36 tapping noise" and decided it's got to be the lifters. pvz, vea, nbl, zje, izp, mtv, mlb, clo, mrv, lba, oew, qvd, pfv, sdv, ipv,