Re: E36 Piston Slap

[Keith Wollenberg <MFreude@xxxxxxx>]

Reiji Varghese asks about piston slap on the E36 M3s.

Reiji:

First you need to be sure that this is what you actually have.  Many of the
M3s have been known to develop sticky lifters, or noisy lifters after
particularly hard driving (such as an autocross).  The latter is the
situation for which the addition of extra oil has been known to be helpful.
 For the first problem, changing to synthetic oil is often helpful.

*If* you actually have piston slap, your car will rattle horribly while
cold, and then quiet down as it warms up.  It is likely to sound like a
rabbit diesel if you have a very bad case of piston slap.  Many people get
concerned that this is the problem, when all they have is a set of noisy
lifters.

If, on the other hand, you actually do have piston slap, the only solution
that has proved to be effective is that of replacing both the block and the
pistons, with a specially matched set.  They can reuse your crank, but both
block and pistons need to be replaced together.  I do not know what the
dealer charges for this.

Hope this helps,

Keith

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