Calgary545sport

I have an 04 545 and i am curious if anyone else notices some engine chatter during first start up for the day? Once the car is warmed up it goes away and i do not notice again during additional start ups that same day. I have a few thoughts on this but wonder if anyone else has this same issue. It sort of sounds like lifter chatter like you would find on an old pushrod V8 such as a chev smallblock etc when the oil hasn't quite made it up to the lifter valley yet. My other thought was that the pistons are forged(assuming)and as the engine cools overnight the pistons shrink ever so slightly, once start up comes in the AM they make a bit of noise untill the heat swells them up once again. It does seem that once the engine is warm it all goes away. Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

bardel

Im still a noob to 5ers so don't shoot me down if this isn't a sensible suggestion, but have you checked the oil level? Car's with hydraulic tappets (don't know if this applies to 5ers?) can suffer a chatter when left stood overnight with low oil levels?

Regards

Barry

Calgary545sport

Thanks...but i checked the obvious first; the oil level is fine. I do agree with you though as low oil was my first thought.

bardel

I figured you would have, but unfortunately I couldn't offer anything more useful than that!

EBMCS03

Did you read this thread?

http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=...vetronic+levers

Hopefully its nothing but some early 545s had valvetronic levers that were out of tolerance and need replacement. Yours might fall into the category. I know my car does but its not loud enough where I want them to take apart half my engine to replace the levers just yet.

see post #2 here http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=...mp;#entry420557

my2007

I have a two month old 523i and I have had experienced this bad engine tapping noise once (hopefully this will be the only time). Engine was not cold at all when this happened, in fact the temp in the basement car park was actually very high when it happened. Sounded like some valve tapping noise to me. Switched off the engine and restarted it a short while later and the same tapping noise was there. Drove the car home (abt 10km) and when I got home I could only hear faint tapping noise. That noise disappeared completely the next day. Called the SA and they could not offer any answer except that to bring the car in the next time it happens again. To me, I think it could be either the oil is not getting to the parts or one of the valve tappets or some parts there is stuck. No faults was reported by the i-drive
system.

GSXR_Drew

I have an 07 550i sport that does the same thing. Dealer says everything is normal...I claim BS....Ifound a simple fix though. Put the transmisison in sport mode during that early morning start up...and voila, the noise goes away. I dont know why, but it works. Once the car is warmed up, I put it into normal mode.


Try it and let us know if it works.

gwf545

I've had my '05 545 looked at twice for ticking/chatter and both times they said it is normal. It's exactly as you describe it and it really does sound like noisey lifters on Chevy V8. I wasn't really concerned about it, but I did want it on the warranty service record in case something horrendous (piston slap) was discovered after I got off warranty. At least then I'd have a bit of chance that BMW might still cover any related repair. My theorey is that since it's an aluminum block and heads, when it's cold, there is slop in the valve train. It's far less noticeable in summer and goes away pretty fast even in winter when it's had a good cold soak. In any case, if you are still under warranty, I'd have the dealer check it out just to get it on record that you suspect something is amiss. Also, after one of my software upgrades, I'd swear that the ticking was reduced. I don't think that there was ever a service bulletin for that though. If you are not running the latest version, you might want to find some reason to get them to update yours.

jay545i

I had a similar issue with my 04 545.... Check the SIB below which was provided by "billeul" to me.


The SIB concerning the rattling or ticking AC compressor is SIB 641406.
It does apply to your car. You can view it at the address bellow.

http://www.bmwtis.com/tsb/bulletins/...p/B641406g.htm


Hope this helps you out.