132 BMW 316d noise on first startup

yamaha4life

hey guys,

i just got a 132 reg f30 316d and i noticed that on the first startup of the day it makes a sort of metallic rattle for about 10 seconds after this its fine until over night. it has 250km on the clock.

is this normal? should i worry about the timing chain ive no idea if its been done but i dont think it has been. it has a part main dealer service history and the last two have been at small indys its next due in 5k miles.

ive read that the wastegate/egr can make this sort of noise but i dont really know.

hoping any 316d owners on here might shed a bit of light on it.

Stallingrad

Could be something else but the finger would certainly point at the timing chain, only way to be sure is to get it checked out. It's a pity you didn't keep a BMW service history as you would almost certainly get it repaired under goodwill.

N47 = Main dealer routine servicing, which is cheap enough (Indy for brakes, pads, etc)

yamaha4life

Stallingrad wrote: »

It's a pity you didn't keep a BMW service history as you would almost certainly get it repaired under goodwill.

N47 = Main dealer routine servicing, which is cheap enough (Indy for brakes, pads, etc)

sorry i ment i just got it lol thanks for the info ill have to get it checked out i guess, i though chain would rattle constantly if it was going? when was the chain issues resolved?

Stallingrad

yamaha4life wrote: »

sorry i ment i just got it lol thanks for the info ill have to get it checked out i guess, i though chain would rattle constantly if it was going? when was the chain issues resolved?

Intermittent start up rattle has been known to be a precursor to failure, but it could be something else too. Issue is with the N47, despite various enhancements it was never truly eradicated. Extended service intervals seem to be the main problem, the advise is to ignore them and do interim oil changes.

fancy pigeon

I'm leaning to the chain myself. Same happened to me with a Bipper van. Rattle on startup developed and one day it gave up completely when I was approaching a toll bridge. I rebuilt it's engine afterwards



250k kms... Hows the service history? As in, how often was the oil left between servicing?



A lot of these cars were sent to fleet users with long service intervals. These intervals were way too long for the oil to do its job properly

yamaha4life

it was serviced ever 20k miles by dealer until 112,000 then two indys, and then me today oil was nasty enough probly should have flushed it.

im thinking the chain myself, i wouldnt mind getting it done if it was 1k all in but if like a specialist to do it.

there is also a headlight fault on the dash otherwise its fairly straight and honest

DuckSlice

yamaha4life wrote: »

it was serviced ever 20k miles by dealer until 112,000 then two indys, and then me today oil was nasty enough probly should have flushed it.

I'm thinking the chain myself, i wouldn't mind getting it done if it was 1k all in but if like a specialist to do it.

there is also a headlight fault on the dash otherwise its fairly straight and honest

That's way to long for an oil service. Max i let mine go to is 15k, the interval is 18/20K according to BMW. I have the N57 which is the same engine except 6 cyl.
I observed the same noises you did and it was the chain, would be bad on startup but when warmed up you wouldn't know.
Does the car idle ok when started up? mine was struggling to stay going it was that bad in the end.

yamaha4life

yeah i know 10-12k miles more thank enough between oil changes. the noise isnt horrendous but its would concern me even if it only does it on the first start or after sitting for few hours.

the engine doesnt struggle or miss and is buttery smooth hot or cold. its just that initial start up noise. my e46 318ci had similar noise and it was just the chain tensioner real easy 5 minute swap.

where would one find an indy bmw specialist in the southeast im based in waterford county.

yamaha4life

Didnt want to start a new thread for this but anyway, i did a load of research on the matter and i bought the newest tensioner available, the two previous ones are superceeded.

from what ive read the first tensioner was too short and had weak spring.

second tensioner was longer but was prone to failure/losing tension while car was off.

third tensioner is suppose to have better quality spring and not suffer the loss of tension after the car is switched off.

my car has been off the road nearly two months for body work repairs, the car is almost finished and the repairer rang me and asked if id come down and fit the new tensioner as the chain noise worried him as he wanted to drive the car somewhere for an inspection / wheel alignment and didnt want it to pack up on him!

so i borrowed a car brought my trusty torque spanner and tools and fitted the new tensioner.

sounded like a bag of nails for a couple of seconds and then quiet as a mouse assuming oil pressure built up and took the slack out.

i asked him thursday to let me know friday if it rattled again on first start-up and he didnt text me so i texted him saturday to get no reply! was a bit worried then and today at lunch time i got a message saying he didnt get around to starting it until today and it was perfect quiet no rattle on start-up so wasnt started since thursday.

my main thing here is have i just bought myself a bit of time here or should i not worry about it unless it starts to rattle again? before i forget the old tensioner came out in two halves so it was definetly shagged.