Wpoll cheers you saved me alot of time ...was gonna argue with starter man to take it off and re install so those 2 tabs become concealed by the metal sump gaurd....your pic i can clearly see the one tab and i guess in the distance other one is in same position too.

Been one hell of a struggle this starter....going back to be given my olr one tomorrow for reference purposes...thanks once again

Ps your underbelly near along its width near the tabs has some sort of wing...have no idea if mine had or not...seems like something that would deflect water down?

__________________
E53 X5 3.0d SUV prod.date 11/2004 eng.variant M57N Europe Right hand drive N