Hi,

My X5 makes a strange noise when started in the mornings (or generally when cold) and Ive recorded two videos of it.

First vid is starting only and small amount of reving the engine (Im never keen reving an engine from cold so its only up to around 2000rpm)

The second vid was taken after the first and is the car being started and reversed out of my driveway to turn.

Although not apparent in these videos Ive noticed that sometimes when starting from cold the car does not like to rev above 2000 and appears to want to stall out. After a minute approx its perfect.

2001 X5 4.4i (e53) being started from cold and taken to 2000rpm - YouTube

2001 X5 4.4i (e53) being started from cold and reversed out of driveway (NO VIDEO) - YouTube

A bit of history on the car. Its low miles at 53000, 2001, in the last year been driven 7000miles. Only probelm in its history I know of similar to this was the EML on last year that was switched of by a specialist Indie who also re-mapped it to ensure it was ok as the car previously had been sitting up for a while not having been driven due to family circumstances.

Is the noise I hear something simple like a squeky pulley prehaps or the start of something more serious such as Vanos etc.

Ive looked on a few posts and see different faults causing startiing noises such as Vanos, bad hoses, needing re-tune, CCV, coil packs.

I was going to check hoses etc later today but thought it a good idea in the meantime to put it out there for others views.

Im handy with a car but have no experience on these engines so any advice appreciated.

The car currently belongs to a friend of mine and Im considering purchasing it from him. I know its not a good idea to buy from friends sometimes but this is why I have a loan of it so I can make sure Im 100% with things before buying and have had it for a week now. The symptons above have been there for around a year now but they always put it down to being a big engine needing time to "settle" first thing and get oil up round etc. It has got no worse or better in that time. A few times in very cold weather the EML light flicked on and off also but it had not been on again now in the past 7 months.

Any advice appreciated.