Anyone experienced this noise?
 

My 03 4.6is (53k mi) started making a very brief noise, less that one second during engine starts. It used to be sporadic but now happens everytime I start the engine cold and sometimes hot. The noise sounds similar to what you would get after trying to turn the ignition key with an already running engine. Has anybody had this problem? Any Ideas? Thanks

Not sure if you did a search on this forum...but I had a similar issue with mine. After a diagnosis at the dealer, it turned out to be the starter.

Thanks for your reply, sounds like the same problem, hope it's not very serious and won't get me stranded if I don't take care of it right away. I didnt do a search bc I wasnt sure how to search for this particular problem. If I typed in "noise" or "engine noise", hundreds of different threads would pop up I think.

Agree that it is likely the starter. Just replaced mine on an 02 4.4 at 56K miles after experiencing the the same that you are. I had a strong suspicion that it was a starter and continued to run mine for another thousand miles or so and when the noise stayed on for about a second or two after the start. Not much risk that you'll damage anything or not get started if you do not fix right away. The starter will need to be replaced anyway.

If that is indeed the case, I would worry more about wearing out the "teeth" on the engine side, which I assume would be more difficult to replace than the starter itself. Grinding sound is bad in any situation. Get it fixed ASAP.

thanks, I really appreciate everyones comments, my rear brake light just went out last night so looks like I have to take it in. What is it with BMW's after 50k miles? I think I'm going to lease my next car.

noise starter
 

did u fix that noise starter ? it was the starter?

I'm in the same boat. 2003 88k miles makes the exact same noise you describe. Starter hangs up for about .5-1 sec after start up. Hard to believe a starter could begin to fail with such low miles. bummer bummer

k

03 4.4 with 93K miles. Just had the vacuum hoses on crankcase replaced. It was the hottest day of the summer around 95 degrees farenheit. After replacing these two hoses, it made this noise for about 3 start ups then stopped. A week has gone by and today it was like 90 and it did it a couple of times. She also started making these moaning noises when making turns or going over things like speed bump then stopped. Now we have named her Mona.

On all domestics I have owned, when a starter starts going out it hangs up before it engages. In my case the starter engages right away buts makes this grrring sound for about half a second after it has started, similar to the noise it would make if you tried engaging the starter with the engine running.

Is changing a starter on an X5 an easy thing on like on most domestics?

Thanks in advance.