The Startup Clunk
 

I researched a lot about the startup kick, clunk, jolt, knock, etc... that I hear/feel 1 second after starting up. But i couldn't know what was the conclusion. here are the speculated reasons:

1- Software issue
2- Starter
3- Low/old transmission oil
4- The nature of the beast
5- Drive shaft
6- A midget with a sledge hammer hidden somewhere
7- None of the above

Can anyone advise what this clunk is? It stresses you out each time you start the car, dreading the jolt...

How many miles on the x5?
Have you ever serviced the transmission?
Do have any oil leaks? If so what.is directly above the drip spot.
Where does clunk come from ... front .. middle or.rear of.x5?

it has 112K, i bought it a month ago, so i don't know much about it. there are no oil drips whatsoever and drives smooth. on very low speed however, when i gently press the gas pedal and release it you can feel that it is somehow rough, i mean not kicking or anything, but you just feel that something is pushing you and releasing you (maybe it's normal?)

i'm just new to the car... so trying to figure out what is normal what is not. thanks

So now you aren't saying a clunk a noise after a second but something else? I just.bought mine a month ago and was driving on a road up hill some miles then down hill. As the x5 began downhill It didn't.seem to roll as.freely.as.I expected .... what.I think maybe is.the alternator engaged and was slowing it.

Oh, i was just talking about something else. yes i do have the startup clunk, which is why i opened the thread, but then I remembered about the roughness as well :) sorry for the confusion.

Anyway, I think those cars are not so known for their smoothness... they are not Honda's after all :)

So you just press start, the engine starts, and you count 1-thousand-1 and clunk?

need to isolate where the clunk after 1 second is coming from. any ideas?

My thinking is it is perhaps related to transmission? Alternator?

FYI, the gasket on the transmission-pan-filter was leaking on mine, and it was clear
in it's 107k miles this had never been replaced-serviced. Thankfully no metal in the fluid but fluid was very brown and I bet the filter full and I would say people should service the trans every 50k. IF you can find a GOOD service person and you are very
careful to use the right fluid I would advise this. I would be good to see no metal in
the fluid.

Also as far a engine running, the engine should run smooth, it is possible your spark plugs are very bad.

It took 4liters of zf fluids to change what was in the pan-filter leaving maybe 5 liters in
the rest of trans which could not be accessed-changed. Changing all the fluid at once would be risky anyway as it could cause the trans to loosen a clot and in essence have a stroke! The oem fluids is very expensive I paid $22 a liter at rmeuropean.com and bmw gets $60? I found a online transmission technical doc that indicated the ford mercon sp type atf was the same, I will get a bottle of mercon-sp for $8 and find out before I again change 4liters at maybe 25,000 more miles.

Exercising my BMW DIY skills.
 

as far as the engine running smooth it should.
the spark plugs might be marginal?
I had a 97 m3 with spark plugs at the end of there rated life of 80k I replace them and mileage increased 2 miles/gallon.

The bmw service records I have for my x5 says bmw replaced them at about 40k, which seemed early to me. Anyone know? So the ones in my x5 now have 67k, they should be ok, but I will pull one of these and consider replacing them in the next months.

More pressing is replacing what I suspect is a small drip from the engine oil cooler gasket. The gasket is no cost at $5 but I hear It will take 3 hours of labor, I will prepare steps-tools to do that work carefully in the next month or so.

I think of the x5 as like a plane, I have told my wonderful wife we will call it "the plane". One needs to inspect and service-repair the plane so it doesn't fall out of the sky. It is a joy to fly, and my wife loves sitting high and the power! Perhaps I have created a monster? The x5 isn't her simpler and more reliable Toyota Rav4, my challenge is to service and work on it so "she" will think it is better than her Rav4 in every way! Kisses of course are my reward :-)

:)
well i'm not a heavy driver, i barely put 5K per year, so i hope it will hold up together until it hits 150K (time to be sold) so i won't mess with the transmission for the time being.
the spark plugs were replaced upon purchase.
Well yeah, the problem with oil leaks is the labor... the seals are peanuts, but to reach them is a PITA... i replaced the oil pan gasket, it was a 15USD part, but 6 hours of labor!

Don't worry, the wifey will love the X5 no matter what... it's one hell of a cigar lounge running tall and hovering over the other cars with supremacy and prowess ;)

by the way, my wife had a rav4 as well, now got the MB C300 (w204) 2009... cute car overall, smooth and classy.... bouncy a bit on the sport suspension... bah, it's not a BMW!

Beirut? In what.country?

The BG Squad in Beirut, Lebanon was found by Bachir Gemayel in about 1970 and named by its members.

Every time I hear about transmission issues in the middle east, I envision Youtube videos of carnage....

Interesting ... I am a Christian sounds like

Gemayel was one too. Too bad the anti-Christians got him.

Oh well... yes indeed, the "B.G Squad" was a military unit named after Bachir Gemayel, the head of the "Lebanese Forces"(christian Militia) and president-elec of Lebanon in 1982, just before his assassination.

I used this nickname like 15 years ago when I was participating in online political forums, and I kept it as my alias for all kind of online identities later :)

In reply to ard, Lebanon is schizophrenic or split personality... so yes, you can see sometimes somewhere some barbarians doing some crazy stuff for some stupid reason, but this is mostly what Beirut is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psi7uLK6X6k

Fyi in 2Peter of the bible Peter he says ... if you remember one thing remember this the Lord is not.slow.to.come ... a thousand years is but a day to the Lord. Now read Hosea chapter 6 and you will find like this ... for their sin against me I will go back to my place after 2 days in their misery they will seek me and admit their sin and I will.come back and live with them for a day. He left about 1980 to 1990 years ago. So the anti-Christian forces seek to kill them so they can't admit their sin. They are the nation of Israel. So the times are coming.

Now look where this bloody startup clunk took us!

back to the clunk
 

so where in the car is the clunk?

Front (underhood)

Middle (transmission?)

Rear (rear differential)

I fear for your transmission. I saw the brown fluid out of my 2007 with 107,000 .... it really needed changing, What I think really needed changing was the filter and that is part of the plastic pan. Not hard to do, but a job to clearfully do with the right (expensive) fluid.

With the X5 level, I could only drain like 4liters of 10 in the trans so I replaced 40% of the fluid. My plan now is to replace that 40% every year (as I like drive about 6000 miles on that car a year) ... til I see it run cleaner and replace the pan-filter somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 miles.

FYI my biggest prayer:yawn: for the x5 is that it's transmission does not fail on me.

Isn't it the fear of every X5 owner?

I was not able to locate the clunk so far... will ask the mechanic next time i go for an oil change.

By the way, i noticed that when i park, if i put it in neutral, engage the parking brake, wait for few seconds, turn it off, keep your foot on the brake, wait for P to engage and wait until you feel a little kick in the brake pedal, then the clunk will not appear the next time you start up... still investigating it though!

Planning use the x5 today to tow our little ski boat today hope no bad surprises. Will consider your clunk. Cheers