[solved] '96 328i - Rattling noise : starter, flywheel, engine?...

Hi guys,

First of all, let me say that I am a very new owner of a BMW and pleased to join the Bimmerfest community.

My post today concerns a noise that appeared 2 days ago (at cold) during ignition and is still present since then.

To quickly sum up :
- the car is an automatic, 96 328i convertible.
- the previous major problem was over-heating & a mixture oil/water because of the head gasket failure - the dealership told me it was fixed before I bought it
- the car runs (I drove it from work to the mechanics to home, it's about 30 minutes) but makes a hell lot of noise.
- the noise grows weak if I accelerate but it's quite loud when idling

I posted some videos on Youtube:

today


1rst day the problem appeared



A quick search in the forum brought me up to this post http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=589065, looks like the noise is kinda similar.

I'm kinda stuck right now. What do you think?
Thanks

Before clicking the link to the thread I was about to ask if the starter was disengaging fully. It's that or the worst VANOS racket I've ever heard.

that is one HELL of a racket. I don't want to say VANOS, because I think if it were that bad it would cause some sort of hindrance to the cams. Now if thats something to do with the starter I don't see how the dang thing still even works. I had a catastrophic starter failure a couple of months ago and the starter just kept spinning until the pieces inside grenaded and it never turned again. The engine appears to rev smoothly? So I wouldn't be quick to say that its a rod knock, or some such failure, but i've heard that noise on other cars and it was no bueno.
For you I'd say try to see if you can get access to the inspection cover on the bellhousing of the transmission and see if something is being flung around in there.Then if that checks out I suppose then you could start looking into VANOS problems, though I doubt it's the vanos.

Wow, that is horrific sounding! Sounds too high pitched for knocking rod. Have you checked to see if you haven't got a spark plug that's backed out or blown out? That, or timing chain tensioner is gone and the timing chain is hitting the housing?
I can't claim to have heard many engines with bad vanos, but it's hard to believe that's a vanos issue sounding like that.

It does not sound like VANOS. Where specifically is the noise coming from?

The middle video (1/4) with the "chuffing" sound reminds me of a backed out spark plug. Either that, or stuck intake lifters/valves with combustion pulses in the intake manifold.

Hi guys !

Thanks for all your leads, I'll go later today to get the problem diagnose at Shell (the guy from where I bought the car is in leave till July, 19th...).

I'll give them your opinions.

Kdoherty: yes, I don't understand neither how the starter still does the job... Seems like the engine revs smoothly.

dc_wrigh, ZeGerman: I don't think it is the timing chain tensioner, the engine revs smoothly and the noise come from the right back side of the engine.

granlund: I definetly hope it is not something to do with the vales/intake manifold

So if it's an engine problem, I'll have to wait 3 weeks for the guy to come back from holidays (it sold me the car with an engine warranty of 30 days). What do you think is best while is leave, should I send him a registered mail to take date of the problem?

Originally Posted by ali.allo

So if it's an engine problem, I'll have to wait 3 weeks for the guy to come back from holidays (it sold me the car with an engine warranty of 30 days). What do you think is best while is leave, should I send him a registered mail to take date of the problem?

Yes. You need to legally document when the problem started. He won't be back until the warranty is expired or just a couple days before then.

In the mean time, try using an "automotive stethoscope" - i.e. a wooden stick placed against the suspected area of noise generation and your ear. You can pinpoint the location remarkably well with that method.

Yes, hornhospital, I'll definitely do that tomorrow even if the problem is not found by the local shop I gave the car, just in case of.

granlund, your idea is genius, I'll try it as well if they can't diagnose the problem!

Problem solved, it was effectively the starter who wasn't going back all the way down. Thanks for your help!

Originally Posted by ali.allo

Problem solved, it was effectively the starter who wasn't going back all the way down. Thanks for your help!

Its great that its fixed. When I watched the video and heard the car start, It sounded so bad it sent a chill down my spine..