Clicking/Clunking from passenger side.

[AndyP]

Hi,

We picked our X5 3.0D up on Wednesday and we noticed immediately there was a fairly loud clicking/clunking sound coming from underneath the car on the passenger (that's the left of the car if you were sitting in it). It is fairly loud and you can hear it when you are inside the car or outside. If we turn our air fan off completely, it stops. It also stops anyway after about 30 mins.

We spoke to our dealer about it and they haven't sold many 3.0D's so they don't know what it is but they are "looking into it."

I think it is coming from the auxiliary heating system. But it seems far too loud to me. I just can't see BMW shipping out luxury cars with this incredibly annoying sound for the first 30 mins of driving.

Anyone got any suggestions.....

AndyP

[Will]

Hi Andy, you are right about your assumptions, the clicking noise comes from the auxilery heater located under left door. I too had my concerns when i picked up my X5 3.0 D.

[AndyP]

Originally Posted by Will

Hi Andy, you are right about your assumptions, the clicking noise comes from the auxilery heater located under left door. I too had my concerns when i picked up my X5 3.0 D.

Thanks for the input Will.

Did you consult your dealer about it? Is it a fault or a "feature" read: something to put up with even if it p*sses you off?

Andy

[SimonH]

Hi Andy,
I had exactly the same thing start last week when the weather turned very cold.I had it back to the dealers,and it turns out it is the diesel fuel pre-heater that is clicking/ticking.This heats the fuel on cold mornings to aid starting and enables the cabin to warm up quicker as well.It also runs the auxillary heater system as well if it is fitted.You will have had a remote control to use if your vehicle has this fitted.I think a lot of people will be caught out by this noise,as,like you,i was quite horrified at the sound emminating from the passenger side front area.The dealers couldnt answer my questions right away,but as soon as i booked it in,they said,"Oh Yeah", its the diesel fuel pre heater.It should point this out in the manual as well,but i cant find anything in the manual about the operational clicking noise.So there is nothing to worry about,its supposed to do it,and it is temperature activated as well,hope this helps,regards, SIMON.

[AndyP]

Originally Posted by SimonH

Hi Andy,
I had exactly the same thing start last week when the weather turned very cold.I had it back to the dealers,and it turns out it is the diesel fuel pre-heater that is clicking/ticking.This heats the fuel on cold mornings to aid starting and enables the cabin to warm up quicker as well.It also runs the auxillary heater system as well if it is fitted.You will have had a remote control to use if your vehicle has this fitted.I think a lot of people will be caught out by this noise,as,like you,i was quite horrified at the sound emminating from the passenger side front area.The dealers couldnt answer my questions right away,but as soon as i booked it in,they said,"Oh Yeah", its the diesel fuel pre heater.It should point this out in the manual as well,but i cant find anything in the manual about the operational clicking noise.So there is nothing to worry about,its supposed to do it,and it is temperature activated as well,hope this helps,regards, SIMON.

HI Simon,

Yeah. That's what I eventually got out of my dealer also. However, they have ordered parts to fit to the car because they have had trouble with some cars with this clicking. Whether the parts will stop the clicking or not remains to be seen. Personally, I doubt it will.

I understand the reason behind the clicking now (I think it is the fumes "clicking out" of the auxiliary heater exhaust), but I still think it is a bad design flaw. It's very loud for a good 20 or 30 mins after starting the car. Not the sort of thing you expect from BMW.

Once I have the parts fitted, I'll post here again to say how it went and what effect they have had.

Cheers for the info.

Andrew

[SimonH]

Andy,
I agree that the noise is quite loud for a BMW.This is why i took it back to the dealer.In theory it should not make this noise when the temperature is mild or upwards,so hopefully we should not hear it for much of the year?.I would appreciate it if you could keep me informed of how you get on with the replacement parts from your dealer.I think that the problem with the BMW X5 is that it is so good, that when you get any problem at all it really stands out.I have an intermittant creaking from the panoramic sunroof that is driving me crazy at the moment.Ive lubricated everything i can find around the area but to no avail.The dealer says come in and demonstrate the fault,which i will do,but i know he is going to think,"oh no,weve got a nutter here",which i will find embarrassing,so i am trying to fix it myself.Anyway enjoy the car,as we are certainly doing even with a couple of teething problems,egards, SIMON.

[SimonH]

Andy,
A little more information here.The outside temp gauge read+7 degrees this morning,and it didnt click/tick which must mean that the automatic operation must stop between +3 - +7, because it did it yesterday at +3degrees,regards, SIMON.

[X5 Sport]

Mine does this too but as you said only when really cold I forgot it did this as weather has been mild up until last week you can check it is your pre heater by turning of the heating and the noise goes away.

[AndyP]

Cheers for the info guys. Our X5 didn't even move today. Roads were dry so we took the mini . So I don't know if it would have clicked or not. I suspect it would have, because it was +2.5 most of the day with a wind chill factor of -20,000

Spoke to our dealer today and the parts are on back order. Stuck in Germany apparently.

[X5 Sport]

yep i picked my car up tonight and it made that clicking noise really loud. I guess you forget how loud it is through the summer months