Well this is a new sound to me. 
From the front of the engine, when I start up I hear a 'tap..tap..tap..tap..tap..tap..tap..tap..tap' sound, that when rev'd up seems to go a lot quieter. 
Is this something to worry about?
Is this something easy/ish to fix?
Any advice welcome.....

If it's a new sound then probably worth worrying about. Others may have ideas but for me I'd need to hear it.

Just line up in this thread and someone will be here soon.

Goosen wrote:Well this is a new sound to me. 
From the front of the engine, when I start up I hear a 'tap..tap..tap..tap..tap..tap..tap..tap..tap' sound, that when rev'd up seems to go a lot quieter. 
Is this something to worry about?
Is this something easy/ish to fix?
Any advice welcome.....

Often a quiet 'tap, tap' sound can simply be the injectors clicking to the beat of the electrical current dance they're subject to. Of course, if it's more mechanical sounding, place a large screwdriver, pointy bit to engine, then place your earhole tight up to the handle end, and give it a good probe and listen round where you think the noise is coming from. This is a poor man's stethoscope and ideal for locating the source of errant engine sounds.

I have that on an old K and turns out to be the timing chain loose and is slapping against the front edge of L/H cam cover as I can see a groove developing in it. Time for a rebuild up front methinks. Hope this is not your problem but at least easy to get to.

Mine does that too (the RT, not the RS).

Goes away after a time, so as mentioned previously, new cam chain and stuff will be needed soon.

Do a search as the cam chain issue has raised its ugly head here a few times.

blaKey wrote:Do a search as the cam chain issue has raised its ugly head here a few times.

Yep . .  When I went to restore my engine @ 110ks the parts guy at the dealership here, 25 years of experience in BMW parts sales told me I was the first person ever to ask for a new timing chaion and the first one he had ever sold. Seems its not the chain that gives any sort of trouble. I might be wrong but I suspect it is something else making that noise

I recall talk of the tensioner mechanism getting stuck/gummed up, should be here somewhere.

Similar noises. Replaced the chain, chain guides and tensioner. Fixed my noises, but as TWB says, stethoscoping the engine to try and pinpoint the source is a v.worthwhile first step. Sources travel!



Measured "bend" in the chain. 45mm. Its a measure of the "slop" in the links.



One of the chain guides

Cheers, Rickmeister.