Hi all just a bit of info for you which you may be stumped on or know someone who is.

For years now, my wifes 'S' has made the most horrid ticking noise when starting from cold of say less than 3 degree's C. It always sounded bad but disappeared after the car got upto temperature. I researched it via google etc and it seems that it's a common fault with all sorts of theories etc, but also considered normal, so I put up with it.

It kept getting on me tits so I investigated a bit more and spoke to a local garage about it and he mentioned that he had a BmW 1 in a few months ago with the same problem. It turns out that using non genuine oil filters when you do the oil change is a bad thing as the 3rd party filters don't let enough oil to flow when it's cold and thick (that's a laugh, 0-30 or whatever it is). So he suggested I did an engine flush and replace the oil and filter with genuine parts and see how we get on.

So far, all sorted - spread the word.