noise

[stan]

Just bought a 98 740il with 20000 miles. every time we start it up it sounds like something hitting a fan, anyone have any idea what it could be, can't see anything.

 

[Kirby]

Some bimmers have TWO fans - a mechanical fan behind the radiator and an electric auxillary fan in front of the radiator. Check both places.

 

[andreyiv]

You can also try turning every fan you see manually and see if anything is hitting it with the engine off of course and it wouldn't hurt taking the key out of the ignition. Check for the fan hitting the expansion tank (on mine it was a problem), you could try slightly moving the expansion tank by the cap while the engine fan is moving. Be very careful though.

Good luck, sorry I couldn't really pin point at anything.