Strange noise on cold start

[AntennaMan]

Hi everyone

I hope someone can point me in the right direction.

My 2011 K13 Nissan Micra dCi is making a strange, grinding sound during cold starts. If the engine is hot and I switch off and back on, I can't hear it.

My initial thoughts were that my oil level was a bit low when the engine was standing for a couple of hours and that it first needs to circulate, but I checked and the levels are fine. The oil is a bit dirty, but as I'm fast approaching the 150 000km service, that is to be expected.

A bit of Googling shows that it might be related to the starter motor not disengaging, either due to bearing failure, or broken gears on the starter motor.

Here is a Dropbox link to the audio: Car start.mp3

For the life of me I couldn't attach the audio file to the post.

The sound I'm talking of can be heard around the 3-4 second mark.

Any thoughts/advice will be appreciated.

 

[ArmatageShanks]

I would agree that sounds like the starter not disengaging

Maybe take it to a mechanic get his opinion, and if need be have it removed and inspected.

If its the starter's mechanism to the flywheel it will eventually break into itty bitty little pieces, which has a chance of being very bad.