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2002 330d Vibration from rear of car under acceleration and clunk from rear on bumps.

10K views 27 replies 7 participants last post by  davidkent89 
#1 ·
Hi all.
As above really,
I've done searches and came up with loads of results, but nothing matching these symptoms exactly.

I've a late 2002 330d M Sport 184 Bhp.
Mapped a few years ago, and drives fine (I've not had it all that long).

Its high mileage at 222k, which again doesn't worry me at all.

My problem, is only really noticable in 4th and 5th - It vibrates heavily when accelerating from low revs, from say 1000 to 1500rpm, then seems to disappear.

There's absolutely NO vibration on the gearstick, and as the driver, i can hear the noise but not feel anything, however rear seat passengers definiately notice this - Most rear seat passengers have commented on this.

I'm learning to live with it myself, but seem curious as to what i can be?

The Donut seems fine, both look and feeling for play (Giving it a hard time underneath)
I've renewed the Gear and Diff oils with BMW oils, which made no difference.

There's no clunking in first / reverse suggesting the donut to be fine also, however when going over bumps, there seems to be a clunk / knock from the rear of the car, sounding like the Nearside rear, though could be wrong - Are these likely related?

Anyone had anything similar?

Any advice would be appreciated, be nice to get the car back to its former glory, which i'm sure i will with some time and a little patience.

Thanks
David
 
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#4 ·
Right, okay some good places to start - What exactly am i looking for with all this?

Went to check the Prop bearing and there's so many heat shields in the way.

Had it on a ramp a while ago for alignment and the shocks seemed okay, so i was told - Same applied for rear ARB Bushes.

Diff mounts seem possible, are these relatively simple to spot? and will show movement if no good?

Bit of a BMW n00b i'm afraid.
Thanks
 
#5 ·
inspect diff mounts- easy access, grab hold of the diff and see if there is any excess movement- should be pretty much solid.

grab hold of the Prop and see if that has any movement where it meets the diff and the gearbox, make sure the guibo's ae in good nick
 
#8 ·
Right, in which case i was right on that one - This part is fine then.

Its soaking out so won't be checking the diff mounts now, but basically, i can grab things and man handle them a bit - If there's excessive play, there's a problem - Allbeit not necessarily this problem, a problem none the less?

Subframe mounts, i take it these are bushes as such, are they visible with all the exhaust heat shields and stuff in place?

My main concern is taking them off and them never going back on right and rattling - I'm wondering if they've ever been off at all anyway, usually cars in the past have them taken off and never replaced again - Its done 222k so surely they'd have had to be off before, or are these cars really that good that its all possibly original?
 
#9 ·
most likely the original mounts as you generally dont changes them unless there is a problem.

As for the subframe- get the rear wheels off the ground by the jacking points, not the diff, with the rear wheels hanging, inspect where the subframe bolts to the floor of the car, get a pry bar in at each end and see if there is any movement in the bushes or indeed the frame and floor- early E46's and M3's had a habit of ripping the floor pan out where the frame bolts onto- doubt it on yours though
 
#10 ·
Ripping the floor pan does not sound pretty thats for sure.

Hopefully the weather clears up for the weekend, I've a bike to repair and will do this at the same time!

Thanks for the advice so far, hopefully i can sort the problem reasonably, otherwise i'll be living with it

Cheers
 
#11 ·
Let's try and isolate the vibration, how do you feel it? Through the steering wheel? Or through the seat/whole car shaking? Main culprit for clunking at the rear is the diff bushes, normally the very rear one. Quick test is in 1st with hand brake on bring the clutch on and off sharply, see if it clunks if so it's the diff bush(es) gone. Need to get mine done, got the new bush sat here on my desk, has been for about 2 months lol
 
#12 ·
Only the rear seat passengers notice it, it gives panel rattles in the rear too, as mentioned 4th and 5th at low revs.

I've tried the clutch thing, will try again later, but pretty sure there's no out of the ordinary noises, diff area would make sense, obviously because its rear of the car.

No steering judder, or shake - No gearstick vibration, all feels good up front, maybe a tad more vibratey than normal, but only a very marginal difference, where as the rear of the car seems to vibrate noticably more, as mentioned before, several people have commented on it..

Thanks
 
#13 ·
Also, the clunking I hear is seperate (I think) and is more a 'knock' over bumps, ie a drop link kinda noise on conventional fwd cars, i'm not sure much about the rear setup on these, but seems suspension, unless of course it is related and a subframe bush / mount or similar is to blame, which hopefully we can narrow down to / cancel out various things.

Cheers
 
#14 ·
Could be as simple as rear wheels needing balancing, or exhaust rubbers worn leading to excessive shaking of the rear part of the exhaust system. Doesn't sound that serious if you don't notice it up front.
 
#16 ·
Rear wheels have recently been balanced, along with the fronts.
Full 4 wheel alignment done at the same time, around 2 weeks ago.
None of this made any difference at all.

Exhaust rubbers could be a good shout, not really sure how i can check those, i know the exhaust system doesn't move around much when i try though
 
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