Unusual (exhaust?) noise (driveshaft noise?)

[TridenTBoy]

Originally Posted by swagon

Find a BMW shop, get the car on the lift and listen to it with a technician.

My manual transmission makes noises, it's kinda like marbles in a can. I can feel it in the shifter, too.

Here's my video. Not saying you have the same issue, but may be something to watch out for.

That sounds terrible. I think mine is more tied to the CSB or Flex Disc or some kind of rubbing. It feels like it makes a noise every time it hits X degrees in a 360 degree rotation.

[TridenTBoy]

So, I got under the car and finally inspected it today. (I moved recently and didn't have access to a driveway)

So, naturally, I get under the car looking for #13 here: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=26_0233


I get under the car, move the heatshield out of the way after unbolting plenty, and finally see that... it's metal. Not rubber like the replacement part I was about to buy here: https://www.bavauto.com/314-152-1312


Uhm, what's going on? Is this supposed to be metal or rubber? From what I understood, it's usually rubber except from some guy who had a 135i in Brazil.

Don't think my car is from Brazil. :/ And it was rather hard to tell if mine was fractured or broken. It didn't seem that way. There was some surface rust on the transmission side connection. The driveshaft side looked fine. I took some pictures but nothing that would be too revealing here. I'll try to post them later.

I wasn't able to rotate the driveshaft because I only have 2 jack stands right now and had only lifted the front.


EDIT: this thread is what I'm referencing: http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=869325

[chris_flies]

My car is making a similar sound, at first I immediately thought wheel bearings, because the car has 166k miles on it! I kept trying to find the noise by spinning the tires by hand, no luck. Then I thought to rotate the wheels front to back, maybe an imbalance was causing it. The noise didn't follow the wheels. My noise seems speed-dependent, becoming louder on acceleration, and softer when coasting. After seeing this thread, I may have found another possible culprit for the noise. Thanks for the help/inspiration.

[TridenTBoy]

View post on imgur.com

Images, for reference of what I saw.

I didn't see anything warranting concern. Of course, I barely saw anything and if I was able to rotate the driveshaft, maybe I would've seen a huge crack or something.

[chris_flies]

Originally Posted by TridenTBoy

View post on imgur.com

Images, for reference of what I saw.

I didn't see anything warranting concern. Of course, I barely saw anything and if I was able to rotate the driveshaft, maybe I would've seen a huge crack or something.

You may be able to put the car in neutral, and use an Oil Filter wrench which uses a rubber strap to spin the driveshaft, or, with the car on jackstands, you could have a friend "drive" the car while you look at the driveshaft spinning. I'll have to start looking into this myself, maybe we have the same problem...two minds are better than one.

[TridenTBoy]

Originally Posted by chris_flies

You may be able to put the car in neutral, and use an Oil Filter wrench which uses a rubber strap to spin the driveshaft, or, with the car on jackstands, you could have a friend "drive" the car while you look at the driveshaft spinning. I'll have to start looking into this myself, maybe we have the same problem...two minds are better than one.

I don't think I could move the driveshaft even if it was in neutral? I think the driveshaft is connected to the differential which is connected to the wheels. If I try to move the driveshaft then the differential moves which then means the wheels move.

That's my understanding, anyway.

I had the car on jackstands at the front. Otherwise, I would've easily just put it in neutral and let it rotate freely. I was doing an oil change around this time.

[TridenTBoy]

I haven't replaced anything yet. I've now inspected the metal flex disc about two times and cannot see visible fractures or anything. I'm about to just order the parts and try to replace it and the bearings anyway. Been driving the car as usual. It's been annoying and all but what can you do.

However, I got under the car and noticed 2 things while it was on: The transmission makes weird sounds. Like sometimes it makes that marbles thundering around sound that I've heard of people having. But it's infrequent and only happened once or twice. The sound is makes very often though is this hissing/whooshing/dial-up-static-white-noise type of sound pretty often. No idea what that's about and if that's normal... doesn't sound good but I don't hear it when I'm driving.

I don't have 4 jack stands right now so I can't drive the car on stands. But, any ideas as to what the issues are?

Again, the wub-wub-wub-wub sound is just normal life now. I would replace the parts if I knew what part was wrong and it was very obvious as to what's wrong. Right now it feels like I'm going to just be throwing money and time at the problem.

In a few minutes, the video should be up here. It's not until about 3-4 minutes in that I get to trying to move the driveshaft. Car is in neutral but parking brake is on. Maybe it should be in park and parking brake? Idk. I'll try it again and see if I can move it with that on too.

It didn't seem like only part of the assembly was moving (like some flexing in the joints) but instead felt like whole assembly was moving. Guessing there was play on the rear wheel end that allows for that even though the wheels are on the ground. (open diff stuff maybe?)

[TridenTBoy]

Found this video and I've been thinking now it's a bad wheel bearing because the flex disc seems fine and this sound sounds soooo similar. I'll jack up the rear as soon as I can. (My living situation means the driveway isn't available for use very often)

[elitesales305]

Originally Posted by TridenTBoy

I've got a 135is, it has the performance exhaust. That said, not sure if that really matters. Over the last 3 months I've noticed an increased frequency of an unusual exhaust (might be something else) noise. It happens when opening the throttle around 1000-2500 rpm. Usually something like being in 6th gear and being near 1500 then flooring it in that gear. You'll hear this weird wubble/wobble/wob-wob-wob-wob/wub-wub-wub noise that increases in frequency as you increase in RPM. But it goes away after 3-4K rpm.

It doesn't sound good and I didn't notice this behavior before. Any ideas what could be causing it? Weird exhaust leak maybe? Really only happens when moving and accelerating at low rpm.

The noise just doesn't sound proper and I thought it was a bad hub or something but it seems unrelated to car speed and seems more tied to engine rpm. It sounds like the car is running less than optimal. Thoughts?

EDIT: This happens even at 10% throttle. I tested it again and it does.
EDIT2: After driving again tonight... It feels more driveshaft or rear end related. It feels similar to a driveshaft wobble like someone below commented. Seems less related to RPM than I thought and more to drive speed.

Video:

DUDE.. UR CARS FINE.. U GOT THE ALZHEIMERS (HAND SHAKE)
ANYONE?? MEH POOR ATTEMPT AT HUMOR.. ESTEBAN MIGHT LAUGH...

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by elitesales305

DUDE.. UR CARS FINE.. U GOT THE ALZHEIMERS (HAND SHAKE)
ANYONE?? MEH POOR ATTEMPT AT HUMOR.. ESTEBAN MIGHT LAUGH...

I think you mean Parkinson's disease, not Alzheimer's disease.

And as far as the humor goes...

[elitesales305]

Originally Posted by Esteban

I think you mean Parkinson's disease, not Alzheimer's disease.

And as far as the humor goes...

fuck... ur right, as always

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by elitesales305

fuck... ur right, as always

Ha! When you got it, flaunt it!

[TridenTBoy]

Guess I'll update this.

I had the flex disc, the center support bearing, and the guide bushing replaced about a month ago. It reduced the symptoms.

However, I still feel some weird vibration here and there. Thinking is that it's probably the exhaust or just random wheel related stuff. Although, you really can't know with these things.

I've been thinking of driving with a gopro under the car to check if it's the exhaust. To watch and see if starts vibrating around or if it's non sense.

At this point, I'm just frustrated. I feel like I might be looking for issues where there "isn't one" and it's just "the way the car is". I'd have to drive another 135i/135is to really know.

[Bimmer TV]

Originally Posted by TridenTBoy

Guess I'll update this.

I had the flex disc, the center support bearing, and the guide bushing replaced about a month ago. It reduced the symptoms.

However, I still feel some weird vibration here and there. Thinking is that it's probably the exhaust or just random wheel related stuff. Although, you really can't know with these things.

I've been thinking of driving with a gopro under the car to check if it's the exhaust. To watch and see if starts vibrating around or if it's non sense.

At this point, I'm just frustrated. I feel like I might be looking for issues where there "isn't one" and it's just "the way the car is". I'd have to drive another 135i/135is to really know.

When I purchased my car it had a strange rattle coming from the same area. Ended up being a very loose driveshaft bearing. I believe that is what it's called. The driveshaft actually goes through it and there are 2 or 4 bolts holding it in. The bolts actually fell out when we took the cover off exposing it. Sounds like maybe you've already replaced that but I figured I'd mention it.