[Vinnie Vega]

Hey guys, I have a 2000 328ci in auto. My cars got a terrible vibration that is most prominent on the highway. It sounds like it is coming from the rear of the car and makes the entire car shake. Under hard acceleration the noise goes away completely. Under deceleration it is horrible, and under light acceleration it is less noticeable. I believe this is being caused by the driveshaft center bearing, or guibo. I might just replace both. If anyone could verify this please let me know, and if anyone has access to a good DIY that would also be appreciated, as well as part numbers, thanks.

 

[choxor]

How can we verify when you're the one with the car? Have you climbed under there to inspect the parts in question?

 

[kd7iwp]

What's the mileage on your car? On my E30 I replaced the driveshaft at about 160,000 miles since it was starting to vibrate at certain speeds. I knew that was the problem because I removed the driveshaft and the U-Joints had a sticky spot on them. They should smoothly glide throughout their entire range of motion but mine had got a sticky spot in the center of the range of motion.

 

[Vinnie Vega]

How can we verify when you're the one with the car? Have you climbed under there to inspect the parts in question?

This is a forum dedicated to e46 drivers, someone else has had the same issue and has had to deal with it at some point in time, and to inspect these parts I'm pretty sure I would have to remove the exhaust/ heat shield.

 

[Vinnie Vega]

What's the mileage on your car? On my E30 I replaced the driveshaft at about 160,000 miles since it was starting to vibrate at certain speeds. I knew that was the problem because I removed the driveshaft and the U-Joints had a sticky spot on them. They should smoothly glide throughout their entire range of motion but mine had got a sticky spot in the center of the range of motion.

just under 130,000 miles.

 

[choxor]

This is a forum dedicated to e46 drivers, someone else has had the same issue and has had to deal with it at some point in time, and to inspect these parts I'm pretty sure I would have to remove the exhaust/ heat shield.

Uh yeah, you would. The only thing a forum is good for is finding POSSIBLE solutions. You still have to GO LOOK FOR YOURSELF. Or you could just blindly throw parts at it.

Oh wait, that's what people do here anyway! Does it SOUND like it could be the guibo or center support bearing? Yeah, it does. Can we VERIFY that's what it is? Hell no. Climb under there and check.

 

[trive2]

Dude... relax. A lot of us put the feelers out on the forums before we dig into the car to investigate... Tell you now, doing it that way has saved me countless hours. Maybe "verify" was the wrong word, but no need to have a go at him over it.


I would suggest changing your centre bearing and flex disk whether they're screwed or not. If you do find that they're damaged, you might want to check your driveshaft to make sure it's still balanced and the uni joint is tight. People let the rubbers go so badly that the driveshaft gets damaged and costs a fortune to fix.

And vibrations are a bit hard. There are SOOOOOOO many things that cause the freaking cars to vibrate (amongst other things). In a lot of situations you can source a vibration by feel without actually being able to describe it, so it makes it a bit harder for us to help.

 

[trive2]

Dude... relax. A lot of us put the feelers out on the forums before we dig into the car to investigate... Tell you now, doing it that way has saved me countless hours. Maybe "verify" was the wrong word, but no need to have a go at him over it.


I would suggest changing your centre bearing and flex disk whether they're screwed or not. If you do find that they're damaged, you might want to check your driveshaft to make sure it's still balanced and the uni joint is tight. People let the rubbers go so badly that the driveshaft gets damaged and costs a fortune to fix.

And vibrations are a bit hard. There are SOOOOOOO many things that cause the freaking cars to vibrate (amongst other things). In a lot of situations you can source a vibration by feel without actually being able to describe it, so it makes it a bit harder for us to help.