Bought an old BMW M3, filled with regret...

Let us know how you get on!

In the meantime, tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn I'm dropping the car off to for its first Inspection 1 under my ownership. I've also come up empty handed at finding out the cause of the vibration at 40mph. Two different wheel specialists have checked each wheel and visually inspected suspension components without spotting anything off. All 4 wheels have been re-balanced too, and I don't think it's an issue to do with the wheels anyway.

The vibration resonates at 40mph and gets more obvious at 50-60. At 70-80 it levels out and becomes normal.

With this in mind I believe it's likely the drive shaft/flex disc. A bunch of youtube videos showing worn flex discs needing replacement at around the 70k mileage mark and the mechanic being able to rattle the drive shaft with his hand. This could be the issue I'm hearing as it's definitely a vibration coming from the centre rear of the car.

Inspection 1 checklist is long as it is, but I'll get him to specifically check this area and also the diff mounts/subframe bushes.

Wet sand is booked in after the above is done. It's gonna be a busy couple of weeks for the old motor :cool:
 
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mrk said:
Let us know how you get on!

In the meantime, tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn I'm dropping the car off to for its first Inspection 1 under my ownership. I've also come up empty handed at finding out the cause of the vibration at 40mph. Two different wheel specialists have checked each wheel and visually inspected suspension components without spotting anything off. All 4 wheels have been re-balanced too, and I don't think it's an issue to do with the wheels anyway.

The vibration resonates at 40mph and gets more obvious at 50-60. At 70-80 it levels out and becomes normal.

With this in mind I believe it's likely the drive shaft/flex disc. A bunch of youtube videos showing worn flex discs needing replacement at around the 70k mileage mark and the mechanic being able to rattle the drive shaft with his hand. This could be the issue I'm hearing as it's definitely a vibration coming from the centre rear of the car.

Inspection 1 checklist is long as it is, but I'll get him to specifically check this area and also the diff mounts/subframe bushes.

Wet sand is booked in after the above is done. It's gonna be a busy couple of weeks for the old motor :cool:
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One of the previous owners of mine I ran into yesterday mentioned mine used to do exactly this, and he struggled to get it diagnosed, he spent £1200 on bushes and all sorts of things as well.. be interesting to see what yours is, as mine is OK now, so someone must have fixed it!

I was contemplating (and just contemplating) getting a quickjack BL5000SLX
That would allow me to get under and sort out any medium suspension / maintenance jobs, as there are loads of things I'd like to do without having to keep throwing it at the garage, such as diff bolts.. But at £1000 I doubt I'd only ever use it on the 2 cars we have more than twice a year!
 
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Hmm I've been hearing that a lot, about piling cash into finding the culprit, only to get nowhere!

That's a jack and a half btw.
 
M3 update: Car is nearly ready to be collected from Inspection 1. Valve clearance checks being done at the moment, so depending on if any adjustments are needed, collection could be 6PM today, or tomorrow morning.

They have not found the cause of the vibration at 40MPH+ though. They said the inspection brought about no noteworthy items to sort out. The diff, transmission, bushes, suspension, subframe and other areas where worn items cause vibrations etc are all fine, and even with the car on the rollers the source could not be identified.

I've booked the car into an Aston/Jag dealer tomorrow to have road force balancing done. I've already had the wheels re-balanced, but a road force balancer will eliminate anything a standard balancer will have missed, and should identify any wheel issues too.

Realistically it can only be the wheels/tyres then. I've had a dodgy Sessanta in the past which was replaced by Vredestein. So if the road force balancer identifies a faulty CSC6 tyre, then at least all 4 are still new, so getting the dodgy one replaced isn't a huge issue.
 
I used to get this in my e46 but the vibrations were only from about 55-75. After a change of tyres and tracking it was gone
 
I chased a very similar problem in my 330 for a year and never got to the bottom of it. Numerous garages, tyres and wheels and no one could get to the bottom of it! :( gave up and sold it in the end.
 
I've just found a small split in the hood seal, only about 1 inch long, and looks as if something has caught it since the rubber is in good condition (not perished).. It's right at the back where the hood seals on the horse shoe.

I've heard that for this kind of split, you can try superglue (I LOL'd at first, but apparantly it's designed for gluing flexible rubber).. if not I think a new seal is over £300 and needs riveting on so will probably be a garage job..

Not that I mind too much, I like to get everything just right, but I want to get around to the more noticeable things like upgrading the Nav to something more modern and cleaning up the stone chips on the front bumper..
 
Hood seal? Got a pic?

I was expecting the inspection 1 report to come up with bushes needing replacing, ball joints rattling and whatnot given my luck with these things but absolutely nothing other than the valve clearance needing adjustments :p

Ah well, least I know now at least that the issue has to be with the wheels or tyres. Perhaps a pot-hole capped alloy that a standard balancer didn't flag up which a road force balancer will... We shall see.
 
mrk said:
Hood seal? Got a pic?
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ny3ksSj.jpg


:) I meant 'roof' seal, where the back of the soft topt meets the horseshoe, here it is up-close, I just started to open the roof, let the back of it raise up, but stop it before the horse shoe opens..


I was expecting the inspection 1 report to come up with bushes needing replacing, ball joints rattling and whatnot given my luck with these things but absolutely nothing other than the valve clearance needing adjustments :p

Ah well, least I know now at least that the issue has to be with the wheels or tyres. Perhaps a pot-hole capped alloy that a standard balancer didn't flag up which a road force balancer will... We shall see.
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I reckon it's wheel/tyre related too, the only thing I notice occured between one owner saying mine had that kind of vibration and it being sorted was a new set of tyres..
 
Ah I get you now. Wonder how that happened, just dried out rubber which then split one day? I feverishly check my seals every wash to make sure they are supple and apply some Gummi Pflege if anything feels dry :o

Partially open your roof and inspect the single long seal under the back of the roof where the rear windscreen is. Worth cleaning that seal regularly as loads of crap collects on it from where it sits on the frame recess.

Edit*

Ignore that, I have had a brain fart moment, you are on about the back one lol.
 
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Cheers, a good tip on the Gummi Pflege, I've just ordered some, should be here on Friday.

I will try to glue that first and Gummi Pflege it see how it goes, if it looks rubbish, I'll bite the bullet and just get a new seal.. I could get an entire secondhand roof for the price of a new seal, but that's how it is sometimes!
 
Once my roof gets a bit tatty I'd be inclined to just get a new roof too :o

Car picked up today and road force balanced. One wheel needed some adjustment but this hasn't solved the vibration at speed.

Having spoken to various folks and the indy as well it seems that there are various things it could be, chief of which are the prop/drive shaft or differential.

I also need to check that all the bolts are screwed on tight and exist around th diff housing and mounts, as one guy in the USA had vibrations and found that a single bolt had worked loose and was missing. Putting a new bolt in fixed I completely for him.

Failing this, I'll pay BMW to figure it out. They charge £78 for the privilege, but they will no doubt find the source. I'd rather pay to get it diagnosed early rather than spend time and money on various parts but by bit until it's solved.

Snows are also close to work, so can drop it off and drive off with a superb 1 series diesel or better yet, a Mini!!

On an unrelated note, all the people at Aston/Jaguar Chichester are so friendly. I was ogling various cars while overhearing an elderly chap who came in and sat down like it was his lounge bantering away to one of the staff about the sporting merits of British vs German cars and why all their dealer cars were in Sport /trim/ :D

If I'm ever lucky enough to be in the market for a new Jag or Aston, I know where to go :p
 
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Just a thought, you were in a rear-end shunt, it is possible the shunt weakened something that was not spotted when repaired and that part is now failing.

First go over every single bolt you can see and access and make sure it is tight.
 
It's possible, but very strange that it would suddenly vibrate in the space of one afternoon. A missing or loose bolt could cause this though yeah.

Indy looked at everything they could during inspection 1 the last 48hrs and found otjing abnormal :/
 
When I had an inspection done on my superb 1 series diesel they noticed the propshaft coupling had a few splits in the rubber. I'm not sure what the set up is like on a motor like yours but... how common are they for causing issue? He mentioned to me on older cars they vibrate and make themselves known as failing but on mine unless you physically see damage they just let go and you get no drive.
 
Yeah the Guibo (flex-disc) is a fairly common item to perish over time. The ones I read about are 70k milers over on the USA forum mostly though. Indy said that all looked fine, but as is usual I do like to get a second pair of eyes on things. I know people avoid main dealers for older cars, but generally speaking where there's an issue, they will find them. Doesn't mean the work to sort it has to be done by them though - Just a fast track to diagnosing an annoyingly difficult to track problem I figure :p

My car is now on 80,500 miles. I've had it since 61,000. So it's certainly covered vast ground in a year and a half!
 
Keep us updated!

I bought this car on the pretence it was more of a weekend tinkering project, as M3's are notorious for needing TLC.. This thread was part of the inspiration seeing you sort yours gave me confidence that owner an M3 is a mixture of TLC and Enjoyment..

So this week:
- I used superglue powerflex to bond the split in the seal, and will see how it holds, the Gummi Pfledge can't come soon enough, the hood seal is a bit dry in places, but intact, so might revitalise nicely.. A new seal is £350 with pop rivets so more of a last resort since fitting it looks a pig!

- Ordered a set of Bilstein B4 (OEM Replacements) shocks for £297, that with the eibach springs I've just acquired sets me up for a suspension refresh.

- Had my first error code! - 0198 - Misfire, cyl.3, with cylinder cutout. So ordered a full set of plugs and ignition coils (NGK/Bosch) as a starting point..

- Windscreen is fitted tomorrow

- Will book in for tie-rods and suspension fitting next week]

- Will fit the secondhand door seals (with rear window channel seals) on the weekend..

A busy couple of weeks ahead..


By next weekend I'll have spent £2.5K already!
- New gearbox/clutch/flywheel (£1150 having just sold the old bell housing/bits)
- Eibach springs (£60) - Nearly new
- Bilstein B4 Shock kit (£297) - New
- Trim Bits from BMW - £160 (Gearstick surround, rear light end covers, roller door storage tray to replace old bluetooth phone cradle)
- Rear LED lights (£70) - Second hand
- Rear inner lights (£35) - New Depo's
- Smarttop Module (£192) - New
- tie-rod assemblies - £200
- Fitting tie-rods / springs / shocks and geo - £250
- Plugs / Coilpacks - £160
- Almost new door seal - £20

So that's not much over £10K in total, good job I haggled like mad on the basis a clutch or HGF was likely to occur by 100K miles..
 
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That's some good effort! :cool:

The indy said they see M3s in often and almost always they always need something doing along the lines of bushes, wishbones or shocks/springs - But mine needed nothing at all like that and was one of the cleanest examples on their books, as of yet at least anyway. I know the previous owners serviced it well and at reputable places as the service book is filled with dealer and M3 specialist stamps. Given I have no receipts for bushes and things being done, I'm assuming it has either had an easy life, or one of the previous owners did it themselves.

Even the guys at the Aston/Jag dealer were walking around it.

Just this damned vibration! The E46 has its common issues and I've had 3, so I've learnt to accept them after initial wtfing and just throw bits of cash at it until it's sorted. The cycle repeats itself here :p

Today I also noticed my driver side seat bolster, while still good from the recolouring I did way back, has some stitching coming loose at the top join. This will need to be re-stitched in the near future as the thread is only going to come out more.

More money throwing needed... But utterly worth it :o
 
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