Clunking? on my 87 325is?

[e30loverSC]

Ok so when im driving around i hear a clunking noise coming from the rear. I hear it when ever there is a "slack" in the drive line, when shifting, accel or decel in gear. It pretty much does it when ever you put pressure on the driveline. No noise when just rolling only when force is applied. Any suggestions to what this might be. And when you shift carefully its not as bad. What could this be.?

[StereoInstaller1]

U joint.

Grab your shaft and yank it.

Then, jack up the car and check your driveshaft.

then, when you find it is shot, grab your ankles.

bummer.

Luke

[transatlantic0207]

csb

[e30loverSC]

Well is that really that bad. And yank what drive shaft? Very vague instructions.. And wht is CSB? I am planning on doing sub frame and trailing arms bushings after xmas along with few other things back there but wtf is this clunking??!

[transatlantic0207]

csb=center support bearing

[e30loverSC]

Could that cause the clanking? How ?

[StereoInstaller1]

CSB generally will cause vibration, not clunking.

U joints are far more likely. Ask me how I know....

Most likely the rear ujoint is shit. Simply jack up the car and jerk the driveshaft in all directions...you will see what is wrong. Do be careful to not shred yor hands on the heatshields...as with all things, don't be a fucking retard, OK?

The ujoints are not replaceable or repairable, except for some shops who claim to be able to, but generally, they get shitty reveiws.

Driveshafts NW is a good example of this. Oh yeah, the retards at your local auto parts shop will sell you a u-joint. You cannot change it out, and they will give you a load of shit trying to return a $35 part you cannot use...again, ask me how I know...

Then, when you call to find out how much the driveshaft costs to replace, you will cry.

I found a decent used one from an 86 eta, as any Getrag 260 based car will have the same driveshaft. After that one took a shit in 2,000 miles, I was FAR pickier in choosing the next one. So far, I have 35,000 miles on that one and it is pretty shitty now and will fail in the next 3,000 miles or so.

Enough instructions? Get under your damn car and LOOK!

Luke

[e30loverSC]

Yea I'll check tomorrow. And if itsstill tight no movement then what? Plus where do yousuggest buyin a good drive shaft?

[kikkoman]

What Luke said. I'm getting mine replaced with a used one tomorrow so we'll see how long it lasts. If it craps out too soon I'll have to fork up the $400 for a rebuilt one.

[StereoInstaller1]

I am gonna skip the whole rebuilt phase of money wasting and buy a brand spanking new BMW part.

Hopefully, BluntTech sells them. If not, I will beat my head against the wall until I hemorrhage nearly to death and buy one from the damn dealer.

[dashboardmonkey]

$818 from the dealer, so yeah grab your ankles

on my 86 the csb was fucking shot, made a clunking noise (my car earned the name : the flapper)

csb usually goes out from bad u-joints

[jlevie]

This could be anything in the final drive from the drive shaft back or the rear suspension. You need to get the car up in the air and inspect the drive shaft, half shafts, differential, its mounts and bushing, and the subframe and trailing arm bushings.

[kikkoman]

Just an update. As I've posted yesterday, I just got back from getting my driveshaft replaced. The good news: no more clunking :) I almost forgot how the car drove w/o the clunking but now feels great. The old guibo wasn't too bad but the csb was really messed up and both were supposely replaced just before I got the car only 6 months ago. The u-joint had a lot of play no good at all.

The best news? I got good used driveshaft for $100, only paid the shop $75 to have it replaced and add'l $25 to have both diff & trans oil replaced with Red Line (I bought the oil online separately). So, everything only cost me $200! I think I got a great deal.

BTW, I was originaly going to do the job myself but having seen it done I'm really glad I didn't. I think I still could have done it but not w/o great frustration and spending all day under the car cursing ending up with some kind of body injury. Just being honest that I'm a wrench newbie wimp :)

[StereoInstaller1]

$200 for a decent used shaft PLUS diff and tranny service?

SMOKING deal, man.

congrats. Bring those guys a bottle of something.

Luke

[Adrian_Visser]

That is a good deal. It took me four hours with crap for tools to do it in my driveway.