Introduction - 325i touring driveline question

[demanjan]

hello,

i've owned my 1988 BMW E30 325i touring (diamant black) with 400.000 kilometres now for 2 years and really love it. Currently 440k.

It is in relatively good condition, especially considering the mileage. 99% stock. Engine has been redone at 400, diff is fully rebuilt, suspension is great, all bushings done, new brakes all around. My aim is to keep simply driving it, enjoying it, and getting it 100% nice t the same time.

It's a beautiful car with factory LSD, computer, grey cloth sports interior, sunroof, basketweaves and i've added mtech 1 steering wheel and shift knob. The only thing 'missing' is A/C but i'm not really missing it tbh.

It is our daily driver and my goal is to keep it as stock as possible because it is simply wonderful.

I had my mechanic take off the LSD to have it rebuilt (by a diff shop), replace the guibo and CSB and he returned my car with the propshaft mounted wrong (2 pieces rotated wrong), guibo mounted wrong and so i had lots of vibrations when i got the car back. I did not drive it long nor hard, but after 3 returns to the same mechanic i think the propshaft is now correctly mounted, also CSB preload is good, and guibo is good. All these items looked to be in perfect shape. The propshaft u-joints feel good. Diff as said is brand new rebuilt. The drive shafts feel and look OK.

The thing is, i still have vibrations when accelerating. Only under load. The other thing is, when the car is icecold, there are almost no vibrations. The hotter the car gets, the more it vibrates under load. So much so that i feel i hurt it when accelerating.

Is it possible that the gearbox might have gotten hurt with the propshaft vibes? It's a normal getrag 260, and it has loud rattle. I think it already rattled before i gave it to the mechanic. Is it possible that it gets worse with gearbox oil getting hotter?

It vibrates when accelerating in 1st, 2nd and 3rd, under 40mph...anything above that is OK.

thank you for your inputs,
cheers, Jan

[demanjan]

oh yeah, forgot to mention, i mounted an E46 steering box, and very good tires, makes all the difference. Fantastic steering feel and lots of grip.

[D.Martijn]

Vibrations or a whine?

When I accelerate, so the whole drivetrain is underload, I have a pretty load whine coming from the back. This is caused because of wear or improper alignment of the pinion and ring gear.

[demanjan]

deffo vibrations.



as said, when it's cold (0°C here right now), i start and drive, and it feels almost perfect...light load, heavy load, no problem.



I sit in traffic for 20 minutes, and heavy vibrations when accelerating, slowly or heavy.

[D.Martijn]

Any idea from where the vibrations are coming from?

Btw, knappe Touring :)

[demanjan]

bedankt :D


yeah, i feel it in the seat, basically throughout the car. Not that much different than propshaft vibration ( i drove this car with 3x wrongly assembled propshaft, so i know those vibes pretty well. )

The propshaft is now aligned (the 2 dots are more or less aligned when the U-joints are aligned), so should not be more than 1 tooth out, if any.



I'm 100% sure it's not wheels nor brakes. The car drives 99% OK at 130km/h. Very quiet, very comfortable.


I'm afraid the heavy vibrations when i got the car back from the mechanic (at first i thought it was the new diff that had to be worn in) has maybe screwed something in the gearbox...


Still, i'm not excluding the propshaft 100%, but looking for other insights.

[demanjan]

and engine and gearbox mounts are still good. new from 400k.