Intermittent thunking: a common problem?

[Maggiolone]

Or not?

I'm getting a transient thunking noise emanating from the left rear side.

It's in-sync when the wheels move.

I've been to several shops. 3 said "Not the CSB or the U-joints." 1 said "CSB and shaft is bad." The last one said "U joints are bad, CSB is good."

However, the noise will go away completely at times, and the car will drive silky-smooth, albeit with a tiny rumble when upshifting into 2nd gear. And then other time, the loud "clack-clack-clack" will return for days.

My strut mounts are new, my rear shocks are new, my sway bar links are new, my exhaust hangers are new.

I dunno any more. I'm at the point of paranoia when I drive.

[mjimport]

I can tell you if your parking brake is way out of adjustment or the spring or pin popped out and is slapping around inside the rotor, that can cause intermittent noises in the rear on one side, but I don't think that would cause a "rumbling".

I would bet on worn axle here.

Do the sounds change if you corner hard left or right?

[dereliiict]

Maybe it's because I'm having a beer after a long fucking day at work when I still am 3 hours from home, but Jesus fucking Christ all the new members coming on here who can't search.

Have you noticed that all the OG's quit coming around because these kinds of threads are all that ever get started anymore and you can only give the same answer for so long.

Dude, it's an e30. There is this new gadget that is all the rage. Google or something? Use it. Then go work on your car. You will learn then. Maybe.

No wonder r3v is dying. Kids don't want to work. They want a simple goddamn answer to all of their problems.

[Kershaw]

It's a bushing or mount. You need to get under your car and check.

- engine mounts
- transmission mounts
- diff mounts
- guibo
- csb
- rear subframe bushings (probably this, but you should hope it's not)

[Maggiolone]

Thanks for all the kind responses. Maybe I can direct dereliiict to a forum for bunched panties.

I've been under the car many times.

I don't have a guibo. The CSB is sturdy. The U-joints have a teeny-tiny bit of play when I tug on them.

I've had the problem with the p-brake pin sticking out. I fixed that, and the thump came back.

Hypothesis: could it be every time I jack up the car and fuss with the right wheel, I'm re-aligning the stub axle?

The clunking has liked to emerge on right turns, on occasion.

[ELVA164]

Hearing a recording/video of the noise would be helpful I think.

It sounds like the noise is related to the LR corner, which would eliminate the driveshaft and CSB and (sole) causes. The CSB causes more of a vibration than a thunk, usually at low speeds (lower rpm in second gear most obviously, under acceleration). The rumble sounds like CSB but unrelated to whatever this other noise is.

How to the CV joins look in that corner? Boots torn? smooth movement? How about the other corner (just in case)?

[R1dd1ck913]

I don't have a guibo

If you don't have a guibo/flexdisk then what do you have? Or is the drive shaft some how bolted straight to the transmission?