need some help - BMW Forum

2slow3 · 06-27-2003, 12:24 PM

Had the car for a bit now and love it. Over the past week or two though it's been developing this weird shudder that's getting worse. It happens after I come to a stop at a light or something. Little bit of a rough idle (I've read the topics on that). Then, talking off from the stop in 1st, the car gets real loud and shudders. It's a weird noise/feeling, not bucking, just like it doesn't want to go, and the sound is like a really loud fan. It does this through 1st and second gears, then seems to even out until my next stop. The whole thing is a bit alarming.

I'm looking for any thoughts on things to check out. Think it could be the recent crazy heat?

Sorry if this is a dumb one, just not altogether familiar with the Bimmer yet!

Thx!

Furious · 06-27-2003, 12:35 PM

shudder sound? well its hard to say, where exactly is it comming from? the engine bay? below you? rear end? this may help me try and figure out what the problem might be..

triggrhaapi · 06-27-2003, 12:39 PM

Yeah dude, that's a pretty generic symptom, gonna need to know more before I can really help you.

2slow3 · 06-27-2003, 12:40 PM

well, the shudder is the feeling, the "big fan" is the sound.

I know, probably not real descriptive.

The shuddering feeling through 1st and second vibrates through the whole car it feels like. The sound seems to definitely be coming from the engine bay. would a slipping fan clutch or something cause this combo?

Furious · 06-27-2003, 12:44 PM

i was almost gonna say maybe a fan clutch . also check to make sure you havent blown an engine mount that would cause a "shudder" however the noise is or could be anything. or maybe you might be hearing things like i do when i have a problem

MrM3 · 06-27-2003, 12:58 PM

can you feel it at all while idling, even a little bit? it may be worn parts on your drive shaft like the center support bearing or possibly the guibo.

2slow3 · 06-27-2003, 01:08 PM

thanks all. I'll check out those suggestions. yes, i can feel it at idle, which is very rough. not always, but sometimes. but when it's rough, everything shakes, including me!

GreenDragon · 06-27-2003, 01:46 PM

Get a compression check ....

Ski · 06-27-2003, 04:37 PM

Did a little checking on this and ran across this on another forum..

Manual Transmission Driveline Shudder

> My 1989 735i (95K miles) has a slightly annoying shudder upon accelerating from
> a standstill until the car reaches about 20 mph. I have heard other folks
> talking about shudder in their cars, and I just wanted to ask what causes it,
> and how it can be corrected. My suspicions are:
>
> 1. Universal Joints
>
> 2. Driveshaft Center Bearing
>
> 3. Driveshaft out of Balance/Worn Out

I had the same problem when I bought my '85 535 (used). It turned out to be all
three, new guibo (rubber disk between the transmission and driveshaft), new
center bearing, and a new drive shaft. I had a frozen u-joint and they're not
replaceable. The driveshaft needs to be replaced ($700) or rebuild ($300).

Ski · 06-27-2003, 05:22 PM

future3..fill us in on your purchase of your car..how much, mileage, where or who you bought it from..I'm just trying to get a feel here..

MrM3 · 06-27-2003, 06:31 PM

heres some info on the driveshaft/U-joint, plus u can buy driveshafts from this place with a 5yr warranty.

http://www.driveshafts.com/bmw/bmw_u-joint...t-overview.html

2slow3 · 06-28-2003, 05:47 AM

Hey, thanks all for the help. I think that I have it narrowed down. Was just rolling around under the car and noticed the metal engine mount, passenger side, is cracked right through. It's cracked right where one of the bolts fastens (the front bolt) it to the bottom of the block! Think this would cause the shudder?!

Any thoughts? Everything else seemed ok as far as I can tell.

By the way, to answer Ski's ?, got it about a month ago, private sale from 2nd owner, not sure of the maintenance history besides the oil has been changed. It just flipped 37k on the odometer, the guy lived in Boston and only drove it on the weekends ...

Fox · 07-02-2003, 08:03 AM

hrmm... thats what i said in a previous post but the server got dun crashed. It couldnt have been the driveshaft because he said it does it when the engine is in idle which i assumed meant neutral. Driveshaft wouldnt have been spinning. Also if it was the driveshaft or guibo it wouldnt smooth out after speeding up it would get much violently worse. ^ in speed = ^ of inertia

2slow3 · 07-03-2003, 03:58 AM

yeah, it goes away after 2nd gear. the other thing i just found is that one of the blades on the radiator fan is broked clean off! Would this unbalance things enough to cause a problem? If you read above, I said the shudder feel was accompanied by what sounded like real loud fan noise. this is starting to piss me off finding all these little problems ...

ghead