Flex Coupler Repair

[Groucho]

Asking for a bit of advice here...

My Beloved Bimmer is a 1999 323i Sedan Sport Pack with 5-speed, 80k miles on it, bone stock. I purchased the car nine months ago as a CPO when it had 54k miles on it-- yeah, I drive it a lot. Here's the weirdness:

When launching hard from a standing start, there is a definite "shudder", as in heavy vibration that shakes the entire car, between 4000-4500 rpm just as the clutch is fully engaged (let out) in 2nd gear. It lasts half a second or so while in that part of the power band, and is not really noticable any other time.

Finally got it into the dealership. They say it's a bad flex coupler, but they haven't gotten word from BMW USA if that's a CPO-warrantied part. It damn sure seems a no-brainer to me. If not covered under warranty it's a $365.00 ding...which is better than a ~$12-1300 clutch job to be sure (I had feared the clutch was possibly warped-- something that obviously is not a warranty-covered part) but will still piss me off pretty royally...

But I digress. With the flex disc going bad, are there any other parts that should be replaced while they are in there? With the end of the warranty looming, I want to make sure my bases are covered...

[Ski]

Hey welcome Groucho!! Let me pm one of our members who used to be a BMW mechanic and see if he can help you out.. B)

[Groucho]

Originally posted by Ski@Sep 3 2003, 03:48 PM
Hey welcome Groucho!! Let me pm one of our members who used to be a BMW mechanic and see if he can help you out.. B)

Thanks, Ski!

It turns out that BMW is fixing that flex coupler under warranty...whew. It would still be nice to know if there are other items I should request to be looked at while they have My Baby laid up...

Thanks!

[EXtech]

Welcome Groucho!! Ski woke me from my lawn chair in Cozumel.... no, just kidding, but it was a nice dream. Sounds like the dealer is going to take care of you. If the flex coupler is bad, that would certainly cause the vibration you were experiencing. My two suspects would have been the clutch or flex coupler (aka guibo disc). There are a few items that should be inspected while performing the replacement and should be done by the technician regardless of whether you specifically ask them to or not. The exhaust hangers (rubber pieces) do deteriorate over time and if there is any concern with these it should be noticed upon removal of the exhaust as this is a necessary step to replacing the flex coupler. Next on the list would be the transmission output shaft seal. A quick look at it would tell whether it's leaking at all, if so then now would obviously be the time to replace it. Finally he should look at the transmission mounts. Like any rubber part, just like the exhaust hangers, they do deteriorate over time. Once again, this would be a good time to replace them as well if needed. That's about it. I would ask them to give the car a once over while it's in the air. Most likely the dealer would do this anyway (trying to find more work of course). Hope everything goes well, and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. Once again, welcome.

[EXtech]

by the way, you made a great choice with your bmw... my favorite was always the E46.

[Groucho]

Outstanding, ExTech-- the advice is muchappreciated!

And, yeah...this is my second Bimmer...I love this E46.