Bell noise coming from differential e92 m3 2009

[chris88k]

Thats why i posted a video earlier to clarify what kind of sound i was talking about. Not worried about clunks. The "ping" sound from the video is the one thats driving me nuts.

[Solo_M_Tech]

My car makes the "hitting a rock with a metal baseball bat" sound when taking off, changing direction (forward and backwards) etc. just one "ting " sound. I've been under the car and to me, it sounds like the center u joint, but my car is also making noise in the CV joint. It's getting replaced soon tho



Note I've been tracking the car for a year this way and it hasn't been an issue .

[94jedi]

Originally Posted by Gears_and_Gasoline

My car makes the "hitting a rock with a metal baseball bat" sound when taking off, changing direction (forward and backwards) etc. just one "ting " sound. I've been under the car and to me, it sounds like the center u joint, but my car is also making noise in the CV joint. It's getting replaced soon tho



Note I've been tracking the car for a year this way and it hasn't been an issue .

That's the exact noise and the conditions in which its present.

[unclecomfort]

Folks, like to check with those affected if by just changing the driveshaft solved the problem eventually? Mine is now making the exact same sound as those videos. It’s annoying. Thanks.

[Al the car guy]

I also have the "bell" or "ting" sound (6Mt) which seems to be some sort of play in the drivetrain that echos up the drive shaft. Pedal the power on -->power off or gear down and it clanks once. I can accelerate through the gears and it only 'tings' as the play is taken up when I start moving, it will 'ting' again if I let off the throttle to gear down. It's really loud and very annoying. I pulled the driveshaft out back in August and couldn't find any significant play in the joints. The rear CV joint felt tight and didn't move smoothly so I thought I found the problem. I took the shaft to a driveshaft specialist and they replaced the rear CV (had to order it from Germany). They checked the other joints, checked the balance and declared everything good. I put it all back together and the noise is still there. I am convinced that the driveshaft is only a symptom and not the actually problem. The play has to be either in the transmission output shaft or the differential. I have a theory that the flange on the pinion that the driveshaft bolts to might be moving on the splines? I've about reached the end of my mechanical ability but I don't really want to pay a shop to pull the exhaust and driveshaft in order to diagnose this... I'm also started to suspect that although many of us have the same symptom (Ting or bell), it could be caused by play in different parts of the drivetrain that are making the hollow driveshaft 'ting'. Since I have eliminated the driveshaft on my car, I'm open to ideas...

[deansbimmer]

Originally Posted by Al the car guy

I also have the "bell" or "ting" sound (6Mt) which seems to be some sort of play in the drivetrain that echos up the drive shaft. Pedal the power on -->power off or gear down and it clanks once. I can accelerate through the gears and it only 'tings' as the play is taken up when I start moving, it will 'ting' again if I let off the throttle to gear down. It's really loud and very annoying. I pulled the driveshaft out back in August and couldn't find any significant play in the joints. The rear CV joint felt tight and didn't move smoothly so I thought I found the problem. I took the shaft to a driveshaft specialist and they replaced the rear CV (had to order it from Germany). They checked the other joints, checked the balance and declared everything good. I put it all back together and the noise is still there. I am convinced that the driveshaft is only a symptom and not the actually problem. The play has to be either in the transmission output shaft or the differential. I have a theory that the flange on the pinion that the driveshaft bolts to might be moving on the splines? I've about reached the end of my mechanical ability but I don't really want to pay a shop to pull the exhaust and driveshaft in order to diagnose this... I'm also started to suspect that although many of us have the same symptom (Ting or bell), it could be caused by play in different parts of the drivetrain that are making the hollow driveshaft 'ting'. Since I have eliminated the driveshaft on my car, I'm open to ideas...

As I noted in page two, and have posted in many other threads on the subject, the sound is caused by the cumulative wear in the drivetrain (flywheel/transmission/differential/axles) allowing enough play to cause the noise during takeup. 99% of the time it's not one single component. Replacing the driveshaft eliminates a percentage of the wear, but you'd need to replace all of the components to completely eliminate the potential for noise.

In my shop I've seen and driven hundreds of 08-13 M3's that all suffer from this issue once the car has accrued enough miles or generated enough driveline wear. Some owners may not notice it but I can always manipulate the driveline to generate the sound. BMW will officially state that it's normal. You'll need to keep replacing parts to remove the slop that has crept into the drivetrain.

[elysium19]

Thanks for all this info! My only question, is this potentially dangerous? I dont mind the sound but I just bought a 85k mile car and will be taking it to the track, does this make it more likely to have a catastrophic driveshaft failure? Like under high load or speed? If its just sound / audible cosmetic I don't mind!

[tlrid3r]

Originally Posted by elysium19

Thanks for all this info! My only question, is this potentially dangerous? I dont mind the sound but I just bought a 85k mile car and will be taking it to the track, does this make it more likely to have a catastrophic driveshaft failure? Like under high load or speed? If its just sound / audible cosmetic I don't mind!

I have been able to fix it twice, on my car and a friends car. Both times is was the spline connection on the drive shaft.
I take the drive shaft out and replacement new center bearing and new rear cv joint. I split the drive shaft in half to remove the center bearing. I reassemble using retaining compound on the splines, center and rear section. (once this is done, you won't be able to service again) the retaining compound is strong, but it's good to go for many years.

[jalyousef]

I have replaced my drive shaft twice for this noise. It happened both times when the driveshaft approached 70k miles of use. If you can find a used one with low miles (rare, but I found one a few months ago when I replaced it for the second time) then to me that is better than just guessing, buying the center support bearing and/or rear cv joint and then paying for install, which is close to the cost of a used or re-manufactured shaft. If it's the u-joint causing the noise then you're going to end up paying more money to get a replaced driveshaft because you can't replace the u-joint in the OEM driveshafts. I have heard stories that just replacing the CSB or CV joint fixes this, but have heard more often it's the u-joint play.

You can also go the re-manufactured route for ~$480 from www.driveshaftspecialist.com but they're out of cores so your car would be down 1-2 weeks + it's annoying shipping something that large. But they also do put in a replaceable u-joint so it can be fixed later without buying another shaft if this happens again.

To my knowledge it's not dangerous, just an annoying noise. Hope this helps anyone with decision making.

[///M Roger]

this video might be helpful for you guys

[Malek@MRF]

The noise is coming from the center support of the OE driveshaft, it's a relatively common issue as these cars begin to age with higher miles.

[Redd]

Time for that one piece carbon driveshaft!

[noremaC]

Does any know what a reasonable level of effort it takes to swap out the center/carrier support bearing? Is this a 2-3 hour job on a lift?

[jalyousef]

Originally Posted by noremaC

Does any know what a reasonable level of effort it takes to swap out the center/carrier support bearing? Is this a 2-3 hour job on a lift?

At least 2-3 hours. I was considering doing it until I saw that same video a few posts up. Just bought a used driveshaft with 30k miles for $300 instead..

[noremaC]

Originally Posted by jalyousef

At least 2-3 hours. I was considering doing it until I saw that same video a few posts up. Just bought a used driveshaft with 30k miles for $300 instead..

Interesting. So the cost of replacing the entire driveshaft with a newer driveshaft is more cost effective than replacing the CSB?

I feel like buying a new $100 part (CSB) and paying a few $ hundred in labor would be the path forward.

[jalyousef]

Originally Posted by noremaC

Interesting. So the cost of replacing the entire driveshaft with a newer driveshaft is more cost effective than replacing the CSB?

I feel like buying a new $100 part (CSB) and paying a few $ hundred in labor would be the path forward.

I personally have purchased my last two driveshafts used with less than 30k miles for $250 and $300. Install was about $250 so total was $500-$550. So what I'm saying is, if you spend $100 for part, + $400 for labor (removing shaft, changing CSB, putting shaft back on), that's $500. And with that, you're only guessing/hoping that it's the CSB that's causing the noise. It could be something different such as the CV joint or the u-joint (which is non-reparable). So if you spend $500 fixing the CSB and it ends up being something else...you're just going to spend even more money repairing than if you just got a used low mileage shaft. If you 100% know it's the CSB and you don't want to wait around looking for a low mileage shaft, then it could be worth it to just repair it because low mileage driveshafts are hard to come by these days. Kind of depends on what your risk appetite is..