Schurman's official repair this funky noise/vibration thread

[Schurman91]

Hello everyone,
some of you may remember a thread I posted a while back asking for advice on purchasing a 2008 Interlagos blue E93 M3 with a weird noise/vibration from a local dealer. Well, against my own and everyone else's good judgement, I bought it. Why you might ask? I really wanted a 6mt vert and couldn't afford a clean title example otherwise. Plus, its interlagos blue

The purpose of this thread is to document the troubleshooting and repair process to potentially help someone in the future with a similar issue. I am mechanically inclined and have access to a full range of tools and shop space so I figure with enough time invested, it can be fixed. I'm open to hearing any opinions or ideas anyone might have.

The dealer had his mechanic spend 120 hours trying to fix the problem and has been unsuccessful.

This is what all has been done or checked:
New transmission
New clutch, flywheel, through out bearing etc
New OEM crankshaft and main bearings
Driveshaft, guibo, center support bearing, u joints
Motor mounts (replaced myself yesterday) No change

Next on my list is going to be Trans mounts (new OEM, needs them anyway) harmonic balancer, and check into the VANOS system.

The noise/vibration is most prominent when the car has reached operating temperature, with the clutch out in neutral or any gear while driving up to about 3000rpm. After that it seems to smooth out. It is much less noticeable when the car is cold. It is also less noticeable with the clutch pedal depressed but still there. It feels like something is out of balance but seems to run fine.

The car does throw a code P0011 which indicates timing is too far advanced on one of the camshafts according to my research. Could this be a VANOS solenoid stuck wide open? I have been unable to find much info on S65 VANOS problems.

The car itself is beautiful. the interior is flawless and comes equipped with individual audio, EDC, and heated seats.

[Schurman91]

Here are a couple videos of the issue.
Hard to capture it in a video.. you can hear the interior vibrating though.

[gfisher99]

Hope you get that figured out - that noise would definitely drive me crazy. Brave man for buying it like that. Good luck!

[bkdore]

Does it do it with all the accessory belts off? With all the work done already I'd assume that they would have checked behind all the accessory pulleys for mud (wasp nest) etc. It seems like they were looking for something out of balance as opposed to something caused by ignition/timing.

[///M Power-Belgium]

That vibration noise sounds not healty to me !
First time that I hear a noise like this on a S65...And you still drive the car like this ?

[jt10mc]

Honestly sounds like timing or harmonic balancer is off or like a Cam is off but I am betting harmonic balancer.

[Schurman91]

Originally Posted by gfisher99

Hope you get that figured out - that noise would definitely drive me crazy. Brave man for buying it like that. Good luck!

Thanks man!

Originally Posted by bkdore

Does it do it with all the accessory belts off? With all the work done already I'd assume that they would have checked behind all the accessory pulleys for mud (wasp nest) etc. It seems like they were looking for something out of balance as opposed to something caused by ignition/timing.

I haven't checked that yet but good idea! My next steps are to check the harmonic balancer/accessorys and replace the trans mounts.

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

That vibration noise sounds not healty to me !
First time that I hear a noise like this on a S65...And you still drive the car like this ?

I do not drive it like this, although I am dying to with how nice the weather has been in Seattle. Stuck driving my 06 Prius for now haha

Originally Posted by jt10mc

Honestly sounds like timing or harmonic balancer is off or like a Cam is off but I am betting harmonic balancer.

I would love for it to be the balancer, although I don't know how the previous owner's mechanic could miss that. You never know though, I may get lucky!

Cam timing or a VANOS solenoid being stuck sounds like a possibility, because I'm getting P0011 which seems to translate to "Intake camshaft A too far advanced". I started the car tonight and let it idle for 20 mins after clearing the code and it didn't come back yet.

[Schurman91]

Replaced the trans mounts today and changed the oil. I found some metal fragments in the filter and filter housing...Could this be break-in from the crankshaft and bearing replacement? The Blackstone analysis was good..

I also looked at the Vibration damper/Harmonic balancer while running on the lift and it seems to have a slight wobble whereas the pullies all run true without wobble. Fingers crossed this might be it, I ordered one.

[Schurman91]

Hello everyone, I got ISTA-d and preformed a Vanos system test. These are the results. Does anyone here have experience with ISTA? I'm wondering if its just a vanos solenoid or a more serious issue such as a stretched timing chain.

Anyone know?

[Helmsman]

Originally Posted by Schurman91

Replaced the trans mounts today and changed the oil. I found some metal fragments in the filter and filter housing...Could this be break-in from the crankshaft and bearing replacement? The Blackstone analysis was good..

I also looked at the Vibration damper/Harmonic balancer while running on the lift and it seems to have a slight wobble whereas the pullies all run true without wobble. Fingers crossed this might be it, I ordered one.



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Wish I could help you out man, however interesting to follow your work. The one thing making me react though is metal particles in the oil. You need to push for the experts to comment here but that doesn't seem good in my eyes and really strange the oil analys came out fine?

[Schurman91]

I came to the conclusion that the particles i was seeing in the oil were harmless wear-in from the crank and bearing replacement. The car seems to have a Vanos solenoid, vanos gear or timing chain issue. It's very possible that one or more of the Vanos solenoid's are semi clogged with particles from the old bearings and crank so I'm going try cleaning them and see what happens.

[takrdown]

It's been 5 years, but curious if you ever had resolution to your issues.

[Helmsman]

Me too. If I have to guess the engine went south. Metal depris from "crank and bearing" replacement is not a good thing.