Bad driveshaft?

[coneill]

So lately I've heard an irregular clunking noise at lower speeds coming from the middle of the car. Today I got the heatshield down enough to grab the driveshaft and I'm able to move it back and forth a bit and it produces an audible thunk. I know theres been other threads about play in the drive shaft with the guibo and two piece design but does this sound like something is going bad enough to warrant dropping the exhaust to inspect further? at 30 seconds I'm turning the drive shaft with my hand producing the metallic thinking noise.

[coneill]

Just notice the noise as I move the driveshaft seems to be up more by the guibo/trans.

[roastbeef]

you will be able to move the driveshaft with your hand. there is going to be a slight amount of play in the diff, cv's, and from the trans.

try oscillating the throttle while staying in a single gear. try not to get too high in the rpm's so you're not just torquing the hell out of it because its not going to be as distinguishable. also, try the same thing, but with oscillating the brakes. this might be slightly more communicative than jamming your hand in there.

[MahiC]

Yours is messed up. Time for a carbon one.

[coneill]

roastbeef so the trans is expected to have a little bit of play then? I did try putting in gear and reving to like 1500 while on a lift and then letting off but the noise only seems to be reproducible after driving for a bit and coasting. I also didn't quite understand what you meant oscillate the brakes. Do you mean while in gear moving just pump the brakes a bunch or vary brake pressure to see if that causes it? I'll try to get some video next time it happens while I'm driving and hopefully it's audible

[m235boy]

Not sure if it's the same but check this thread

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1638255

[TomHudson]

Just replaced my driveshaft for the same noise.

[m235boy]

Originally Posted by TomHudson

Just replaced my driveshaft for the same noise.

Damn you replaced for a brand new DS and it does the same noise, maybe something else going on there then. Who diagnosed it as being the DS ? Could it be the cv joint maybe

[TomHudson]

No! I Bought used and the noise was gone after it was replaced.

[Teerump]

Mine is making the same noise... when I let out the clutch, it "clunks". Don't understand why a car with 60k miles should need a new driveshaft. Never in all the many sports cars I've had, had I ever had to replace a drive shaft. BMW should pay for this.

[m235boy]

Originally Posted by Teerump

Mine is making the same noise... when I let out the clutch, it "clunks". Don't understand why a car with 60k miles should need a new driveshaft. Never in all the many sports cars I've had, had I ever had to replace a drive shaft. BMW should pay for this.

They should pay for a lot of things if that were the case lol

But I agree, it seems premature for it to fail at such a low mileage.