2012 F30 320d six speed manual vibration

[Solo Man]

My car has this vibration that sounds as if the exhaust is hitting the body when accelerating in first gear from about 1000 to 2500rpm. When driving normally there is not really any noise but as soon as you pull away slightly faster than normal you hear this knocking noise as i mentioned before. Have checked the exhaust and added an extra hanger to try and keep the exhaust more stable, have replaced the engine mounts, gearbox mounts, main guibo and centre bearing. Still having the same vibrating/knocking noise when accelerating in first gear mostly. Second gear only very slightly one can hear it. Car is standard apart from the cat which i removed recently (noise/vibration was there before cat was removed) All the replacements made zero change to the knocking noise. Any one with same experience or issue that has resolved the problem i would very much like to hear from you. Thanks! Just to mention, the car drives smoothly otherwise, at all times there are no vibrations except when pulling away. When coming off the gas there are no vibrations either. Tires are new, clutch and d/m flywheel was replaced a year ago.

 

[operator323]

My car has this vibration that sounds as if the exhaust is hitting the body when accelerating in first gear from about 1000 to 2500rpm. When driving normally there is not really any noise but as soon as you pull away slightly faster than normal you hear this knocking noise as i mentioned before. Have checked the exhaust and added an extra hanger to try and keep the exhaust more stable, have replaced the engine mounts, gearbox mounts, main guibo and centre bearing. Still having the same vibrating/knocking noise when accelerating in first gear mostly. Second gear only very slightly one can hear it. Car is standard apart from the cat which i removed recently (noise/vibration was there before cat was removed) All the replacements made zero change to the knocking noise. Any one with same experience or issue that has resolved the problem i would very much like to hear from you. Thanks! Just to mention, the car drives smoothly otherwise, at all times there are no vibrations except when pulling away. When coming off the gas there are no vibrations either. Tires are new, clutch and d/m flywheel was replaced a year ago.

Propshaft centre bearing,start with it.

 

[Solo Man]

Thanks for responding but as per my post, propshaft centre bearing was part of the stuff that i replaced.

 

[operator323]

Thanks for responding but as per my post, propshaft centre bearing was part of the stuff that i replaced.

Glad you sorted

 

[DarrylvanNiekerk]

My car had a vibration / shudder when pulling off at times which I subsequently found out was the dual mass flywheel being worn.
Though I never had any knocking.

Does it happen when you release the clutch or as you accelerate hard?

I am assuming it is coming from the rear of the car, does the whole car vibrate or does the sound just fill the car?

 

[Solo Man]

Car had a new dual mass flywheel and clutch fitted about a year and 20 k kms ago. Sounds like the exhaust knocking against the body/chassis when accelerating just harder than normal. Also sounds as if it comes from the rear of the gearbox, from behind the gear lever backwards towards the back of the car. Never happens when i release the clutch. Clutch is smooooth as silk. I have had two cars with noisy dmf's and i know the shudder associated with a worn clutch/flywheel combo, but this is nothing like that. If i pull away smoothly and gently in first then i have no shudder/knocking but as soon as i want to demonstrate the shudder it is quite pronounced. I have not replaced the rear doughnut on the prop by the diff and swopped over that doughnut in the opposite direction of travel. Could be my imagination but i would say it is about 5% better but knocking sound still there. Cannot say that the car vibrates as the sound is as i said, similar to an exhaust knocking against the body/chassis.

 

[DarrylvanNiekerk]

Did you pull out the engine and / or gearbox when replacing the mounts?

My suspicion would be that the bolts between the engine and gearbox might not be tight allowing for play under hard acceleration in first.

When I had my engine out one of the connection points for the gearbox onto the engine was worn and needed a helicoil to repair.

Considering all the work you have done this would be the only other alternative.

 

[Solo Man]

i replaced the engine mountings with the engine and gearbox in place. Jacked up the engine after i removed the cat box which gave me enough room to work there. Same time knocked the cat out. BUT, i like your reasoning as i have been thinking along the same lines. The people that did the clutch replacement: did they tighten all the bolts between engine and gearbox. Am going to have a look right now! Bought this car about two weeks ago with known faults. Fixed the one fault cost me nothing but this vibration thing is going on to R10k now. Although i have new engine mounts etc., which is good news!

 

[Solo Man]

Hi Darryl, i think you were on the right track. The only gearbox/engine bolt i could reach from above is right above the cat. When i put my spanner on it it was so loose that i thought the spanner was too big!!! Could only tighten it about half a turn but will now get the car on ramps and check all the bolts but am now nearly 100% sure that that could be my vibration. Thanks man!

 

[DarrylvanNiekerk]

Oh man I hope you caught it before any damage was done. Holding thumbs this is the fix.

Check out realoem.com - put the details of your car in and search for the bolts between gearbox and engine, there are one or two that are really tricky to reach and you don't want to miss any.

 

[Solo Man]

Thanks, have done that. Was only the one that was not tight. Problem still there!!

 

[DarrylvanNiekerk]

Crap.

There are a couple of items that bolt onto the gearbox, have you checked the link to the gear shift? Could be as simple as a missing clip allowing the gear shifter to knock?

 

[Glenn_]

I think had a similar problem once, the hand brake cable clip retainer was broken and the cables were touching the driveshaft/propshaft when accelerating faster than normal. So plastic clip retainer is attached to the fuel tank, replacing them plastics means you will have to remove the tank - I used cable ties to secure them onto the broken retainers and the noise was gone

 

[Solo Man]

Yes Glenn, have read and heard about the clips breaking but i have checked mine and they are fine. The cables are not touching any where. Thanks for the advice though!

 

[Mr Bless]

My car has this vibration that sounds as if the exhaust is hitting the body when accelerating in first gear from about 1000 to 2500rpm. When driving normally there is not really any noise but as soon as you pull away slightly faster than normal you hear this knocking noise as i mentioned before. Have checked the exhaust and added an extra hanger to try and keep the exhaust more stable, have replaced the engine mounts, gearbox mounts, main guibo and centre bearing. Still having the same vibrating/knocking noise when accelerating in first gear mostly. Second gear only very slightly one can hear it. Car is standard apart from the cat which i removed recently (noise/vibration was there before cat was removed) All the replacements made zero change to the knocking noise. Any one with same experience or issue that has resolved the problem i would very much like to hear from you. Thanks! Just to mention, the car drives smoothly otherwise, at all times there are no vibrations except when pulling away. When coming off the gas there are no vibrations either. Tires are new, clutch and d/m flywheel was replaced a year ago.

Did you get any solution to this problem. Mine does exactly the same thing

 

[Solo Man]

Yes. Having been under the car at least about ten times (yes, ten or more times) and having had discussions with propshaft specialists and googling the problem i think i have "solved" the problem. The gearbox and diff has to be at the same angle so that the propshaft is the same angle at its ends. In other words, if the gearbox/propshaft angle is 3 degrees then the diff/propshaft has to be 3 degrees also. What i did after many trial and error efforts is i strung a length of gut (fish line) along the propshaft from the guibo at the gearbox to the quibo at the diff and measured the distance to the propshaft and gut along the length of the propshaft. I found that when i bolt the centre bearing bracket to the chassis i have a deviation of about 15mm from the gut line. What i did was i spun the centre bearing bracket around (it is an offset bracket) which made it easier to line up the propshaft by putting spacers between the bracket and the chassis to get the propshaft as close to the same distance from the gut line along the propshaft. At this moment in time i have no more vibrations when accelerating, even under hard acceleration. Keep in mind that both my guibos are new as well as the centre bearing and carrier. I also had the nut at the diff tightened as tight as possible. (A diff specialist with the right "ring" spanner did it for me). I even had the propshaft specialist "crimp" the sleeve on the propshaft for me to prevent any possible vibrations that that could have caused) .I have just done about 2500kms in the last two weeks and have had no issues or vibrations. Where are you located?

 

[Mr Bless]

Yes. Having been under the car at least about ten times (yes, ten or more times) and having had discussions with propshaft specialists and googling the problem i think i have "solved" the problem. The gearbox and diff has to be at the same angle so that the propshaft is the same angle at its ends. In other words, if the gearbox/propshaft angle is 3 degrees then the diff/propshaft has to be 3 degrees also. What i did after many trial and error efforts is i strung a length of gut (fish line) along the propshaft from the guibo at the gearbox to the quibo at the diff and measured the distance to the propshaft and gut along the length of the propshaft. I found that when i bolt the centre bearing bracket to the chassis i have a deviation of about 15mm from the gut line. What i did was i spun the centre bearing bracket around (it is an offset bracket) which made it easier to line up the propshaft by putting spacers between the bracket and the chassis to get the propshaft as close to the same distance from the gut line along the propshaft. At this moment in time i have no more vibrations when accelerating, even under hard acceleration. Keep in mind that both my guibos are new as well as the centre bearing and carrier. I also had the nut at the diff tightened as tight as possible. (A diff specialist with the right "ring" spanner did it for me). I even had the propshaft specialist "crimp" the sleeve on the propshaft for me to prevent any possible vibrations that that could have caused) .I have just done about 2500kms in the last two weeks and have had no issues or vibrations. Where are you located?

I'm located in Bronkhorstspruit. But i haven't done any work to the car at the moment because i hadn't figured out were the problem is coming from. From my car it started as something that would happen once in a blue moon but now it happens constantly so I'm going to try buying the guibos and center bearing and install them not knowing if goldwagen has them

 

[Solo Man]

Bought the guibos from Goldwagen. Asked for Febi and that is what i got. Btw., what car are we talking about. Is it an F30? The fine tremors/vibrations are usually caused by the guibo (either or both front and rear) that is getting worn out. I am convinced that if you replace the guibo that your vibration will be gone. What i did was replace the guibo and centre bearing simultaneously and that is when i started getting a different vibration, more of a sound as if the propshaft was knocking against the chassis, not the "smooth" vibration i felt before when the guibo was worn. See the attached picture of the worn guibo. Notice how the guibo inserts are worn where they were touching the the aluminium body of the guibo which i am sure was causing the faint vibration.

 

[Mr Bless]

I'm located in Bronkhorstspruit. But i haven't done any work to the car at the moment because i hadn't figured out were the problem is coming from. From my car it started as something that would happen once in a blue moon but now it happens constantly so I'm going to try buying the guibos and center bearing and install them not knowing if goldwagen has them

Bought the guibos from Goldwagen. Asked for Febi and that is what i got. Btw., what car are we talking about. Is it an F30? The fine tremors/vibrations are usually caused by the guibo (either or both front and rear) that is getting worn out. I am convinced that if you replace the guibo that your vibration will be gone. What i did was replace the guibo and centre bearing simultaneously and that is when i started getting a different vibration, more of a sound as if the propshaft was knocking against the chassis, not the "smooth" vibration i felt before when the guibo was worn. See the attached picture of the worn guibo. Notice how the guibo inserts are worn where they were touching the the aluminium body of the guibo which i am sure was causing the faint vibration.

Yes it's an f30. But when i got it it didn't have any vibration it started gradually but only comes when i pull off hardly especially in gear 1 and gear it goes faint then on the other gears i don't hear it. Also having a problem with my gauge shows there's fuel in the tank but there's nothing i think have to buy the whole tank there

 

[Mr Bless]

Bought the guibos from Goldwagen. Asked for Febi and that is what i got. Btw., what car are we talking about. Is it an F30? The fine tremors/vibrations are usually caused by the guibo (either or both front and rear) that is getting worn out. I am convinced that if you replace the guibo that your vibration will be gone. What i did was replace the guibo and centre bearing simultaneously and that is when i started getting a different vibration, more of a sound as if the propshaft was knocking against the chassis, not the "smooth" vibration i felt before when the guibo was worn. See the attached picture of the worn guibo. Notice how the guibo inserts are worn where they were touching the the aluminium body of the guibo which i am sure was causing the faint vibration.

Yes it's an f30. When i got it it was quiet but then it started making that sound gradually but it only comes when I'm pulling off in gear 1 and 2 especially on steeps and if i pull off a bit harshly.