Hey I was wondering if any of you guys have replaced your drive shaft bearings before and what that may involve. Such as, whether or not it is something that I can do myself or if it is something for a professional to do. Any responses or advice would be greatly appreciated. I just got this 2000 328i three weeks ago with 148,000 on her and I am trying to get her back up to par with where she should be. I so far have been able to do all of the regular fluid and filter changes, tie rod ends(inner and outer), front wheel hubs myself. The only thing that I had to take her in for was for the tranny flush and fill. So far she runs and drives great with a little minor annoyance of what seems to be a centrifugal misalignment during acceleration and while coasting between 2150 and 2200 rpm consistently throughout all speeds. Which has led me to believe that it could be a drive shaft issue. Again any response would be awesome. Thanks again.
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E46 Drive shaft bearing replacement
- Thread starter Tchappell
- Start date
are you talking about the center prop shaft bearing?
if it is then its a very easy DIY :rollsmile:
Here is a pretty detailed DIY
if it is then its a very easy DIY :rollsmile:
Here is a pretty detailed DIY
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SP33DYV
Guest
I would rather look at the "guibo" to resolve the centrifugal misalignment during acceleration. This is the rubber disc that connects the drive shaft to the gearbox output shaft. While doing this you might as well replace the center drive shaft bearing as well. This is not very difficult to do if you have the right tools. You have to put the car on jack stands or a lift. Then you remove the exhaust, as it is below the drive shaft. Then remove the "guibo", six bolts and nuts. Check alignment markings on drive shaft, remove bearing and half the drive shaft. Replace drive shaft center bearing, guibo and the nuts and bolts on the "guibo". Very easy if you have the right tools and very difficult using jack stands. I know.:bangdesk:Tchappell said:
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SP33DYV
Guest
The e46's drive shaft is marked, well mine was. Looks like factory markings. Just had to line up the dots again.
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like the others said may as well replace the guibo while you there its not a hard DIY just follow the link i posted and you should not have any problems 
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SP33DYV
Guest
IIRC the tape comes with the center bearing, or at least something similar already attached to the bearing housing. I bought it from the stealers.Tchappell said:
i would add some tape if its not on the bearing you get to insulate against noise...
Tchappell said:
I think you'll need to replace the exhaust gasket if you're dropping the exhaust. I've been to two exhaust shops and neither could help me without seeing the existing gasket first.
SP33DYV said:
Can the lock nuts and bolts replaced by anything of the same size? BMW asks about R25 per nut, which amounts to crazy money if you replace all 6 nuts and bolts on the flex disc alone.
According to the Bentley manual one has to "clean and lubricate the splines with molybdenum disulphide grease (Molykote Longterm 2 or equivalent)". Would Castrol MS Grease be suitable for this? On the container it says it "is a lithium based NLGI 2 multi-purpose grease containing a proportion of Molybdenum Disulphide".
moranor@axis said:
I bought the bearing assembly at Goldwagen (Hans Pries Europart brand). It didn't come with any tape or dust caps. Where can the dust caps (and circlip) be bought? How much play (in terms of the thickness of the butyl tape) are allowed between the bearing assemble and bodywork?
Btw, I paid R140 for the bearing assembly. BMW charges more than R1000. I know stealer prices are a rip-off but is this Hans Pries bearing assembly any good?
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SP33DYV
Guest
I bought all my parts from the dealers, including the flex disc. The center bearing comes with everything that's required. The bearing in the aluminium housing and the tape already attached to the bearing housing. The nuts and bolts were not as expensive when I replaced mine and BMW gave me 25% discount on the parts.
I did not have to replace the exhaust gasket. I just re-used the original ones.
The Castrol MS grease should be fine. I can't remember what I used. I replaced mine in 2009.
I did not have to replace the exhaust gasket. I just re-used the original ones.
The Castrol MS grease should be fine. I can't remember what I used. I replaced mine in 2009.
To sp33dyv when you replaced the gasket were you able to replace the bolt for the exhaust to manifold. Because I won't be able to because the bolts from the exhaust manifold are rusted beyond belief. They will need to be cut off and drilled out unfortunately, and I am guessing that I will need to buy new exhaust manifolds!?!?
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SP33DYV
Guest
I was able to re-use the same bolts on the exhaust. This is the connection roughly in the middle of the car. So just ahead of the two small boxes. I just sprayed them with Q10 before removing them.Tchappell said:
