Blown drive shaft...
 

My awesome little ti has finally started showing some signs of its age. I have a 1998 ti with 276k miles on it. The motor is strong but the original clutch is starting to slip a tad and now there is a vibration around 3200 rpm in 1st and 2nd. I took her into my mechanic and he told me the joints in the drive shaft are gone and the drive shaft is basically a jump rope. He said I could have the drive shaft rebuilt but he thought it would be better to get a new one for it.

He quoted around $700 for the new drive shaft and $700 for the new clutch. No question about fixing it.. but I am wondering if the price is normal or is it over priced?

Not sure you guys remember this one, it has the factory M package (body parts) and the California roof (cloth based).

http://www.penguinbyte.com/images/318ti.jpg

-Beach

RUN AWAY! He is bending you over and not kissing you first.

Look up Drive line service and repair in the phone book.

A good drive line shop can rebuild yours for about 175 bucks (Maybe a tic higher if yours is physically damaged. He's quoting close to if not the price of a Dealer part.

Good Luck

Dave

We talked about getting it rebuilt, but he said it would be close to what a new one would be after pulling and shipping it off. I don't have a lot of options... I have one other local place and they wanted even more. I wish I had the time/skills to do the work myself!

Thanks for the quick reply!

-Beach

Hmm, In Portland Oregon where I live I have a choice of at least 4 or 5 shops. Typically its 25 to 30 bucks per U Joint to rebuild a drive line. Sometimes higher if they need to replace a yoke or something... But the BMW shaft uses "staked" U-joints so it is a bit of extra labor, and there are 3 Joints + the Guibo and the center bearing. Which may not need attention... I think the cost your being quoted is for the WHOLE assembly, quibo, bearing and all. Just checked Real OEM and yep but it doesn't include the guibo. There is a company thats semi nation wide called "Six States" that has a big driveline shop in Utah. Try calling them and asking for a quote at least youd have a second opinion....

Dave

I'd get under there and take a look for yourself. It might just be the center support bearing or flex disc(guibo) going bad. If it is in fact your ujoints, you could easily pick up a rebuilt one or even a used one for dirt cheap. Most automotive machine shops will balance a shaft for a small fee and I would imagine that they could rebuild one for a little more. Figure your old one lasted 276k miles, a used one off a car with 100k miles should have a lot of life left in it.

I have the same problem The u joints started binding and then destroyed the rubber around the center support bearing. Whenever i would accelerate it would rattle and i could feel it below the shift tunnel.

They are staked for sure and one look at mine I decided its going to a driveline shop.
The driveshaft is also balanced with a weight welded onto it. Make sure to mark where it is before seperating the two halves if you do the work.

The same symptoms and in my case its a matter of both u joints, a center support bearing, and a new guibo for peace of mind.

both of my u joint sections will only pivot one direction without major resistance. The other side is completely bound up and dry on both.

mine went out at 180k -190k miles with 135k of that supercharged so your's lasted quite a bit longer ^^

Why did I find your post when I was looking for the sizes of the replacement joints???

I say we find the size...plazma cut the joints in half...press them towards the center and polish the bores of the stake marks...then install joints (if we can find them) and then have it rebalanced.

Silly design.

After some looking at those "staked" things. I can just grind them out a little and the pins should press out. Kudagra we will get a chance to look at whats in there. Like my other cars its probably some kind of chewed up metal awesomeness in there.

needle bearings and grease.

Does this sound like drive shaft problem?
96 with 237k on chassis.
(new diff mount, trans mount, and engine mounts are already installed)
When slowing down-coasting-especially in 4th gear, there is a relatively loud and strong vibration that seems to come from directly below the stick. This is beginning to be noticeable in other gears too. When I touch the gas pedal, it stops, and take off my foot it comes right back.

One other question--what lubricant can I put on IE poly rtab? (The damn things make squeak, but the otherwise stock suspension (all new) handles just fine for me.)

Could be a bad center support bearing. Or maybe the flex disc.


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thanks, will crawl under and wiggle tomorrow.

Mine was $700 for a replacement.

I've noticed a vibration from 2500rpm to 3200rpm only while in 4th gear. It is a cyclical vibration and there if I am on the accelerator or not. That same rpm range in any other gear does not cause the vibration.

When I run the 17" wheels, the vibration is not present or is at least suppressed. With the 15" wheels on the vibration is there. I had the 15" wheels rebalanced but it made no difference. Vibration definitely seems to come from the trans/driveshaft.

Last time I checked the driveshaft (May '11) there was no play that I could detect. However, I was looking around under there about a month ago and saw a small crack in the guibo. Maybe it's time to do the guibo and CSB?

Got under the car last night and saw a few things.

The crappy black insulation on the trans tunnel had fallen down and rubbed against the vibration absorber and driveshaft. It was enough contact to remove the paint from the driveshaft in a few spots (I could run my fingers over it and feel a noticeable change). I fixed it so that it wouldn't rub any more.

There didn't seem to be any side-to-side or up-to-down play in the driveshaft indicating a bad CSB. However, the guibo had a lot of cracks in it (no cords showing) and I know that needs to be replaced.

It's still really weird that the vibration is only in 4th gear. The pulsing does speed up as I go through the rpms from 2500 to 3200.