SOLVED the "thumping" sound on acceleration from a dead stop.

Well I finally figured out what was wrong and had it fixed today. I hope this thread will help someone who has the same symptoms that my car had. Maybe we should have a Problems Solved section where people can post what the fixes were to their problems. Search doesn't always work well and I notice a lot of problem threads never have the solutions posted and quickly get abandoned. Anyways.........


My original problem was any acceleration from a dead stop with more than 1/4 throttle made a horrible thumping sound. Weird part was as long as I was already moving more than maybe 10mph I could hammer the throttle and there would be no noises or vibrations.

I thought it might have been my rear end and even started a thread about it. Fortunately it was something a whole lot cheaper. It wound up being the driveshaft center bearing.

Here is what it loked like when we pulled it off the car.

Looks pretty normal here...




Here is the aftermath...








The rubber surround was completely gone. I could move the driveshaft a good 2 inches when I got under the car.


I hope this helps someone out.

This is great for all of us to know, thanks for sharing, great job finding the issue!

Thanks for the update. This was a culperate in my M3. Is your car manual or automatic?

Originally Posted by m3racer08

Thanks for the update. This was a culperate in my M3. Is your car manual or automatic?

It is automatic

Thanks for sharing this with the members All-Or-Nothing. Had that issue back when I had my 540. The power our cars put out can rip these things up quickly. I believe there is an after market version that is suppose to be stronger than the OEM part.
Also, we have the DIY section that we use to post stuff like this as well, it's just that you may have to do a bit more write ups and post it there.

Originally Posted by pablo645

Thanks for sharing this with the members All-Or-Nothing. Had that issue back when I had my 540. The power our cars put out can rip these things up quickly. I believe there is an after market version that is suppose to be stronger than the OEM part.
Also, we have the DIY section that we use to post stuff like this as well, it's just that you may have to do a bit more write ups and post it there.

Honestly I was going to do a complete write-up but then I got the car jacked up and saw what all had to be removed, then the heat outside started working my sweat glands overtime and I said forget it.

Labor here is DIRT, DIRT cheap and it only cost me $30 to have it replaced at a BMW shop. I did buy the part online for $60 bucks also. No brainer.

I plan on doing a complete write-up when I WRAP my car gloss black and all my other planned mods afterwards..

I only hear the thumping sound when I take a curb....could this be the problem?

Is there a DIY for this replacement?

ill have to check mine. I was thinking the rear bearings.

Originally Posted by telecop38

Is there a DIY for this replacement?

This link should help!

http://tis.spaghetticoder.org/s/view.pl?1/00/11/76