My 2000 540i with 145k miles just started doing the same sound. My clanking can be heard while going 20mph, 45mph and while going uphill or on the power. I went underneath and turn the drive shaft and heard it where it connects to the differential. I will be removing the exhaust Thursday to get down to it. Awesome video! Thant was smart. Did you figure out what was up with yours?

 

Hi everyone,

Just figured I'd update you. I still have the issue, and the clunking is progressively getting worse. I've talked to my uncle who is a car mechanic and he said it's the U-Joint that is starting to go bad. The drive shaft is hollow and as such, any noise in the u-joint will resonate in the drive-shaft as a tinging noise.

I did some more research, and amusingly, since most soviet cars have RWD, there are quite a few videos describing this exact symptom and the cause. Unfortunately, and correct me if I am wrong, but our u-joint is not replaceable. So really, we're looking at a re-manufactured drive-shaft.

The tinging is just the beginning of the disintegration of the u-joint, and it's when it starts to vibrate at speeds is when it's definitely time to replace. However, replacing now would not be a bad idea either.

 

Great video!

Yeah, I don't think the u-joint is replaceable unfortunately.

To answer your side-question, the knock when releasing the clutch is more likely to be a fault with the dual-mass flywheel or clutch.

 

Liking the Christmas tree lights... You have to love this day and age where you can just drop a camera on the ground and roll over it.. OR buy a borescope for 10 bucks and look inside your cylinder... AMAZING

 

The video is back from March, and because in our neck of the woods snow stays up until end of April with random snow storms in May, Christmas lights are still appropriate

Yeah, amazing times. Doctors can 3D print a titanium rib cage, we're looking into the first days after the big bang and how the universe was .... but BMW couldn't manufacture a driveshaft that would last longer than 100-120K miles

 

Yeah I'm building this picture now.. the 3d Titanium rib cage was from starting to take down the lights... AND AND AND BMW STILL CANT MAKE PLASTIC in the name of planned obsolesce..
I had a couple years where I just left them up all year.. just got too busy.. but my comment was really, I did like the lights up.. I think we should all hard wire them.. LOL going back to my booozee.

 

Ive heard this noise so many times its not even funny...

Most of the times its Dry U joints causeing sound to travel down the hollow shaft making it almost amplify
I have seen spray lube on the ujoints and center support bearing
Ive seen removal and reinstall of the drive shaft fix that as well..

and ive seen replacement fix it...

IME Id leave it and worry about something more critical then little noises that annoy

 

Well, you see... when your german car sounds like a cow with a bell on it's neck and it's that thing that turns heads on the street, for me it's usually something that needs adressing Although I do agree with you - I won't be doing anything to it this year, we'll revisit it next summer.

 

Have you gone underneath the vehicle with the rear end up on jacks, and front fully choked and trying to rock the shaft back and forth?

It could also be a worn suspension bushing like im having.

 

Yes I have, but either weak wrists, or just not enough leverage when doing it from either the guibo side or the differential end. But then again, the noise was never present when the car was on a hoist with no load on the wheels, so with this in mind, I doubt the sound can be reproduced without significant load on the driveshaft, which is what we would get when starting in 1st or reverse.

For anyone that understands russian, or just wants to see the issue with other cars, here's the video I was referring to with russian cars (starting around 2:31 is the sound/issue referred to in this topic):

https://youtu.be/gKSCJm8aAJA?t=157

 

Also, found a fantastic video that a guy made in replacing his drive shaft for this exact problem (due to a shot u-joint). Quality may not be professional, but given that this is one of the more comprehensive videos that I found, I think it's worthwhile to throw it in here. Thanks to them for going the extra mile and filming this process.

https://youtu.be/rkIGg8hwdVM