My 1999 323i convertible (E36) vibrates hard between 60 and 65 mph - my local highway speeds. The alignment is also a bit off - it drifts to the right. Looking for advice on how to proceed.
The vibration started ~6 months ago after I had the transmission replaced. The shop that did the transmission (Garage #1) told me I should replace the front tie rods and that one of the shocks was blown. This didn't make sense to me since the vibrations were only at high speeds and they started right after the transmission was replaced.
Since it felt like Garage #1 was blowing me off, I tried looking into other causes.
Wheel balance - not the issue
I was getting new tires anyway. After getting the new tires, the vibration continued. I had the tire shop re-balance the wheels with the new tires a second time just to be sure. The vibration continued.
Brakes - not the issue
I took the car to Garage #2 - a big US chain that offered a free brake check. They said everything was fine. No sticking calipers or anything. They also inspected the suspension system and suggested replacing the struts to address the vibration but didn't say anything about one being blown.
Alignment - not the issue
I took the car to Garage #3 and they wanted an alignment done before going further. The vibration continued afterwards and the car still drifts to the right.
Driveline - possibly the issue?
At Garage #3, their tech couldn't figure it out so the owner went out for a test drive with me. He thought it might be the guibo / flex disk. Garage #3 later put the car up on a rack and thought that the driveline was out of balance - it likely wasn't re-installed correctly after the transmission was replaced by Garage #1. Garage #3 didn't want to try balancing the drive line, saying it was outside of their expertise.
I've looked through my receipt from the transmission replacement and Garage #1 did replace the guibo when they did the transmission.
Looking forward, I'd like Garage #1 to attempt to re-balance the drive line. Seems like it will be an uphill battle though since their diagnosis was to replace shocks and tie rods.
Advice I could use:
1. How likely is it that the driveline wasn't rebalanced properly after replacing the transmission?
2. If that is the real culprit, how can I convince Garage #1 to re-balance it for me, especially since it feels like they're blowing me off?
3. Should I even trust Garage #1 to rebalance the driveline if they messed it up the first time?
4. And why is the car still drifting to the right after getting the alignment done?
Center support bearing needs pre loaded. You can search how to preload it. Basically pulling it toward the front of the car before tightening the two bolts.
unless the DS was separated, I don’t see how it’s not balanced still.
as for drifting, front control arm bushings, front control
arms Etc are a wear item. Check the rubber and balljoints for play. At the minimum, replace FCABs.
Thanks for your reply!
Sorry for the dumb follow up question here - so you think the problem is that the center support bearing wasn't pre-loaded when the driveshaft was re-installed? That's what's causing the vibration?
On the drifting, I had the front control arm bearings and bushings replaced at the same time as the transmission. What are the odds they weren't installed correctly vs something else being wrong?
Sorry but I'm gonna say what needs to be said. You're the kind of customer every shop hates dealing with. You ignored the first shops diagnosis, and now you're in the game of "he said she said" pitting shops diagnosis against each other. You arent fixing it yourself, whether it be due to lack of time or skill. This means you're at the mercy of whatever the technicians tell you.
I understand you're mad and frustrated after spending a lot of money and still not having your car work right. But usually it's best to keep the repairs all in the same house so that if things do go wrong, you have some recourse. If you keep going down this route, you will spend even more money at multiple shops. And each shop is going to blame the other one when things don't work out.
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Sounds like the outer ball joint directly under the strut.
Attn. NEWBIES: Use the search feature, 98% has already been discussed.
Click the search button, select "search single content type", select the "e36 sub forum" specifically, try the "search titles" then try the "search entire posts".
CSB pre-loading info https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...center+bearing
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