Intermittent heavy shaking

[miks15]

Afternoon all,

Have an issue which has started occurring on my 318i Touring.

I have been getting some heavy shaking/vibration through the car when driving, its also accompanied by a fairly loud droning noise. It tends to happen at around 70mph - but not all the time. It seems to come and go, and only occurs around 10/15 minutes in to a drive. For example, on my commute this morning I had the following:

10mins Town driving - no issue
5mins dual carriageway - started shaking when I got to 70mph and continued for this stretch of road
On the exit of the dual carriageway I noticed a good bit of brake judder which I don't usually have
Was still shaking a bit as I joined the next road at around 40mph but the shaking eased off
10mins later I joined the motorway and noticed it shaking again as I got up to speed but it then eased off to normal driving after a few minutes again.

My first thought is a wheel bearing on the way out as it seems to not be purely speed related and having the brake judder. Anyone experienced anything like this before and have any other ideas what it might be?

Thanks.

[Rusty318IS]

Can’t help thinking this could be the centre prop shaft bearing/mount. I remember similar symptoms on my 318 some years back.
Hopefully one of the experts will be along shortly to give some thoughts on this, in the meantime I’d give the propshaft a wiggle and see if the mount is kapot!

[miks15]

Thanks Rusty,

I considered centre bearing but thought that would be more consistent if it was, but I will definitely give it a look now!

It "feels" as though its coming from the front end but could just be getting fooled by the feel through the steering wheel!

[Tineca]

None firing cylinder?

[miks15]

I put the car in neutral and let it coast to rule out anything engine related causing the issue. The exact same level of vibration and noise stayed even with the engine at idle so it must be something drivetrain related.

[MrBenn]

Hmmm, possibly the diff? Checked the oil level? That is if we are ruling out wheel bearings.

[miks15]

Hadn't considered the diff to be honest, is there any easy way to check the oil level? Other than draining and seeing how much comes out?

[Cloggy Saint]

Remove the filler plug, if nothing drains out then it needs topping up.

[paultv]

If it's coming from the front I'd seriously check out the guibo as prime suspect..... then the rest of the drive train....also your wheel mounts...all tight and torqued up? There was case recently of a member on here losing a front wheel..

Paul

[miks15]

Thanks Paul.... I don't think its the wheel bolts... but im defintiely going to check them tonight just in case now you've said it!

Thanks for the advice everyone, I'll try get the car up on axle stands this weekend and have a good look over the entire drivetrain for any obvious issues!

[boxclever1753]

I had a weird vibration on my E46 convertible that sounds really similar. After a lot of hunting down it was traced to a loose balancing weight that had been caught near the dust shield on the rear brake. It only came to light when changing the wheels and the weight dropped out - and never to have the same vibration again.

Took a couple of months of head scratching and a few unnecessary replaced parts - drop links, control arms.

Do the simple first - tyre pressures, wheel nuts, wheel balance etc.

[twright]

Your symptoms can also be caused by a slightly dragging brake caliper. This can be found by driving the car for a while and then stopping. Feel the outside of each wheel. The one that is dragging will be quite warm.

Change the caliper at the warm wheel .