problem with e30 318is 1991 horrible noise

[e30_black318is]

hi all

driving earlier on and all of a sudden after performing a 3 point turn this racket started coming from the front of the car and sounded like it was coming from the left hand side of the engine bay.

At first I thought maybe something has caught up underneath and was being dragged along like a branch from a tree of something but no such luck.

Its like a loud scraping/dragging noise I'm not technical at all but I would say it doesn't sound like a knocking noise.

Luckily I was a few mins from home so drove back straight away.

I've only owned the car for a few months and have hardly driven it - todsay I noticed some oil patches on the driveway so checked the oil level and it is low so I hope I havent damaged the engine - I'll be so upset with myself if I have.

The car has been running fine, takes a while to warm up but it is a 16 year old car with 152000 miles on the clock.

I can't do anything till payday but I'm gagging to know WTF is wrong with my car.

I can live with a timing chain replacement as the car was a very good price and I did budjet for this.

Like I said I'm not technical at all and I don't even know where the oil goes in the car I'm trying to find and old handbook at the moment for an old 318is I had years ago as I think the first thing I need to do is an oil top up.

To me it sounds engine related as the noise is there when driving and the accelerator is pressed.

Any ideas would be gladly welcome

thanks
Gareth

[gareth]

firstly, may i complement you on a splendid choice of name

it sounds like it might be the PAS pump from the location of the noise. is the steering behaving ok still? does turning the wheel affect the noise at all?

[fuzzy]

its definately not the power steering rack screetching after performing the 3 point turn is it?that was the starting point of mine needing replaced. used to grind and screetch randomly after that.

[e30_black318is]

hi,

thanks for the compliment Gareth - your right it is a very classy name
thanks for the feedback. If it is the PAS I'll be happy but I don't think it is, the steering seems ok but again i'm no expert and I didn't drive it long enough afterwards to notice if it was. One thing I will say is just before getting to my front door I put my foot down and the steering wheel began to judder. But one thing that sticks in my mind is that it happened just after the 3point turn.

Thing is it had a complete steering rack replacement a year ago at a cost of nearly £500, so if it is I'll be upset to say the least.

Question - when an engine is about to seize what happens - is there smoke, does the engine stop responding to the accelerator etc.

Cheers

[fuzzy]

is there a lack of power or roughness about the engine as compared to normal? it sounds to me that its more likely to be steering or suspension related with steering being my first thought but if its had a new rack or more likely a recon rack at that price then who knows. get underneath and have a good poke around for anything that doesnt look right. you never know it could be something easy.

[e30_black318is]

hi fuzzy

there's a e30 addict who lives up the road - he owns a mint e reg m3 evo 11 in a rare silver colour with just 60k on the clock - I knocked for him earlier but he wasn't in.

I'm going to have to take the car out for a drive again to be honest with you fuzzy, but I didn't notice anything but I was in panic mode, so there could have been a lack of power but I suppose I would have noticed if there was.

[gareth]

it may not be the rack, i'd guess at more likey being the pump. lucky if it is as it's an easy DIY swap that will take a few hours max.

[e30_black318is]

power steering pump - how much technical expertise would one need to repair this.

Well curosity got the better of me so I fired her up, so far so good, reved her up fine, reversed out the drive fine and drove off noise completely gone, power fine etc.

So panic mode switched off - phew.

One thing that I did notice was that the steering is heavy compared to my old 318 is, but its nicer this way and feels beautufully weighted - I put this down to a new rack. and the fact the old 318is I had back on 1999 had a massive 180k when I bought it, it only cost me £1200 at the time which was quite cheap. So I don't know if the two are related or not.

Anyway I'll look into your advice Gareth thanks a lot m8

[Brianmoooore]

and the fact the old 318is I had back on 1999 had a massive 180k when I bought it

180k is massive to a Ford, Vauxhall, or some French sh**e, possibly, but to an E30 it's nicely run in!

[Dave_M3]

and the fact the old 318is I had back on 1999 had a massive 180k when I bought it

180k is massive to a Ford, Vauxhall, or some French sh**e, possibly, but to an E30 it's nicely run in!

Haha, great oportunity as always for Brian to get his Dig at other inferior marques

I reckon it is a faulty pump to be honest as my iS is heavy compared to my track iS and it also makes more whinning noises on full lock compared to the other one.

Well, if your a new to messing around with cars and their parts inside, A E30 is the best thing to have to learn. I'm not saying they're unreliable but there is always something extra you can fit or something new you can upgrade old parts to. I find I never get tired of taking my E30s apart even for a small little item. But if I had to do something to some new car with all its DIY unfriendly parts and awkwardness I'd throw it into a skip unless I was being paid

[e30_black318is]

to be honest I would rather do it myself - its not even the couple of hours labour cost - but the satisfaction of doing it yourself and beating the BMW dlr network.

Yeah for a car that has 152000 on the clock its an amazingly tight drive. I just wish it had under 80k on the clock as i would do some serious upgrading. but to be honest I bought it as a cheap run about and even though there's is loads of life left I'm looking for another black or laser blue 318is with a totally full history and less than 100k before I start upgrading.

that said there's a couple of cheap mods I might attempt for example the short shift from the Z3 sounds well worth its weight in gold

thanks lads.