Suspension/Steering Noise when turning right

[BimmerBum]

Originally Posted by ShortE36

- wouldn't the wheel bearing make a noise at all speeds and irregarless of what direction or am I experiencing the beginning of it failing?

If you let a bad one go for a while it will not matter what direction you are going... you will hear it going straight down the road eventually. When the start to go you will experience pretty much what you have described.

Tranny mounts are hour-glass shaped... new.

[tiFreak]

might be a transmission sychronizer, I know other people have had the same problem, I'm not sure how they fixed it

[ShortE36]

Took it to a parking lot this weekend and cranked the wheel all the way to the left. Drove in a few circles and no noise. Cranked it all the way to the right, did the circle routine @ approx. 2-5mph and its as loud and present as ever. Does that help anyone?

[rholbrook]

When it's cold my ti does the same thing. I found some literature awhile back and apparently there is some exhaust insulation or something that gets loose and rubs on the driveshaft, accentuated in turns. After 5 minutes it goes away. The sound comes from underneath the shifter? It hasn't been a bog anough annoyance or problem to fix it yet. Good luck.

"I finally got this fixed, and the problem/solution was
quite a surprise to me. I tried everything that was
recommended and was coming to the conclusion that this
was NOT a wheel bearing although the noise did get
louder during breaking and while turning left. Since
the noise would be gone by the time I got to my
mechanic because the car warmed up, I dropped it off
at the shop before they closed Wednesday evening. I
told him to leave it outside and drive it cold in the
morning for 5 minutes. I was told the tunnel
insulation at the driveshaft was rubbing. He couldn't
explain why it was making the noise only when the
driveline was cold, but the car isn't doing it now! He
charged me $60 bucks to fix it. Well worth it to me
since it was really pissing me off. Hope this helps."

[mohaughn]

Originally Posted by ShortE36

Took it to a parking lot this weekend and cranked the wheel all the way to the left. Drove in a few circles and no noise. Cranked it all the way to the right, did the circle routine @ approx. 2-5mph and its as loud and present as ever. Does that help anyone?

That is the classic test for wheel bearings... Sounds like one of them is shot.

I'm not really sure what you mean when you say that it looks like the top of the transmission mount is coming off the bottom, but a failed motor mount will allow the entire drive line to twist and the transmission will move around on its mounts. If you have a failed transmission mount, it is safe to assume that the motor mounts are also pretty worn.

[ShortE36]

OK so one more fly in the ointment. And this may just be a compounded problem but I checked the power steering fluid tonight while the vehicle was cold (parked for more than 5 hours). I read the dipstick to mean it was over-filled. There's the first notch closest to the bottom of the dipstick, which is what I think it should be at when it's cold, then there's the second notch where I think it should be when it's hot. The fluid is above the second notch, upwards towards the cap. Is this over-filled?

[drrty byl]

^ I wouldn't worry about the PS reservoir being slightly overfilled unless you're hearing noises or having other steering problems.

I second the motor mount diagnosis based on your description. I had the same symptoms at one point, and after replacing both front bearings they didn't go away. Upon closer inspection I noticed that the right motor mount had snapped in half near the top. The grinding sound was from the two pieces of rubber/metal sliding on one another.

[ShortE36]

Noticed this as well:

When slowing down to go around a turn, then downshifting as I get around it, the noise/vibration frequency increases with the engine speed as the RPMs jump up a bit. This is usually from 3rd to 2nd but notice that it's not vehicle speed specific but definitely engine speed specific.

Also noticed that when driving uphill if I accelerate, then suddenly take my foot off the gas, I get the noise when going in a straight line. Also, when going downhill, I don't have to do much to get a tiny bit/beginning of the noise/vibration to kick in. This was all while driving in some heavy rain. Heavy enough to get some water on the belts and cause a tad bit of slipping.

Not sure if the rain has anything to do with whatever has failed but I'm now starting to think this may be a failed driver side engine mount. I've totally gone off the possibility of this being a bearing because of the increase in frequency with engine speed.

Can someone help me with this one? What could it be that would be causing this vibration in the entire car & floor that when downshifting, would increase in frequency with the engine speed?

[///MptyPockets]

I have the EXACT same problem. Started happening about a month ago and has seemed to progress. It seems as though I used to have to turn right pretty hard for it to happen -- now the slightest turn to the right makes that vibrating/rubbing noise.. I have no idea what it could be and it's driving me nuts!!

If it's any help at all.. I had my ball joints replaced about a month and half ago. It seemed to start happening right after that.. could that be related? Anyone have any ideas?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in adavance,

Derrick

[ShortE36]

Thanks for replying Derrick. I can't necessarily say that the ball joint replacement may have had anything to do with it as I haven't even been able to solve the puzzle yet. I am however leaning towards a broken engine mount. I just haven't had the time to get to it or even troubleshoot that. I'm not quite sure how to troubleshoot it but a simple test someone mentioned didn't really provide any conclusive evidence. The test was to pop the hood, rev the engine and look to see for any excessive movement but didn't appear out of the ordinary relative to my other BMW engines in the past. Someone had also mentioned a broken strut may be the cause but as far as handling goes, even when I get that noise, the handling is still fine. Will 1 broken strut cause an noticeable difference in day to day driving/handling?

[BimmerBum]

Originally Posted by ///MptyPockets

I have the EXACT same problem. Started happening about a month ago and has seemed to progress. It seems as though I used to have to turn right pretty hard for it to happen -- now the slightest turn to the right makes that vibrating/rubbing noise.. I have no idea what it could be and it's driving me nuts!!

If it's any help at all.. I had my ball joints replaced about a month and half ago. It seemed to start happening right after that.. could that be related? Anyone have any ideas?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in adavance,

Derrick

My vote is very strong for wheel bearing... even though that is not met with much acceptance.

[///MptyPockets]

Originally Posted by ShortE36

Thanks for replying Derrick. I can't necessarily say that the ball joint replacement may have had anything to do with it as I haven't even been able to solve the puzzle yet. I am however leaning towards a broken engine mount. I just haven't had the time to get to it or even troubleshoot that. I'm not quite sure how to troubleshoot it but a simple test someone mentioned didn't really provide any conclusive evidence. The test was to pop the hood, rev the engine and look to see for any excessive movement but didn't appear out of the ordinary relative to my other BMW engines in the past. Someone had also mentioned a broken strut may be the cause but as far as handling goes, even when I get that noise, the handling is still fine. Will 1 broken strut cause an noticeable difference in day to day driving/handling?

It's funny that you mention a broken strut because I was kind of thinking that.. It surely makes sense with the "thud" after hitting a speed bump. I know you mentioned that too. Same thing here. I just checked up the car on both side turned the wheel both ways and can't really determine anything visually out of the ordinary.

I'm also half leaning towards a wheel bearing because when I listen very carefully on a straight road there seems to be a little noise on the passenger side -- but would a wheel bearing really make that "rubbing/vibrating" noise?? And if it was a wheel bearing wouldn't it do it all the time and NOT just turning right? I would definitely rule out the power steering pump that you mentioned too because if it was that, it would do it no matter which way you turned.

I have one other symptom that I didn't see you mention -- my car sometimes pulls to the left when driving straight.. not all the time. Just sometimes.


Quick recap of my symptoms...

1.) excessive rubbing when turning right and ONLY right. Increases when accelerating around a corner and the faster I go the less I have to turn the wheel to hear the sound...

2.) an empty "thud" when hitting a speed bump or any large bump

3.) pulling to left when driving straight at times / a.k.a bad handleing..

Does this sound like a bad passenger side strut? Is there some way I can easily or quickly test this to be sure before I drop a few hundred on struts?

Thanks for your feedback!

Derrick

[BimmerBum]

Originally Posted by ///MptyPockets

I'm also half leaning towards a wheel bearing because when I listen very carefully on a straight road there seems to be a little noise on the passenger side -- but would a wheel bearing really make that "rubbing/vibrating" noise??

Yes.

And if it was a wheel bearing wouldn't it do it all the time and NOT just turning right?

No.


Quick recap of my symptoms...

1.) excessive rubbing when turning right and ONLY right. Increases when accelerating around a corner and the faster I go the less I have to turn the wheel to hear the sound...

Wheel bearing.

2.) an empty "thud" when hitting a speed bump or any large bump

Could be wheel bearing.

3.) pulling to left when driving straight at times / a.k.a bad handleing..

Wheel bearing.

I have had bad struts and bad wheel bearings. The symptoms being described here would cause me to order and replace the wheel bearing with every expectation the problem would be solved.

[ShortE36]

Looks like I've got a totally broken passenger side motor mount. If I'm looking at the picture correctly, It looks like the motor has completely moved off of the mount and the rubber is sheared/ripped. Let me know your thoughts. I also included a pic of the engine bay so you can see that the engine appears to have shifted a bit to the driver side. You can notice the air intake bellow looks compressed.

[BMW_318TI]

Same problem here when truning right I hear clunk noise.

Already replaced:
Front wheel bearings.
Meye control arms.
Meyle control arms for steering.

I think it's shockabsorber bearing?