engine rattle

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   Just in case he does come back to read the post Pete   lol
The lay shaft, or idle shaft, in the bmw box is a notorious weak point in the box itself. They can rattle for thousands of miles without issue, something to do with the shims that are used to take up the float in the shaft wearing I believe. My E30 box used to have that problem and rattled for 35K without any problem before the box was upgraded.
Cheers
Rob

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Madrab Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Really Senior Member II Joined: 21-November-2003 Location: Scotland Status: Offline Points: 569	Post Options Post Reply Quote Madrab Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 21-September-2006 at 13:16
	Just in case he does come back to read the post Pete lol The lay shaft, or idle shaft, in the bmw box is a notorious weak point in the box itself. They can rattle for thousands of miles without issue, something to do with the shims that are used to take up the float in the shaft wearing I believe. My E30 box used to have that problem and rattled for 35K without any problem before the box was upgraded. Cheers Rob
	1990 E3o 325i Touring and she's definately a she! Pain in the ass sometimes but goes like a bunny :oD

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lawrencekellyuk Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 13-August-2006 Location: cheshire/manchester Status: Offline Points: 15	Post Options Post Reply Quote lawrencekellyuk Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 24-September-2006 at 20:57
	I think bmwfool's post shold have been worded differently, to avoid the maf red herring: there's something that rattles when the car vibrates, and it stops when the clutch is pressed. the fact that it's a stuffed MAF is irrelevant, it'd still make the rattles if the MAF was fine but there was bad plugs in there or something. The rattle's the problem, it only occours under certain conditions, the cause of the conditions is not the cause of the problem. That said, if the 'box is OK or can be fixed, get the MAF fixed; running on 3 is never going to be good. Heavy vibrations will knacker engine mounts, bash cats and the exhaust about, lead to odd stress on the crank, cause petrol to go unburnt in 3 pots, which in turn will lead to bore-wash and also fuel entering the exhaust, which will get to the cat too. Bad news all round.

Andyboy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Banned User Joined: 04-June-2003 Status: Offline Points: 707	Post Options Post Reply Quote Andyboy Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 26-September-2006 at 17:36
	I agree with BMW care. Beemerfool - read this and take note. About ten years I worked for an Alfa Romeo garage and did a few 'homers' at the weekend. One such job was to replace the gearbox on an Alfasud Sprint which was 'rattling like a b****rd' at idle. Indeed it was - it sounded like someone had tipped ballgearings into a food mixer. It just so happens that the car had been subject to a top end rebuild at a very dodgy Alfa specialist in Bristol who would have been more at home breaking rocks than working on alloy headed flat four motors. The first thing I noticed was that the car ran 'off beat'. These Suds always had a distictive 'thrum' but this one idled with an irregular 'put-put-put-put' from the tailpipe. With the clutch dipped the gearbox rattle went away. Whipping the cam covers off, I quickly determined that the cam timing was out on one bank. 40 minutes later the timing was reset. Result; a smooth idle and no gearbox noise whatsoever. Gearbox rattles are 99.9% caused by poor running. As an aside; my 730i (5 speed manual Getrag 260) has 261'000 miles on the clock. It rattles like a sod when shutting off. It did it 60'000 miles ago, it still does it now. It's a common layshaft shim thing and as long as there is oil in the 'box it should be okay. A secondhand manual box is as cheap as chips anyway, �150 tops and 2.5 hours labour to fit. If it does pack up, throw your �2000 car away in my direction!