E46 diff mountings

[Adam CD P1]

So I've been driving the old girl since August 2014 with very little issues. Replaced the driveshaft when the bushings went and replaced the solenoid when that went. Other then that just basic maintenance suspension bushings & ball joints etc. My problem is the diff mountings seem to be gone. There's a bang followed by squeaks of metal on metal every time I go up or down the gears. It seems to be holding up well (for 171,000 miles) has anyone got any experience with these or a problem like this ? I want to fix it cheap before something exits stage left haha

[Midnightclub]

Does sound a bit like diff bushes. Best bet is just to have a look, you can see them just by glancing under the car with a torch. I'd like to bet it's more than likely the rear bush (there's 3 total).

Mine need doing to but nowhere near as bad as you've describe yet, got some powerflex ready to fit.

[Adam CD P1]

Does sound a bit like diff bushes. Best bet is just to have a look, you can see them just by glancing under the car with a torch. I'd like to bet it's more than likely the rear bush (there's 3 total).

Mine need doing to but nowhere near as bad as you've describe yet, got some powerflex ready to fit.

Cheers dude I'll have a look later on and see what condition there in. Are they easy to replace ? Car's mechanically pretty perfect aside from that

[welshpug]

subframe bushes are more common than diff moubtings, though on the E46 the rear floor can crack around the mountings, so if there's a metallic noise i would definitely check them asap.

[Midnightclub]

Probably take a few hours to do them, depending on how you remove the bush. Quicker to replace if you use powerflex over oem though

Welshpug is right about the floors though, symptoms are similar to. Jack it up and check those at the same time

[Adam CD P1]

Well that would be my luck for it to be cracked rofl. If your not careful pulling off the whole rear end shakes and squeaks like mad haha. I'll have a check of the diff and subframe this evening if it dries up. Didn't get a chance yesterday giving a friend a driving lesson. Thanks guys much appreciated

[Adam CD P1]

Probably take a few hours to do them, depending on how you remove the bush. Quicker to replace if you use powerflex over oem though

Welshpug is right about the floors though, symptoms are similar to. Jack it up and check those at the same time

   

So that's just behind the exhaust back box around the rear passenger side subframe mount. Metal has torn all around it. I'm now slightly out of my depth. Don't mind dropping the axle out and fixing it but do you know is there any easy way around this ?

[welshpug]

find an m car specialist, afraid i wouldn't have a clue over in ireland, its particularly common on the M3, and with others getting on a bit im not surprised to see lower power versions suffering too.

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there is no "easy way" subframe off and weld it.

[Midnightclub]

You can buy a subframe reinforcement plate kit, basically they'll repair the cracks as best they can and then weld the plates over the top. Generally they'll fill the cavity with reinforcing foam to help stop the rear end flexing.

That's if it isn't too far gone, could well need a whole new rear floor welding in which tbh it would be worth getting another one as it'll be cheaper than the repair job

[Adam CD P1]

I'm thinking of getting the reinforcement kit but not too sure. The car is mechanically perfect aside from that so I'm just trying to work out if it's really worth spending all that money on rather then letting it go to someone else

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I have a really good specialist who would be able to do all of the work but I dread to think how much it's gonna cost me

[Midnightclub]

Well there's a company this way, including all the reinforcement foam from BMW etc.. they charge £1300 all in for an M3 which is pretty similar in what they do. It's a pretty involved process.

http://www.redish-motorsport.com/E46M3Fl...ement.html

Imagine someone local would be much cheaper however. The plates themselves aren't that expensive though

[Adam CD P1]

Well there's a company this way, including all the reinforcement foam from BMW etc.. they charge £1300 all in for an M3 which is pretty similar in what they do. It's a pretty involved process.

http://www.redish-motorsport.com/E46M3Fl...ement.html

Imagine someone local would be much cheaper however. The plates themselves aren't that expensive though

I had a look at that, Was interested in it but not in paying so much as it is an old car at the end of the day, as a daily it has to be financially viable. I took it to a specialist today to see what they could do and it was going to cost around €500 or more so I just left it. Gonna sell it and get a new daily soon

[Midnightclub]

Yeah fair enough tbh, although realistically you aren't going to get much for it. May well be better off breaking it if it's fairly well specced

[Adam CD P1]

Yeah fair enough tbh, although realistically you aren't going to get much for it. May well be better off breaking it if it's fairly well specced

It's really well specced for what it is. Walnut dash, climate control etc it's nice. I think it'll be easy enough to sell though the Donegal rally is next weekend and every other lad going down will want a rear wheel drive car so they can weld the diff and thrash it for the weekend lol. Not exactly where I'd want to see it go but it is what it is

[Midnightclub]

Easy to sell, with the rear floor all torn up? Welded diff will only make that substantially worse.. wouldn't surprise me if the subframe came away from the floor entirely

[Adam CD P1]

Yep these guys buy cars literally just to do doughnuts for the weekend they don't care what happens to the car. I've already been offered 500 for I but I said no I'm gonna try get more for it but I'd be happy enough with that considering scrap value etc