e30 325ix front end noise

[zinger]

the temptation got to me. Just this sunday i picked up a 89 325ix with only 114,000 miles. I haven't had time to get my hands in it, flush fluids or anything, and had to leave town yesterday for work. Knowing i shouldn't have, i took her the 30 mile trip to the airport - it was just too tempting not to drive. At the last stop light before the airport garage i got a loud ticking noise coming from what i think is the driver side wheel. The noise accelerates as the car moves faster - but it is not tied to engine rev's and goes away when the car is in park or neutral. It does seem to accelerate when the car is in drive and my foot is on the brake. Any suggestions? i have no fluids or tools with me, there is gas station about a mile away and my garage is about 30 miles away. I'm thinking about nursing it home and diagnosis from there - but don't want to screw anything up permanently - thanks

[Jeron]

I need to know more about what cause the noise to change.

Possibly a belt, pulley or the mechanical fan.

[zinger]

honestly it just appeared. I was cruising around 70 on the freeway, exited and then stopped at a light. When i accelerated it appeared. my gut tells me it has something to do with the front end dif. slipping or not engaging or something.

[Jeron]

it could be the tranny but not the diff since you are stopped. I would start simple with the items I mentioned.

[zinger]

will do. i'm flying back in tomorrow and will check those items in the airport garage. thanks for the advice. hopefully this will have a happy ending.

[zinger]

alright, i nursed her home from the airport and did some checking along the way. the noise sounds like a "clank" then "chirp". it only makes it when the transmission is engaged and i'm accelerating. no noise in neutral at any engine revs and no noise in drive when going downhill, or coasting. also it seems to get less intense the faster i go - over 45mph i can barely hear it. i'm going to get underneath tomorrow and see what i can find. let me know if there is anything i should focus on - thanks

[zinger]

here are some photos to detail what i found as the source of the noise. i plan on doing the dif. fluids and tranny fluid this week so the car will be up for a few days. i plan on checking to see if any of the bolts are loose in the area but let me know of any suggestions. thanks.

[Jeron]

I know very little about xi's.

The Yellow arrow is the input flange to the front final drive unit.
The Red arrow is the guibo/flex disk on the front axle.

The Yellow unit is bolted to the engine/tranny but that whole assembly can move because it is suspended by rubber bushings to isolate vibration.

I would replace the engine mounts and tranny mounts. You can see if you can gain some clearance by turning the bolt around so the head is next to the final drive unit.

[zinger]

Gordon over at the ix registry sent me the solution. the noise was from the splines on the front driveshaft where they intersected with the transfer case. the step by instructions for shimming the driveshaft further into the transfer case are on his site in newsletter #28 at http://home.earthlink.net/~wardellhix/iX/index.html. The project took me less than an hour and everything is back to normal. now onto the catalog to order parts for my suspension project.

[Jeron]

Gotta love the internet.