'88 325 - bumps make a front end clunk,..

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cosmo - 16 May 2008 18:11 GMT

147k miles. Our roads are worse than ever this spring and I notice my
beautiful red car makes a loud clunking sound, more from the right
wheel than the left when I smash into a big pothole. If I jack the car
up there's no play anywhere. Is there a rubber bushing somewhere that
commonly wears out about this time? Is it hard to fix? I have a car
hoist and air tools I can use. I also notice someone ran off the road
as there's scarring on the skid plate, passenger side, but nothing
looks bent. You need a front end alignment after the bushing job,
right? Thanks as always.

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Nils Strandberg - 16 May 2008 21:30 GMT

> 147k miles. Our roads are worse than ever this spring and I notice my
> beautiful red car makes a loud clunking sound, more from the right
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> looks bent. You need a front end alignment after the bushing job,
> right? Thanks as always.

Only replying to your first couple of lines, as I know nothing of your
other problems.

I have the same problem. It took 4-5 years before I found where the play
was. It is of course in the steering. When I looked for it, it seemed
to be a very common problem for BMWs. It is a vertical shaft (if that is
the right word) in the steering, close to the wheel that develops a
play. It even got a a lot of nicknames on swedish sites, like clunkshaft.

The good news is that the parts are not expensive and they do not seem
to be complicated to replace. Since it is not dangerous to drive around
with this problem I am going to wait until summer vacation to fix it.
And it is not illegal to drive around with the problem (at least not in
sweden, and we do have a lot of hash laws).

Third party parts here in sweden are ~30 dollars each, which are close
to nothing for a BMW, for of course you replace both sides at the same
time.

Unfortunately I am at the wrong computer right now, otherwise I should
have been able to append a picture of the shaft.

So, not a dangerous or expensive problem, if my guess is right.

/NS

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Dean Dark - 17 May 2008 00:46 GMT

>> 147k miles. Our roads are worse than ever this spring and I notice my
>> beautiful red car makes a loud clunking sound, more from the right
>> wheel than the left when I smash into a big pothole.

>I have the same problem. It took 4-5 years before I found where the play
>was. It is of course in the steering. When I looked for it, it seemed
>to be a very common problem for BMWs. It is a vertical shaft (if that is
>the right word) in the steering, close to the wheel that develops a
>play. It even got a a lot of nicknames on swedish sites, like clunkshaft.

I think you are talking about the (U.S.) sway bar, (U.K.) roll bar
drop links. The ball joints in them go bad and rattle and clunk badly
but without seriously affecting the non-aggressive handling. It's a
simple and inexpensive DIY job to replace them.

If you're *really* lucky, then that will be your only problem in the
front suspension. Next up will be lower control arms and struts...

Signature

Dan.

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Michael Yeager - 16 May 2008 23:41 GMT

>147k miles. Our roads are worse than ever this spring and I notice my
>beautiful red car makes a loud clunking sound, more from the right
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>looks bent. You need a front end alignment after the bushing job,
>right? Thanks as always.

Could be tie rod ends (inner and outer, replace as a set). I had
this annoying little rattle and it turned out to be the strut bouncing
up and down inside the carrier. The sleeve nut that holds it in have
come loose and the strut was free to move up and down. Found this
while replacing the upper strut mounts, one of them had a sloppy
bearing but it was on the quiet side. No noises now except the exhaust
rattling around. New cat back system being ordered soon...

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