Loud clunking noise

[Maruzo]

Originally Posted by TriX5

Turn the steering wheel all the way from full lock to full lock and that should extinguish the trifecta. Getting the air ride to return to normal probably will require a half mile drive. I don't understand the logic used for this but mine also takes a bit of driving to get it to sit level after it has been jacked up.

I just took a drive for about 1/2 miles. Also did the steering turn side to side first before heading out.

The 2 front tires now seems pretty even. But the rear left is still much higher than the rear right.

And I've just lost windows, power lock, turn signal, and I don't know what else!

Could this be the dreaded FRM error I've been hearing about? All I did was jack up the front left and when the compressor tried to lower the car I panicked and unplugged the battery.

Edit: just measured the tire gap to the body panel arch, passenger front: 4.5" Driver front: 4.75" Passenger rear: 5.25" Driver rear: 5.5"

[crystalworks]

Did this thread get jacked? I came in to see what was going on and then went back to the first page to see what vehicle you were in Maruzo (is this the e70 X5M you were considering?) and went back to the first post and saw a completely different problem with a different OP?

Hope it's not your FRM, but from what I remember the factory extended the warranty coverage on that.

[Maruzo]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

Did this thread get jacked? I came in to see what was going on and then went back to the first page to see what vehicle you were in Maruzo (is this the e70 X5M you were considering?) and went back to the first post and saw a completely different problem with a different OP?

Hope it's not your FRM, but from what I remember the factory extended the warranty coverage on that.

LOL My current problem was a result of me trying to troubleshoot the same clunking noise that the OP heard on his X5, so it's somewhat related.

Although I agree it's a huge jump from resolving suspension issues to creating brand new FRM problems!

I just checked my X5M's manufactuer's date, it's made on 2011/07/01. I'm not sure if I fall under the 8 year 125,000 miles extended warranty or another one which is 10 years/ unknown warranty.

And yes, it's the very same one I was contemplating purchase late last year. I'm so far cautiously happy about the purchase and still in the getting used to the new to me vehicle stage.

p.s. Apology to the OP for taking a detour on your original post. Although I've also contributed to my experience on the clunking/ tapping noise on a 2012 X5M.

Btw, I only managed to tape up the front passenger side of the sway bar link and my short drive (0.5 miles per TriX5's suggestion to reset the suspension height) yielded the same tapping noise. So the hunt continues, although I've already purchased a full set of the front links just in case.

[crystalworks]

Ah, gotcha. Hah, I'm easily confused so don't give me any unnecessary assistance in that dept.

Not sure how similar the X5M's suspension is to the standard sport E70 X5's but when we got a noise (upper strut mount foam completely failed) we replaced the lot of the front suspension. I imagine that might not be cost effective on an M model, but man does the E70 drive nicely. Or at least it did before the trans went kaput. Ahhh, older BMW ownership. If you don't laugh, you'll cry.

For the FRM, do you have a Foxwell or something? Check the communication with the module (and for codes if you do have comm).

[Maruzo]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

Ah, gotcha. Hah, I'm easily confused so don't give me any unnecessary assistance in that dept.

Not sure how similar the X5M's suspension is to the standard sport E70 X5's but when we got a noise (upper strut mount foam completely failed) we replaced the lot of the front suspension. I imagine that might not be cost effective on an M model, but man does the E70 drive nicely. Or at least it did before the trans went kaput. Ahhh, older BMW ownership. If you don't laugh, you'll cry.

For the FRM, do you have a Foxwell or something? Check the communication with the module (and for codes if you do have comm).

No worries. I hope it's not the mount foam, so so other syspension parts that's harder to reach than the sway bar links.

The links are completely visible and easy access when you remove the tire, so hopefully this is still the offending part.

As for code reader, I have a similar unit that i just plugged in to read, there's a bunch of errors, I'll write them down and post for your viewing pleasure soon.

[minesapasty]

Having read where all these different clunking noises come from, in my case, the clunking increases as the car goes faster, the fact that the road surface is rough or smooth seems to make little difference, only speed, at crawling speeds, the clunk will be rare but loud, once 20 mph has been reached, the clunk seems quieter, but faster..... then there are times that the noise seems to disappear, whether turning or driving in a straight line seems to make no difference either. Being in a built up area or out in the countryside doesn't seem to make any difference, I was thinking that sound was being thrown back when passing a wall, but after driving 30+ miles with the window down, it doesn't appear to matter...... it is very strange

[Maruzo]

Originally Posted by minesapasty

Having read where all these different clunking noises come from, in my case, the clunking increases as the car goes faster, the fact that the road surface is rough or smooth seems to make little difference, only speed, at crawling speeds, the clunk will be rare but loud, once 20 mph has been reached, the clunk seems quieter, but faster..... then there are times that the noise seems to disappear, whether turning or driving in a straight line seems to make no difference either. Being in a built up area or out in the countryside doesn't seem to make any difference, I was thinking that sound was being thrown back when passing a wall, but after driving 30+ miles with the window down, it doesn't appear to matter...... it is very strange

How many miles do you have on the vehicle?

IF it's lived a long life on rough roads, maybe you want to consider replacing most of the front end suspension components to rule out all possible culprits.

I replaced the entire front end of my E53 around 100,000 miles. All except the tie rods, I think. Also replaced the steering u-joint recently.

The truck drives beautifully now.

But that's my experience with an E53. Still getting used to the driving dynamics of an E70.

[minesapasty]

Mine has just hit the 110.000 miles marker, I bought it with 67,000 miles on the clock. In that time it has been serviced regularly, and has done no rough riding at all..... well except for the 2 trips to and from Ukraine across Europe (approximately 5,000 miles each trip), and their roads are a tad rough.

In my limited knowledge of cars, I tend to think that because the noise is related to the car moving, then it must be drive train, and the fact that the clunk seems to clunk faster as the car moves faster also points in that direction.

The mechanic that I use is an old school mechanic, and he has checked everything, drive shafts, universal joints/CV joints, brakes, just about anything that moves when the car starts to roll..... there is really only the gearbox or transfer box left. Do the gearboxes and transfer boxes split on the e70 or are they like some 4x4s where they are a single unit?

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by minesapasty

Having read where all these different clunking noises come from, in my case, the clunking increases as the car goes faster, the fact that the road surface is rough or smooth seems to make little difference, only speed, at crawling speeds, the clunk will be rare but loud, once 20 mph has been reached, the clunk seems quieter, but faster..... then there are times that the noise seems to disappear, whether turning or driving in a straight line seems to make no difference either. Being in a built up area or out in the countryside doesn't seem to make any difference, I was thinking that sound was being thrown back when passing a wall, but after driving 30+ miles with the window down, it doesn't appear to matter...... it is very strange

Suspension noises are hard to pin down in general. Then add to that trying to do it over the net without hearing it personally. One person's clunk is another person's click, is another person's thunk if you know what I mean. Could you get an audio recording of it?

Originally Posted by minesapasty

Mine has just hit the 110.000 miles marker.

In my limited knowledge of cars, I tend to think that because the noise is related to the car moving, then it must be drive train, and the fact that the clunk seems to clunk faster as the car moves faster also points in that direction.

The mechanic that I use is an old school mechanic, and he has checked everything, drive shafts, universal joints/CV joints, brakes, just about anything that moves when the car starts to roll..... there is really only the gearbox or transfer box left. Do the gearboxes and transfer boxes split on the e70 or are they like some 4x4s where they are a single unit?

Trans and Xfer case are separate units. Weird the mech couldn't pin point it. This is why I typically bite the bullet on used BMW's around your mileage (100k miles +/-) and do the whole lot of it rather than racking my brain looking for a singular failure point. If you find it guaranteed the next piece will fail in short order.

Edit: Your car is an earlier E70. Perhaps it suffers the driveshaft problem that BMW had a TSB for? Just a guess as it fits your drivetrain description and would change frequency/volume based on conditions.

[minesapasty]

I know where you are coming from, but at 110k miles, and how much these cars were new, you would think that they would be built to last a bit longer.

Someone else mentioned that it is strange why the mechanic couldn't pinpoint where the noise was coming from, but I drive the car everyday, and the noise seems to happen differently everyday. When it first happened, I went straight into his workshop, he checked everything, he opened the rear diff case, change the oil etc and the noise went and it was gone for days, he told me to drive it and see how it goes as he didn't believe that a diff fault would cause such a symptom....... and the noise returned (the day after I had settled the bill). I will set my phone to record with the window down, it should record it. My son was able to hear it while we were talking on the hands free, so obviously the phone microphone will detect the noise.