Driving tonight and when I went over a bumpy bit I heard a metallic rattling noise coming from the scuttle tray between the windscreen and the bonnet. Sounded like a mechanic had left his spanner in there while working on the wipers. I had a quick look but couldn't see anything loose. Carried on and when going over another uneven bit of high quality Scottish tarmac heard something metal skitter across the road followed by another one 50 ft later. Good news is - my rattle has gone. Bad news - something has fallen off. Just waiting for the Mrs to come back so I can go and have a look and see if it's anything obvious. Is there anything prone to working itself loose in that area? Exhaust, steering, suspension all feel fine.
What loosened and fell off?
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Cheers srhutch, will have a look. Will be the weekend now though I think. Visually the strut brace seems fine but will inspect it better when it isn't precipitating quite as much. Went for a wander on the road where I thought it had come off and there is nothing there. I would have been doing 20ish so I would have expected something to still be on the road. Very odd.
It could be your exhaust flange bracket. Mine fell off and made a similar metal leaving the car noise. As mentioned above though it's probably worth checking the strut braces as it's an easy one to check.
Your exhaust flange bracket should look a bit like this
And it sits where the manifolds meet the main section of the exhaust. They basically fall off if your exhaust bolts are rusty.
Your exhaust flange bracket should look a bit like this
And it sits where the manifolds meet the main section of the exhaust. They basically fall off if your exhaust bolts are rusty.
This picture should give you an idea of where to look. I don't know about your particular model but guessing as it's a straight 6, it'll have two manifolds. In the picture below (thanks Google) you can see why they can fall off. If the bolts rust enough then suddenly nothing is holding it on. I wonder how many zeds are driving around without this bracket as we speak.
If that joint falls apart I would imagine the car sounds like a tractor. It sounds to be like one of the heat baffles which I assume are along the exhaust of the Zed. If these come off you wont notice any difference in running but they are there to stop parts of bodywork from overheating.
I regularly see these lightweight shields on the road. I think you can just about see a few of them in that picture of the exhaust joint.
I regularly see these lightweight shields on the road. I think you can just about see a few of them in that picture of the exhaust joint.
Mike6 said:
It doesn't make any extra noise if you just loose the bracket. Obviously if the joint comes apart then yes. The bracket is just a support between the two pipes. It also has larger diameter holes than the bolts for the exhaust. You can therefore lose the bracket and the exhaust stays together. Mine fell off but exhaust flange was so rusty it held together. Replaced it all when I did the clutch and flywheel. Now replaced with marine grade bolts and the bracket replaced.
Saying all this however, it's always really hard to identify random things falling off your car.
I checked the exhaust and mine looks like this -
Looks like it still has the bracket but maybe just a different style. It IS The 3.0 straight six that I have. Should it have the same bracket as the piccie in Roundovo's post?
I will need to wait til the weekend to get a decent look but the strut brace is solid so that isnt the issue. I did notice this while snapping piccies under the car
That bolt looks loose to me. Should it be more "within" the rubber?
Looks like it still has the bracket but maybe just a different style. It IS The 3.0 straight six that I have. Should it have the same bracket as the piccie in Roundovo's post?
I will need to wait til the weekend to get a decent look but the strut brace is solid so that isnt the issue. I did notice this while snapping piccies under the car
That bolt looks loose to me. Should it be more "within" the rubber?
I wouldn't worry about the shape of it, it's there and that's the main thing. I presume yours is the older 3.0 and not N52. That would explain the difference. You can see yours is a slightly different design with two individual pieces. Presumably to cut costs and increase efficiency BMW decided to make it a single piece. Anyhow that's crossed off the list now.
As for that bush. Where is it located (I can't quite tell from the picture), is it loose?
As for that bush. Where is it located (I can't quite tell from the picture), is it loose?
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More like ran over a "metal " bit of rubbish which spooks a bit
That bolt does look strange. I wouldnt have thought it should stick out like that. I'm no expert on those bushes but I wonder whether the nut has come off at the other end and the bolt is working itself out, or the bush itself has disintegrated. If so you could do severe damage if you continue using the car, when a fix may be fairly simple
Roundozo said:
It is halfway up the car - about level with the seat base. Might just be an exhaust bracket but it looks odd. Doesnt seem loose though.
Jabber - Im pretty sure something came off. There was a rattle before the metallic noise and no rattle after. I assumed from that that the loose rattly thing had fallen off. I liked the idea of an exhaust bracket because it had that type of sound on teh tarmac. Certainly didnt sound to be a substantial bit - more a tinny ancillary piece. Will have a better look at the weekend when I have more time and light.
That bush is actually a vibration absorber, only found on automatics. Not sure of the reasoning but noticed it on realOEM.
Roundozo said:
Turns out that is exactly what it was. Snapped rear springs. Had them inspected and changed this morning. They kept the old ones to show me and they both had nice, clean, recent breaks in them with bits missing. Really odd how you hear rattles and squeaks in a car and are convinced they are coming from one place when they are in fact somewhere completely different.
All good now though. Thanks for all the responses.