Donaldtramp Posted August 11, 2007 Report Share Posted August 11, 2007 Driving my 03 M3 about 2 months ago noticed a slight grinding noise when turning the car in tight circles. I took the car to main dealer who advised me that it was just the type of oil in the Diff.(Different oil in newer models) The plates stick apparently. He changed the oil for one with a different viscosity and told me to drive for a few hundred miles. Hey presto the noise has gone. Is this common? Do i have any long term worries or is that it cured? Cheers DT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted August 11, 2007 Report Share Posted August 11, 2007 Absoluetly right, and a good job you have a dealer who is on the ball and didn't say you needed to new diff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donaldtramp Posted August 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2007 Dealer was fine. Despite how they've treated a guy I know. They sold an ex-demo M3 to my mate who upon returning back to the same garage to trade it in against an M6 was surprised when they refused to take the car. They said that it hadn't had the run in service. They had sold it to him! Nearly at the stage of getting lawyers involved and the BMW dealer backed down. So I was a wee bit wary of them but they turned out fine. The parts manager did mention something about a new diff costing 2.5K So quite glad it was just needing oil! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiPartner Posted August 11, 2007 Report Share Posted August 11, 2007 I have a similar problem on my 02 M3. What type of oil is it then? Wow, I hope this is whats wrong with mine, and double wow, I hope it sorts it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donaldtramp Posted August 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2007 From what I understand the viscosity is different.With the old oil in my car the plates in the diff stuck then released and that's what the noise was. The new oil sticks to the plates in the diff so that they always have a coating. So when you do sharp turns in car parks etc the diff is coated. It was quick and cheap to remedy at the main dealer. They just drained the old oil then put in a litre or so of the new spec oil. Think it was about £30 a litre plus a bit of labour. Apparently its very common and it's nothing to worry about,it took a few hundred miles to bed the oil in and the noise to stop. The noise only happened occasionally when I was doing 3 point turns or the likes. It sounds like a metallic grating or graunching noise coming from the back of the car. Not disimilar to a worn cv joint noise(bit noisier!). That's what I originally thought it was, hence I did a lot of lock to lock turns and the noise would occasionally show up. I was then sure that it was coming from the back of the car and with there being no cv joints at the back of the car I toddled off to BMW. Does this sound familiar Audipartner? The way to check is find a quiet street and do lock to lock left and right one after the other and listen to the rear of the car. Funnily enough I think the noise might have saved me a bit of cash when I bought my M3. I noticed the noise and you should have seen the dealers face(not a BMW main dealer). I think he thought it was a bit more serious than it actually was. DT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiPartner Posted August 12, 2007 Report Share Posted August 12, 2007 Well until now I thought the noise was coming from the front! I'll get the diff oil changed and see where it gets me! Fingers crossed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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