bmw noise

This noise strikes me as a throw out bearing.

in the noise stops and also a noise from back n/s wheel a sort of

This one is not so clear to me, maybe the Brakes?

thanks for the info but what is a throw out bearing and were is this

What we in the UK call a clutch release bearing. It's inside the bell housing, where the clutch lives. IOW the fat bit between the engine and the gearbox. To replace it is a gearbox out job. HTH. Mike.

You mean with capitalization and punctuation?

The throw out bearing is part of the clutch assembly.

When you depress the clutch pedal, parts move around. Among the parts is a fork that fits into the throw out bearing, and the throw out bearing then moves against the clutch pressure plate. If you need a throw out bearing, then this means either the clutch was replaced and the bearing was not done at the same time -- typically as a cost cutting effort -- or, the clutch is on its last leg as well.

By the tone of your questions, I do not see that you are going to be doing the work that is required. At this point, my suggestion is to take the car to a mechanic -- I prefer a BMW Independent Service Center (consult th eYellow Pages) -- and see if he says the clutch is bad. If so, then take his advice and get the clutch replaced. You ought not need to ask, but he should replace the throw out bearing as part of his work. THERE IS NO ADDED LABOR CHARGE, the only cost to cut is the cost of the part itself.

On the other hand, my car needed a throw out bearing for well over a year before I had the clutch replaced. My car had 200,000+ miles on it when I finally replaced the clutch, but the factory original throw out bearing was long gone. I would easily guess that I put 30,000 miles on the growling throw out bearing. I had to make special effort to not rest at stop lights with my foot on the clutch, and I had to shift to Neutral during stop-n-go traffic to save additional wear on the already-bad throw out bearing.

My point is, if you are having budget concerns, you can milk the bearing for several weeks to get over the hump.

On the other hand, since you had to ask, maybe you do not drive like I do, and you need to get right on this repair.

Every E30 I've ever had did this. Didn't stop one getting to 200k miles (and still fine). Don't worry about it.

It seems to me that John is talking about a different noise than the original poster. I think John is talking about the noise that sounds like a few golf balls bouncing around inside the transmission that most of the e30s make, especially if they have ATF in the transmission. This is just a natural signature of some of these transmissions and no cause for alarm. I got the impression that the original poster was talking about a noise that was probably caused by a throw out bearing that was getting 'sticky' and wouldn't rotate unless it had a big axial load on it; the noise being caused by the inner race of the throw out bearing sliding on the fingers of the pressure plate spring. I agree with Jeff that the car can probably be driven for months with this condition. There is no catastrophic consequences of the impending failure of the throwout bearing except that someday you may be left stranded at some inconvenient location but there will be plenty of warning. I would drive it at least until depressing the clutch pedal would no longer stop the noise.

"John Burns" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@unixnerd.demon.co.uk...

THANKS FOR YOUR ADVICE MUCH APPRECIATED.

why are you trying to be clever?

Who is this aimed at?

Sir Hugh of Bognor

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!

Hugh Gundersen snipped-for-privacy@h-gee.co.uk Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK

aimed at dizzy

It's better if you do not reply to dizzy. His name says a lot about him ...

It's better if you don't listen to what Jeffy says. He's a proven liar.

thanks to all of you for your time to answer my question my car is booked in on thursday i will post what the problem is

thanks to all of you for your time to answer my question my car is booked in on thursday i will post what the problem is