E30 Rear Suspension Driveline failure

[c.robertson00 11]

Today in my e30 I went round a righthand bend and accelerated then I heard a huge bang and then lost all drive. After the Huge bang there was a loud knocking sound too. After I parked up I tryed to drive again but the revs increased but the car didnt move. The ride hieght dropped heaps at the rear aswell

Any ideas of what it could be? Im going to jack it up tomorrow and have a look.

[pureboiracer 0]

hmmmm. manual or auto? how did you "accel" out of the corner? i dont see how loss of drive can be related to ride height as the diff is mounted to the subframe, only possible thing i can think of is something like your subframe or trailing arms coming off and pulling the driveshaft apart, exept for that the only thing that would cause lack of drive would be clutch, gearbox, driveshaft or diff, or cvs. but they wouldnot effect ride height,

Let me know what you find when you look underneath.

inc pics

Oli

[c.robertson00 11]

I just went and picked the car up and it looks as thogh someone has taken my wheel bolts out.... One has snapped in the hub but i had a good look around the road and there were no bolts around. The rims havent been taken off for ages so i dont know its a bit odd.

I cant believe i didnt notice it when it happened. Idiot!!!

Edited March 15, 2010 by chris00

[pureboiracer 0]

eh? so how are your wheels still on it?

[c.robertson00 11]

It just had one lug bolt left in and then it was sitting on the hub centric ring. When i went round the corner it just snapped and the wheel went up into the arch and was grinding on the bottom of the brake rotor.

[pureboiracer 0]

lol you will check theyre tight next time eh

[c.robertson00 11]

lol yeah I used a rattle gun to do them up last time though. Thats why im a bit confused. sh*t happens though and no harm was done.

[Nobimmer 694]

Lol how the f**k did you not notice that.

It just had one lug bolt left in and then it was sitting on the hub centric ring. When i went round the corner it just snapped and the wheel went up into the arch and was grinding on the bottom of the brake rotor.

[[email protected] 0]

[c.robertson00 11]

Lol how the f**k did you not notice that.

I duno I just wasnt expecting a wheel to be off. I remember looking through the wheel to see if the spring was still in there lol

[leithcm 0]

lol yeah I used a rattle gun to do them up last time though. Thats why im a bit confused. sh*t happens though and no harm was done.

I have seen wheel studs/nuts tightened with rattle guns - they have been SO TIGHT - they literally snap off! They should be only (firm) tight enough to hold the wheel on; after all, if you get a flattie and have only the standard wheel brace, how are you going to undo them? It could be that was the problem, so tight they literally gave way under the torque that was applied by the rattle gun!

[*Glenn* 854]

We only use rattle guns on a low setting and torque all wheel bolts to 90 ft/lbs... on every car we work on