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Roof Rattle (E36) and other noises...
I too have a 92 E36 325i with a roof rattle. Actually, several rattles. The
first one was the upper rear shock mounts (replaced at 48K under warranty). The
second was the door panels (Replaced all of them with '95 panels at 55K -- no
cost, no questions.) The third and last remaining is the sunroof. My dealer
can't seen to replicate the problem.
I notice the roof rattle when the roof is closed. It usually is very noticable
when on the freeway and you hit the expansion joints.
Recently, a small pebble lodged itself under the linkage arm on the drivers
side of the wind deflector. When I closed the sunroof, the pebble restricted
the wind deflectors retraction and <CRUNCH>, wind deflector turned into junk.
Sunroof would not close at all. I whipped out my handy wrench (from the trunk
tool kit) and manually bent the wind deflector into a horrible
neo-art-auto-sculpture. At least the roof could then close. I asked the parts
guy at my dealer to see about getting a replacement deflector. It is only
$190. The entire sunroof cassette runs only $500. They magically found a used
one 'somewhere in the back' and sold it to me for $20. I told them I would
even pass on my club discount. Installing it was a snap, took about 5 minutes.
As to the cause of the rattle. I haven't gained enough courage to get in there
are tear apart the roof to track it down. I think there must be some sort of
spring tensioners that may gradually get out of adjustment. But that's just a
horribly uneducated guess on my part. I too would be interested in anyone who
has tracked down this problem to a working solution. I am willing to act as a
clearing house on this subject, so feel free to email me directly, I will post
the results to the digest as soon as an answer is found.
Do it yourself tip of the day: Go to your dealer and buy the microfiche for E36
mechanical repair its about $20. You can then go to your local library and
print the required pages for whatever repair activity you want to undertake.
They only problem I have found with the microfiche is that it is in european
format, so you have to move it around in the viewer a little to get what you
want.
joe.
92 and 93 325i (Somewhere west of Detroit.)
PS> With all the bad press that some BMW dealers have been getting on the
digest, I would like to recommend Erhard BMW in the Detroit-Metro area. They
have been excellent to my wife and I, and are strong supporters of the local
Motor City chapter. (All of us who attended the end of the year party at
Erhards dealership will know what I mean.)