Help! Whistling noise from E90

[fantastic3]

Hi people, I am a newbie here. Got this problem with my 3 months old E90. While moving from stationary at between 40km/h-70km/h I have this whistling noise from the rear like a whistling kettle. Its not very loud but very annoying. But after speeds of above 80km/h or so the noise goes away.

Actually got this problem about 1 month after owning the car. I sent to PML they diagnosed it as faulty rear axle .Took them about 3weeks to indent it. I left the car there for 2 days to change the rear axle n testing and finnally got it back. The noise went off for about a week or so but last couple of days its has come back again!

Any bros or sis have the same problem before? Hope the experts here can help.

Thanks

 

[fantastic3]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

Any e90 owners out there experiencing the same problem above? Anyway, made appointment next week at PML to have it checked again.Sigh...hope can get it sorted out once and for all. Will post the outcome next week.

 

[babe]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

Any e90 owners out there experiencing the same problem above? Anyway, made appointment next week at PML to have it checked again.Sigh...hope can get it sorted out once and for all. Will post the outcome next week.

used to have some noise from the rear door, but it went off by itself.. so didn't really know what's wrong...

 

[Racebred]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

does it come on when you're throttling in, and goes off when you throttle off?

without listening to the sound itself, i hazard there could also be a possibility that the sound comes from your rear differential. If a brand new rear diff is not run-in properly, the contact between the gears could have some give, and it is this tolerance between the gears which are not properly run-in which give off the noise at high speed. It sounds like a high pitched harmonics, pretty much like a whistling sound.

it *may* get slightly better with more run-in, but at 3 months i think it's pretty much like that already. If it's really the rear diff, either you invest in a better sound system, or you swap for another rear diff. Try not to do any hard launches when the rear diff is new. run it in properly.

 

[charlote]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

does it come on when you're throttling in, and goes off when you throttle off?

without listening to the sound itself, i hazard there could also be a possibility that the sound comes from your rear differential. If a brand new rear diff is not run-in properly, the contact between the gears could have some give, and it is this tolerance between the gears which are not properly run-in which give off the noise at high speed. It sounds like a high pitched harmonics, pretty much like a whistling sound.

it *may* get slightly better with more run-in, but at 3 months i think it's pretty much like that already. If it's really the rear diff, either you invest in a better sound system, or you swap for another rear diff. Try not to do any hard launches when the rear diff is new. run it in properly.

It sounds like rear bearing fault as I had in my e46 last time but its not as loud. Funny thing is after they changed the rear axle the noise was completely gone for about a week. So could have something related to tht. Anyway tks for all the feedback guys .Will send it back to PML. Once ratified, will post the solution here. Thanks Racebred and Babe. Cheers

 

[fantastic3]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

does it come on when you're throttling in, and goes off when you throttle off?

without listening to the sound itself, i hazard there could also be a possibility that the sound comes from your rear differential. If a brand new rear diff is not run-in properly, the contact between the gears could have some give, and it is this tolerance between the gears which are not properly run-in which give off the noise at high speed. It sounds like a high pitched harmonics, pretty much like a whistling sound.

it *may* get slightly better with more run-in, but at 3 months i think it's pretty much like that already. If it's really the rear diff, either you invest in a better sound system, or you swap for another rear diff. Try not to do any hard launches when the rear diff is new. run it in properly.

Actually it sounded like faulty rear bearings like the one i had on my e46 last time but this time is not as loud. The funny thing is after they changed the rear axle the last time, the noise was completely gone for a week.So it could be related to that. Anyway sending back to PML. Once ratified ,will post the solution here. Thanks for the feedback Babe and Racebred. Cheers

 

[waynechai]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

Fantastic3,

Loudness is subjective, or that is what I was told.
I know what sound you are referring to for my E90 has the exact same problem. (I also described it as whistling sound although the tester say it is more like a humming sound. Anybody drives a CVT engine before will be able to relate better as it is so similar)

I own mine for 1.5 months now, and now the sound is loud by my standard, and is a real nuisance.
Brought it into PML today, and they said that's the way with E90. And that the noise is not really that loud. Don't think they will be doing anything abt it as they are also looking into my screeching brake.

Email me at [email protected] Fantastic3, and we can have a discussion among ourselves. Perhaps we can even go down together to PML.
Honestly, whatever the case, I really feel that this kind of noise is unacceptable!

 

[fantastic3]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

Fantastic3,

Loudness is subjective, or that is what I was told.
I know what sound you are referring to for my E90 has the exact same problem. (I also described it as whistling sound although the tester say it is more like a humming sound. Anybody drives a CVT engine before will be able to relate better as it is so similar)

I own mine for 1.5 months now, and now the sound is loud by my standard, and is a real nuisance.
Brought it into PML today, and they said that's the way with E90. And that the noise is not really that loud. Don't think they will be doing anything abt it as they are also looking into my screeching brake.

Email me at [email protected] Fantastic3, and we can have a discussion among ourselves. Perhaps we can even go down together to PML.
Honestly, whatever the case, I really feel that this kind of noise is unacceptable!

Hi Waynechai,
They have checked my car and told me its the rear axle faulty again. Cant believe
that something they changed 1 month back can be faulty again.Anyway, they called me 3 weeks ago to tell me the parts had arrived and they are arranging a courtesy car for me.

But after 3 weeks they still did not come back to me. I called them up again today
and was told they are still waiting for the availability of the courtesy car and should come back to me in a few days. Once ratified I will post the details here.

By the way I find the auto headlights very sensitive. The lights come on even at 8.30 in the mornings and 5.30 in the evenings . Do you guys have the same problem. Will ask them to adjust the sensitivity when the car goes in this time.

 

[drivemax]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

Hi,
Since you guys got yr E90 not long ago, did you guys feel the engine
is noisy when listen from outside? It sounds like a diesel taxi sound.
Mine sounds like that. Not sure whether it is still in its running-in stage as mine just slightly above 1k. :thinking:

 

[BMWSILVER]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

Hi ! Drivemax.

You should suggest to Comfort, SMRT, Tibs etc..... to use BMW E90 car for their Taxi car instead of Benz because it engine sound like a diesel taxi anyway
Just joking..............OT liow

Frankly, E46 318i sound the same too

 

[apache]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

Hi,
Since you guys got yr E90 not long ago, did you guys feel the engine
is noisy when listen from outside? It sounds like a diesel taxi sound.
Mine sounds like that. Not sure whether it is still in its running-in stage as mine just slightly above 1k. :thinking:

Drivemax,
I have mine slightly above 1K. Yes, it is noisy when u listen from outside.
Also, my seatbelt is given some pitching sounds once in a while. monitoring it on what are the circumstances that it occurs.

 

[waynechai]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

Dont believe the crap abt courtesy car.
They got me 1 rental car albeit only for 2 days when I complained abt my seat.
Just tell them that the noise is not bearable, and that you need to have that ratified immediately. Then give them a date.

At 130+K, we should rightfully be expecting quality shouldn't we?

To be honest, maybe I am stupid...because due to my ears being really sharp, I picked up this whistling sound on the car I took on test drive. In fact, I tried 2 cars, all giving same sound.
Apparently, I chose to live with it thinking that I can live with it.
I am not optismistic that it could be ractified.

 

[Motofish]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

waynechai - I know exactly how you feel. Got my E90 in Jul and been back to PML for 5-6 occasions. rattles, wind noise, etc. Some of the work they done seems to improve but the problems never really go away. Now I am trying hard to psycho myself to accept it as it is and enjoy the rest of the ride. I feel stupit and I think PML is very good at playing this game. what else to do, can't bang table and call reporters for wind noise right?

word of caution for those thinking about the E90 - its one hell of a nice car to drive, no doubt about it. But it not a perfect car and you have to be prepared. If you want a trouble free ride - try a toyota.

 

[waynechai]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

Motofish...

Think u must have been a new BMW owner, like myself.
We do have a certain level of expectation.

And rightly said, E90 is far from being a perfect car. No where near unfortunately.

It is offering abt the same kind of satisfaction in terms of "perfection" compared to my previous Alfa 156. Apart from the BMW marque, it is not in any way superior to the Alpha.

Let's just keep sharing tips and see how certain things can be corrected, and if they can;t how we can minimise the "sufferings" we get.

 

[fantastic3]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

Yeah think we should continue to update each other and share tips so as to alleviate the
problems the E90 is giving us .When I first started this thread it seems that I was the only one having problems. Now with more E90 on the roads, seems like every other day I hear
complaints.

 

[drivemax]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

Its a good car and have been driving one for the past 3 weeks. So far so good, and as for the engine noise, it seems to get a little quieter now. Only one little thing that annoy me sometime is the intermittent 'plastic kracking' sound from the driver side when the car goes over some rough surface of the road. Not sure whether its coming from the seatbelt panel or the door panel. Still trying to capture the noise.

Btw, when will you guys send in your car for the 1st servicing? It was indicated as 25000k
but I feel like sending in much earlier after the run-in period.

 

[rodders]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

Well if you're kiasu and want that little peace of mind, you can always go for an oil change in-between the "official" PML 25k oil change. Most of us here do it at around 12.5k. If you don't want to however, it's still ok. No worries there.

 

[babe]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

Its a good car and have been driving one for the past 3 weeks. So far so good, and as for the engine noise, it seems to get a little quieter now. Only one little thing that annoy me sometime is the intermittent 'plastic kracking' sound from the driver side when the car goes over some rough surface of the road. Not sure whether its coming from the seatbelt panel or the door panel. Still trying to capture the noise.

Btw, when will you guys send in your car for the 1st servicing? It was indicated as 25000k
but I feel like sending in much earlier after the run-in period.

Hi drivemax

I have the similar problem initially, the sound actually came from the door panel and PML said they can do something to fix it. But i didn't bother to bring it in and the sound went off by itself and I have not heard it for a few months..hopefully it won't come back though..

 

[waynechai]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

Plastic cracking sound on driver seat?
I have some "cracking" sound too.
It is absolutely annoying, more so than the whistling sound.
It turned out that there are som problem with springs in the seat.

Rodders...
Oil change at 12.5K...my E90 comes with BSI...can I drive in before the service indication is up?

Apparently, the mileage indication will/may change. When I got the car, it was 25,000. It is now 27,000.
The salesman said that that will vary according to how hard I drive the car.

 

[Motofish]

Re: Help! Whistling noise from E90

E90 owners stand together (echoing Janson's war cry). Yes we should and there no better place to do that at the meetup. I am a newbie to Bemmer myself. Hope to meet you guys in person. I think the sharing will be more meaningful and realitic when you can hear the rattles and whistling with your ears rather than the words on the internet.

My July E90 is about 11k now, after a 3 day trip in KL last week. I plan to change oil, filters very soon. Since its not schedule 25k servicing, may do the change at BVO or J4C. Have not decided yet. Also comtemplating about K&N filters. So many decisions....