Flywheel Dowel Pin coming out - anyone come across this?

[Cbouts]

Back in 2019 my '02 M would make this very odd sound, but only under hard breaking or acceleration. The best way I could describe it would be as if soda cans were dragging under the car (nothing was actually dragging or loose). The sound was hard to produce on command but when it happens, it's alarming. I've had various shops look at the car but couldn't narrow it down. It still makes this noise, but after more research, I'm confident the culprit is a flywheel dowel pin coming out and just getting tossed around inside the bell housing. Anyone see/heard of this before?

Here is another forum post outlining what I'm hearing. https://www.e46fanatics.com/threads/...earbox.700898/

Happy to share more info if needed and appreciate the feedback

[cobra]

Yep - it happened to my buddy. We drove around trying to diagnose it and could not figure it out. It was the flywheel dowel working its way out and then rubbing against the reinforcement ribs on the bell housing.

I recommend not driving til you fix it.

[Stack]

Could also be your clutch pivot pin is broken
And the spring and piece of the pin is flying around in there as well




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cbouts]

Could also be your clutch pivot pin is broken
And the spring and piece of the pin is flying around in there as well




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm not sure it's the pivot pin as the transmission actually feels fine. solid engagement, pedal feels fine, shifts smoothly. Going to get a camera in the bell housing and if there is dmg before pulling the trans.

Also, thanks for giving me nightmares about what I'll see when the trans does come out lol

[sapote]

I recommend not driving til you fix it.

or it can crack the bell housing.

[Cbouts]

Sometimes, I hate being right.... FW dowel pin came out and is just getting launched around while driving.

Pic from the Clutch Slave port before we pull the bell housing. Curious to see what it looks like with a better picture. Only 46K on the car but planning to replace the clutch while everything is out.

As always, I appreciate the help. Been trying to diagnose this sound for a few years.

[sapote]

FW dowel pin came out and is just getting launched around while driving.

It starts hitting the bell housing but not coming out far enough to hit hard and crack the BH yet and this will happen if it's not taken care now. I also believe the dowels backing out because the PP bolts are loose allowing the PP to move relative to the FW which is the root cause of the problem, not the dowel pins.

To minimized this issue, before tightening the PP bolts, turn the PP CW (view from rear) against the bolts to take out all clearance (in driving forward direction), then tighten the bolts.