2003 325ci will not roll

Asked by Mottaboy Aug 27, 2017 at 07:57 PM about the 2003 BMW 3 Series 325Ci Coupe RWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I have a 2003 BMW 325ci with a manual transmission and the
car will not move even in neutral. I was driving on the freeway
and the car was running fine but heard a noise which sounded
like a flat tire so pulled over and the car would not move after
that. The rear wheels would not roll so we had to drag in onto
a tow truck. It will go into all gears and try to move but can
not. It's like it has the best e-brake in the world. If I jack up the
rear of the car I can spin the wheels by hand as they turn in
opposite directions. Any ideas?

2 Answers

845

sounds like soethingis broken and when the weight of the car is pushing down on the hub assembly something is binding up. that would be my guess. its odd that the whells only turn when car is up in air. if it was tranny or flywheel it would not turn in air either. the only thing that changes is the weight on the car being taken off. take tire off and do good inspection, jerk around on stuff and see if you can find whats broken

Thanks for the response Trent. I was messing with the car again after asking the question and found this. While the car was still off the ground in the rear I started it and tried to run through the gears again. The tires will try to turn forward in first and second and try to spin backwards in reverse. I did not let the clutch all the way out because the car die. If I let it out somewhat quickly the tires move that little bit and there is a clunk when they lock up. The clunk is coming from the rear, around the diff it seems like, but sounds like the drive shaft is what is making the noise. It got dark before I could go much further but I am going to have my wife in the car tomorrow while I am underneath it to see if I can see anything else. For now though it seems like the drive shaft is locking up for some reason. I'll know more tomorrow and write back. Thanks again though.

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