E46 Worn Propshaft Centre Bearing Replacement [Visual Guide]

If you're E46 is juddering or squeaking on acceleration and deceleration, then you could have a worn propshaft centre bearing.

This article explains the symptoms of a worn propshaft centre bearing, the parts required to replace it and the process I used to replace the completely shot bearing on my 330d.


I'd advise reading through the whole of this article, if you're in a rush though, use the handy quick links below to skip to the relevant section.

Symptoms of a Worn Propshaft Centre Bearing
Diagnosing a Worn Propshaft Centre Bearing
Parts Required to Replace a Worn Propshaft Centre Bearing
Replacing a Worn Propshaft Centre Bearing

Symptoms of a Worn Propshaft Centre Bearing

Just a bit of admin before we get into it, prop shafts can be known by a few names; propeller shaft, drive shaft or Cardan shaft (or variations thereof).

An unsettling juddering and squeaking noise started occurring when accelerating and decelerating, usually in 2nd and 3rd gear but not exclusively, and usually between 1.5k and 2.5k revs, also not exclusively.

The judder felt like a rotational wobble, emanating from underneath the centre floor console armrest. The squeak also sounded like it was coming from the same area too.

The juddering was more on acceleration, and the squeaking more on deceleration. There was no loss of power, the clutch wasn't slipping and there was no change in the fuel economy. (See how you car compares with my 330d's real world fuel economy by following the link).

I did a bit of research and found it was most likely the guibo (flexible disc on the propshaft), but there was a small chance it could be the centre bearing on the propshaft also.

Diagnosing a Worn Propshaft Centre Bearing

Armed with my research I got the car on the ramps and started investigating. The guibo looked completely fine so, puzzled, I decided to delve deeper and remove all of the under side trim panels, and the exhaust from the Ecotune decat downpipe backwards. I had to replace the standard exhaust downpipe and cat as it was leaking and diesel exhaust fumes were getting into the cabin. Follow the previous link to read more.

It was fair to say I'd found the problem when I saw what's in the video below. The rubber boot in the propshaft centre bearing mount had completely disintegrated, providing no support at all to the propshaft. You can see my dad wobbling the propshaft in the video, whilst he's doing so you can see straight through the gap where the rubber boot should be.


Whilst you're on YouTube, check out my other E46 videos too!

Parts Required to Replace a Worn Propshaft Centre Bearing

Unfortunately I needed the replacement parts quickly as the car is my daily and had to be on the road. I didn't have much choice but to get the parts direct from BMW, at what would most likely be an extortionate price.

I called up and got a quote, £92.15, that included the following, all genuine, OEM BMW parts;

• 6x - p/n: 26117527475 - Hex Bolt - M12 x 1.5 x 71 - ZNS3
• 6x - p/n: 07129900047 - Self-locking hex nut - M12 x 1.5 - 10 - PHR
• 1x - p/n: 26122282496 - Aluminium Centre Mount, with Grooved ball bearing - D=55/D=35
• 1x - p/n: 26127511140 - Butyl cord Terostat 2460 - 190mm x 20mm x 8mm
• 6x - p/n: 33217571990 - Torx screw with ribs M10 x 46 - ZNS3

A lot of the bolts in this area are one use only and I wasn't sure how many I would have to remove to do the job, so just bought a replacement for all of them for peace of mind that the job was well done.

Replacing a Worn Propshaft Centre Bearing

All required parts acquired I got straight to work, first job being to crack the nut joining both halves of the propshaft. This turned out to be easier said than done, a rather large spanner extension and some choice French words later and it was removed.

Three bolts hold the front section of the propshaft to the flexi disc (guibo), after removing these the front section could be removed from the car. Before removing it though, I marked it at both ends with white paint to make sure it went back in the same orientation, quite important for balancing reasons I believe.






Now that the propshaft was separated, the shot centre bearing could be removed. The bearing came away fairly easily and so did the rest of the assembly. Quite a lot of the butyl cord was left stuck to the chassis, as I had bought a replacement strip I cleaned all the old stuff off. It's horrible stuff that sticks to anything and everything, so it took a little while to clean it up.



All cleaned, I prepared the new bearing for fitting, applying the new butyl cord strip to the mounting bracket. It was also a chance to compare new with old to show how bad the old one was.








Everything now prepared, reassembly could begin. The remaining half of the propshaft had been supported by a length of strong wire, whilst suspended and with the brown packaging film on the butyl cord still fitted, the centre bearing was pushed into place.


Next the removed portion of the propshaft was refitted.





Propshaft back together, all the other nuts and bolts were replaced with fresh ones, and finally the rest of the car was re-assembled.








Touch wood, since the work was carried out there has been no judder or squeaks, so hopefully it was caught just at the right time and all the work was done correctly.

Let me know in the comments below if you've had either the guibo or the centre bearing go on your car. Can your's top mine for how badly it had worn?

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