Just joined up. As a newbie on Bimmerfest i wanted to know how many members have actually had or heard of transfer case problems with these X3's. Mine is a 3 litre petrol auto. BMW says they dont generally cause problems but im not so sure on that now as the car has only done 33000kms since new and has never seen any real hard work. So i'm thinking there must be an inherent problem in these.
Any help or ideas?
Mine started developing a whinning noise a few thousand K's back.
I have a 2005 X3 2.0d with 132 000 kms on the clock . It has developed a shudder - almost feels like a misfire under acceleration between 2nd and 3rd but I am sure it relates to the drive train. The local BMW dealer tells me it is because my new tyres are not BMW approved and this affects the X drive. Is this possible? Could this be transfer case related? No warning lights show . I cannot find any service record of the transfer case fluid having ever been replaced. Maybe this is low or has degraded? I would appreciate any other members comments.
Shudders on X3's are pretty common, ours has had it for years now. We replace the transfer case fluid regularly. We have come to accept it as standard. It is usually worse in colder weather. The only thing I would say about the tires is to keep them inflated to spec as shown on the door jamb. It is really important for all four to have the same treadwear and air pressure (this applies to any AWD vehicle though). For it not to be a BMW approved tire I think is rubbish.
We have a local mechanic here in town who only works on BMWs and Mercedes - he does our work for us after the cars are out of warranty usually. He couldn't believe that the transfer case had to be replaced in my X3 at 85,000 miles. But he did say that the fluid should have been changed by BMW at one of the service intervals and it never was. If you've never had the transfer case fluid changed I would definitely get that done!
Before my transfer case went bad the car wasn't performing poorly at all. I never would have known except every warning light in the car came on!
Evan,
if your 4 tires aren`t the correct size (as indicated in your owner`s manual), same brand and tread you will have in the future a serious deterioration and failure of your transfer case. (believe me you don`t want this to happen)
Regarding the transfer case oil, check it out and see if the color is like coke. If so change it. The shudder problem you have is generally related to a degraded transfer case oil and should be changed every 90.000km. At least this is what happened in my case. I changed the oil and the shuddering practically disappeared.
Quick report on my issue: I felt a slide jerk in my transmission coming from the back for a few weeks. Usually only after driving about 15mi and at slow speeds in tight turns. I did see my 4x4 light come on once or twice as well, but turning off the car fixed that. I took the car in and the BMW dealer decided to change the fluid in the transfer case. Seems the problem is gone now. I commuted to work and back home and I usually would have a 100% repro after that drive. So seems my transfer case is ok after all.
after living with the dreadful clunk for a bout 5 mos now when I disengage the clutch (not all the time, it's intermittent) and some researching on line (mostly here), I finally took it to the dealer for their expert diagnosis. Also, i've recently developed a knocking noise on top of the engine (cam and vanos area) but that's another topic ( $450 just to open up the valve cover and check cams and vanos)...
anyway, they told me that the clunk is due to the transfer case actuator needing replacement, about $1500 for parts and labor plus new fluid. so , i think i will try to change the fluid first to see if that makes a difference .
Yes i took my bmw to the dealer they told that they cant change the because its lifetime..because my 2011bmw 328xidrive has a shudder a t3,000rpn im going to get the oil change at a local shop..
Hi All... Long time reader.. First time poster... I have a 2005 X3 3.0 with 70k on it. I've had no real problems so far, but..... I've got a troubling noise with cold starts I'm thinking it's in the transfer case area. I've changed the fluid and that has made it feel a lot smoother I think, but the noise is nasty. Following is a video clip with the sound that I put on youtube. I would greatly appreciate any thoughts... Oh, also, I do not have the triad or any other trouble lights coming on. Could it be the actuator? I have not taken it off to look at the condition yet.....
I have a question and hope you can help me with a problem I have since some month with my X3 3.0si 2007, 97k miles. When accelerating there is a vibrating noise and stuttering between 1,500-2,000 rpm and sometimes between 2,700-3,000 rpm. The problem is accelerating uphill. When the vibrating noise occurs it can be noticed that the rev counter ticks up by 50-100 rpm. After changing the transfer case oil it seemed that the problem was almost gone, but now it is back worse than ever. Any ideas would be most welcome.
This is a common and known issue with the 2007 X3. It affects most owners in either minor or major fashion. Probably a design flaw right from get go, most likely need to replace transfer case, and check bearings on drive train. Probably will return again later after several thousand miles. Probably best to learn to live with or sell and buy another vehicle. Tires may also affect this problem to some extent.
Just joined Bimmerfest as I have a problem with my 2008 X3 (30,000M)
From reading I think I have a prob with my Transfer case?? in 1 &2 gear mainly I have a terrible judder that is getting worse by the day have had the prob for a couple of months
but it wasnt to bad NOW IT IS
I've got a 2006 x3 and am looking for new tires. Beemer dealer says I should only buy ones with the bmw star on them and have recommended Pirelli Scorpion STR or Michelin Pilot MXM4. But Tire rack survey on those 2 don't have very good ratings I have found some really nice ones on Tire Rack but they don't have the BMW star. They're Mich. Pilot A/S Plus. Supposed to be low noise, good handling. I live in Fl. I have Pirelli zreo nero's at the moment Anybody know anything about the star thing and are the ones I like good for my X3?.....
I have finally fixed my transfer case issue, I wanted to do my tyres and the transfer case fluid at the same time so i waited until i needed the tyres which i got some more (2 rears) Yokohama ADVAN ST's which although not cheap are bloody awesome though, now why wait to do all this together you may ask? well i needed two new tyres, i needed a wheel alignment and i needed to change the transfer case fluid, my experiment was what was the ROOT cause of this issue with the transfer case shudder, was it the tyres, the lack of alignment or the case itself?
Well i can reveal that i changed the tyres first and it had a minor impact on the transfer case problem, then the alignment which although i suspect was not actually done by the tyre shop, they did change the tyres around on the front and it made no difference, but when i changed the fluid in the transfer case last night it came out looking like Coca Cola as others have mentioned and when done the transfer case issue totally disappeared, its like driving a new car!
Now my only issue is i still need a wheel alignment but that makes no difference to the transfer case issue IMO, same as the tyres, its 100% the fluid change that will fix your issue unless you have some other more serious issue.
My other issue is that although 700ml came out of the transfer case it took around 900ml to fill it as i must of been sloping slightly downhill, im wondering if anyone thinks i should drain a bit out and is 900ml too much fluid?
Just for the record i have approx 93000 KM on the clock my transfer issue came on around 87000km's.
My other issue is that although 700ml came out of the transfer case it took around 900ml to fill it as i must of been sloping slightly downhill, im wondering if anyone thinks i should drain a bit out and is 900ml too much fluid?
Just for the record i have approx 93000 KM on the clock my transfer issue came on around 87000km's.
Same thing here with the fluid change. I changed mine about the same time. It looked like dark chocolate milk. When I filled it I put in about .9 liters. The noise and feel seemed to go away pretty much completely.
Then I started to get nervous that I overfilled it and ended up dumping it again (was pretty dirty again, but NOTHING like the first time) and refilling with exactly or as close as I could get to .7 liters. Much to my surprise, the noise came back. Yikes.
So, I went looking and through this forum found the following:
I followed that and topped back up to around .9 or so liters. The noise is now gone again and it feels quite good.
I found it very disturbing as when I dumped the chocolate milk the first time, I measured it and it was exactly .69 liters. Scares the crap out of me that this thing was probably running underfilled all that time. Oh well.
Thanks for the advice, yes im leaning towards "more is better" in this case of fluid top up, plus you can always drain some out through the top plug if needed i guess.
Decided to change the transfer case fluid today on wifes 08 X3 with 54K on it. No issues before hand. Just figured $40 bottle of fluid is cheap insurance to keep transfer case happy. Old fuid was very dark, darker than Coke Cola. Glad I changed it. When does BMW actually suggest its replacement?
My girlfriend bought a 2007 3.0 x3 3.0si used with approximately 39,000 miles on it. All was fine at first until a few months back... She started complaining of the vehicle jerking around at low speeds, mostly when picking up from a dead-stop. At high speeds the vehicle felt fine. We didn't get any noticeable noises.
I attempted the reset of the adaptive transmission which did alleviate the issue a bit, but the jerking around 1st and 2nd gear would return rather quickly. As many have already done here on the forums, I got around to changing out the transfer case fluid. Picked up a quart of it from the local dealer at about $59.00. What came out looked like used motor oil, and only about .6 quarts came out. I filled it up with the entire bottle before it started to drop out a bit. Since then the car has been running like new! Runs much smoother from a dead-stop.
Its really hard to believe that such an important piece would be underfilled liked that. Due to this I will be changing the front/rear differential fluids within the next couple of days.
Ill let you guys know if there were any improvements after the change.
Guys! I had exactly the same issue.Clunking noise at low speed when foot is released from the accelerator. Car is 5 years old and I bought it from a BMW dealer as BMW approved. The car came with Falken tyres. I also have BMW extended warranty on the car. Started facing this very annoying problem about 6 months back.
Took the car to the dealer who came back saying that there is a problem with rear differential and needs replacement. BMW replaced it under warranty. Within a day of replacement of differential exactly the same problem started. Sent it back to the dealer and this time he came back saying that problem is with transfer box. They replaced the transfer box as well under warranty. However, this time at the time of returning the car they mentioned that this is the best they could do and that if the problem persists then I should replace the tyres as these are not BMW approved tyres. The car after replacement of transfer box and differential was running much better but there was still light clunking noise and jerks at low speed.
I have been following this thread and just to be sure that I still remain covered under warranty on transmission issues I decided to change tyres with Dunlop SP01 * marks, exactly the ones which were mentioned in the manual and only available in UK by Dunlop (size R18). Changed it today and drove almost 80-100 miles and boy tell you it's a different car! Absolutely no problems, no jerks or noise at lower speed. I went to all those usual spots where had problem before and no issues at all!!!
I don't know why and how but using these BMW approved (* marked tyres) does make a world of difference!
I don't know why dealer did not mention this at the first place but hey I don't care as I got new differential and new transfer box absolutely free of cost (mine is zero access package)...
I am really delighted... I strongly recommend use BMW approved tyres and all problems will simply disappear!!!
2007 X3 si - I know this thread is kind of old, but never mind. I got mine replaced a couple of weeks ago after almost 95K miles. Seems it is not a rare occurrence on this model. It was expensive, but not as much as I have heard here. About $2300 with labour, which they always add much more than the actual labour is. Had to replace the tires - unrelated to the transfer case, but if I didn't, I might have expected again to have problems with it (they had probably some more life in them, but I had one blowup). Not a week later a cylinder cover blew up and I had a misfire. I asked them to replace al spark plugs as well -- they are due at 100K anyway.
In all ended up not so bad, but with around 4K in. I hope I don't need to do that often.
I quick note for the enthusiasts, who like their OBDII scanners and P-code detectors - This malfunction is not detected by the ODBII readers like the ones, containing the ELM327 chipset. I read somewhere that some other things like transmission failure are not issuing P-codes as well.
Just purchased a 07 x3 with and it has the clunking noise at low speeds, sounds terrible. The X has about 65k miles on it and I had it check out by the dealer. They have ordered a transfer case, I sure hope this corrects the problem. It has 19" m wheels on it, I was hoping to go to a set of 20" vertigo wheels. Does anyone know if it can run the 20's without any problems?
Idon't know if my pronlem with my x3 2004 is the transfer case - but I recently had to change my rotors and it seems that when I drive it Ican smell this bburnt like smeall and also seems like smoke coming from my wheels. Lately, the smell went away and now I hear this faint like noise when I slow down or begin to stop. Do you know what this could be....I replaced my back tires and the noise sort of went away - but I still can hear it.
I picked up my 07 x3 from having a transfer case replaced and in drove it about 30 miles and had a terrible burnt gear lube smell inside the car and the car drove worse after I picked it up. It sounded like a plane inside with a roar and felt like it had a parachute attached to it. I took it back to the dealer, who I love and have all the faith in the world,they took the car back to check it out. They said they found nothing wrong, but that still needed to replace tires since they dont match. As you know there are only two tires available with the 19 inch M Wheels.....but only one choice in my mind with the p zero's. They gave me the car back after having it checked and the car ran awesome, does anyone have any idea what they could have done? I woke up to my garage still smelling gear lube, I hope this goes away.
Hi all - I also had the dreaded clunking and whirring from the transfer case - but read on Bimmerfest somewhere that someone had cured this by matching the front tyres with the rears exactly. I had had a dreadful experience to that point with having a refurbed diff fitted and offered a new transfer case at over £2k, so thought I would try the tyre matching option - and lo and behold it worked!!! My car now runs just like new.
a mechanic told me it could be the differential is bad...what is that?
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
BimmerFest BMW Forum
11.4M posts
753.1K members
Since 2001
A forum community dedicated to BMW owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about Bimmerfest events, production numbers, programming, performance, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more! Bringing the BMW community together.