E53 4.4 2005 - Low speed gear noise independent of vehicle and engine speed

[Flyingdutchman]

Hi

My 'Betty' has developed a new noise. Most obvious is around 30-35km/h. When slowly accelerating or when going constant speed I suddenly hear a gearing noise appear and go away again. Like something is speeding up or engaging, then disengaging again. Its not related to either vehicle speed or engine speed and I don;t feel a jerk or anything, smooth as usual.

My gut feeling goes to maybe the 4x4 engaging and disengaging, maybe that plastic gear is broken again. Changed it 6yrs ago when I bought the car.

Anyway, maybe it rings a bell to someone. Or I just need wait for some warning signal to come on,

cheers

[andrewwynn]

I think you can pull a fuse (or maybe the power connector to the TC clutch motor) to confirm. The x drive does quite often change the clutch value as you drive and that is highly suspect.

[Flyingdutchman]

Hi, definitely 4x4 related. Noise is gone when I pull the plug on the actuator. I checked and swapped the plastic gear. Not really a problem there, no influence on the noise. What else could be making a "gearing" noise? Seems I lightly even feel a vibration and slow down in the car.