06 X5 3.0i E53 howling when accelerating at 55mphh+

[Optllizer]

Hello. I own a e53 x5 3.0i that just hit 200k miles. Its been doing well this past year or so but I just noticed a weird howling noise from the rear when accelerating at 55mph+. Its intermittent. I know its not the wheel bearing.


The sound isn't there when accelerating at low speeds. I changed diff oil last year and transfer case oil 2 years ago. Maybe its a exhaust leak? i don't know. Ill try and record it the next time it happens but is there anything I could check?

Thanks.

[andrewwynn]

The prime suspect if it's under load is either CSB or giubo.

If it goes away when costing your likely correct not the bearing

[X5chemist]

CSB = drive shaft carrier bearing
Reach under and grab the driveshaft. Does the center bearing have a lot of play?

[Optllizer]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

The prime suspect if it's under load is either CSB or giubo.

If it goes away when costing your likely correct not the bearing

Alright, ill check both.

Originally Posted by X5chemist

CSB = drive shaft carrier bearing
Reach under and grab the driveshaft. Does the center bearing have a lot of play?

Yeah Ill crawl under there and see if it has play.


One thing I noticed today is that it only at 55-60 mile range. When I hit 65+ pressing the gas it doesnt have an howling.

[Optllizer]

Sorry for reviving a old thread, but I don't wanna make a new one for a similar issue. Finally got the time to try and fix this issue. I wasn't really in a rush or anything since car is running good other than the noises.

Now with this howling noise at 60mph, theirs a metal click noise while switching between reverse and drive. Then a couple more clicks as i move in either direction till I get up to speed. Then metal clicking noise disappears. No noticeable vibration or noises while going on the highway.

When I crawled under and grabbed each of the driveshafts, all of them felt tight without any excessive play. the guibos seem ok too. no bad cracks. CV Joints aren't leaking and aren't make any noise.

The video here is a video of the clicking noise at the rear driveshaft connecting into the transfer case. I narrowed it down to here and when holding the driveshaft while having someone switch between d and r I could feel the click.

What could this noise be?

[andrewwynn]

The majority of the clink is the normal drive line play getting sent though but the high frequency "tink" heard at the very beginning and 15 seconds is the exact sound of loose bolts in the giubo (joo-boh).

[andrewwynn]

A customer of mine would notice the tink tink tink sound when going through drive thru. I loosened and torqued the six bolts and the sound vaporized.


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[X5chemist]

If that's the upper transfer rear exit shaft, seems normal to me. No oil at the top since it's not moving. Howling is something grinding or bearing. You might have to drop the rear drive shaft to check the carrier bearing really good. I've not read here about a howling transfer case being common.

[Optllizer]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

The majority of the clink is the normal drive line play getting sent though but the high frequency "tink" heard at the very beginning and 15 seconds is the exact sound of loose bolts in the giubo (joo-boh).

Alright, yeah I hear that noise also when moving a bit forward or backward. Especially in bumper to bumper traffic when I'm only accelerating for a second.

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

A customer of mine would notice the tink tink tink sound when going through drive thru. I loosened and torqued the six bolts and the sound vaporized.

ill give this a try, thank you for the suggestion.

Originally Posted by X5chemist

If that's the upper transfer rear exit shaft, seems normal to me. No oil at the top since it's not moving. Howling is something grinding or bearing. You might have to drop the rear drive shaft to check the carrier bearing really good. I've not read here about a howling transfer case being common.

The howling is not noticeable honestly. Its only at exactly 60mphs too. Maybe its tied to andrewwyn suggestion of loose guibo bolts.

[andrewwynn]

Def re work those giubo bolts. That was the exact sound made from my customer's giubo. It's off course possible something else but odds are very good especially since you mentioned slow speed hear it.

It's important to loosen to re-torque and do in one step until the wrench clicks.

Very interesting videos from torque test channel on how stop/start when torquing will not achieve desired results.

Re: "howling" there can be many things to cause and if it's at one speed it almost always means something is at resonance.

Typically tread in the tire will vibrate are the same Hz as some component in the suspension.

When i drive exactly 74 mph something in my suspension vibrates at 200 or 400 Hz i forget which.

On the F 15 x5, bmw added a weight to the lower control arm to change its resonance so I'm suspicious of that being the culprit.

Use an FFT program and helper to determine the source of the howling noise.