So...some 7,000 miles after I contributed to this thread and was a little concerned about my guides failing at the mileage I was on and this exact whirring symptom occured.....120 miles later and my engine is rattling badly due to chain guide failure. :rolleyes:

Do it sooner rather than later people - I think to be safe any engine over 100k it should be done without delay.

Yep did't even hesitate on ripping the X5 down once I heard the whirring sound. She gives you plenty of warning. Some people just choose to ignore the signs.

Oh believe me....the signs weren't ignored. I knew exactly what it was. Unfortunately however I didn't have another vehicle to use at such short notice otherwise trust me....I would have been using it without hesitation.

So it's been about 3 months since the X5 broke down, and I'm finally getting around to fixing it. Life got in the way for a while— I moved to a different house in a different part of town (no more HOA!), worked on chain guides for a 740i, did a heck of a lot of work on my 540i touring, worked on a Mustang GT with a friend, and a whole bunch of other stuff.

I had the X5 towed to my new house, and it just kinda sat in the backyard for a while. I ended up using my 540i touring to push it further into the backyard so that I could access the garage and use the backyard for parking other cars.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2893/3...b968ab2d_b.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2891/3...96395d8c_b.jpg

It's desperately in need of a wash, though it's got a coat of sealant on the paint so the paint should be okay despite sitting in the sun for months. It also hasn't been super hot until recently so that's a good thing. Amazingly, the battery only died recently— I was able to lock/unlock it last month when I needed to get something from it. The last time I started it was in March, but it started just fine.

In any case, I found a person parting out an X5 4.6 with much lower miles than mine, and he sold me the transfer case so now I don't have to reuse my questionable 214k mile transfer case. I also bought a new transfer case chain and an extended driveshaft from Cobra Transmission, so everything should come together nicely once all of that stuff arrives early next week.

Does that guy still have side mirrors?



Garage:
E53 4.4i M62 born 2003-03-04 (SOLD)
E53 4.8iS N62s born 2006-03-16
E90 325i N52 born 2006-03-28
F30 328i N20 born 2012-09-06

It's one of the guys on here, jcorreanyc. Shoot him a message about it.

Never mind. I missed those already. Thanks though.



Garage:
E53 4.4i M62 born 2003-03-04 (SOLD)
E53 4.8iS N62s born 2006-03-16
E90 325i N52 born 2006-03-28
F30 328i N20 born 2012-09-06

The X5 lives again! Huge thanks to jcorreanyc for selling me a 4.6is transfer case (apparently the 4.6 has a special LWX-500 transfer case) and shipping it all the way out from NYC. That was one heavy sucker!

The full writeup is coming later today once I can get everything off my DSLR, but let's just say it was quite the job! The transfer case is quite heavy when you have a foot and a half of clearance under the vehicle and the exhaust is quite fun to maneuver into place.

I replaced the transfer case, replaced the chain inside the transfer case, and replaced the front driveshaft with a brand new 1" extended one from Cobra Transmission. Fresh Dextron (5?) fluid inside the transfer case.

It's still quite filthy from sitting outside for the better part of 4 months, but it drives great. No check engine lights, no warning lights, and the drivetrain is super smooth. I took it on a shakedown at like 2:30am last night and everything went quite well. The engine fired right up and initially had a lifter tick from sitting for so long, but after a drive it sounded pretty good.

I drove it to work today and it was awesome. I forget how quick 4.6's feel, even though they're not all that quick on paper.

I documented the first part of this repair job in this video on my YouTube channel (shameless self-promotion): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBy1HcVHOrM

Congrats on the repair and the smooth running X after all these months

Congratulations on you truck