Strange vibration. Need suggestions where to look. SOLVED
 

SOLVED. Transfer Case fluid change. Used Fuchs Titan ATF 7134 FE, recommended by my friends at OMG Moterworks. The whine from the tcase when cold went away instantly. Vibration now gone, have yet to get on a really long drive to see if it will come up later. So far so good.

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Driving around today. 80 mile road trip. About 60 miles in I start getting this insane vibration, wheel shaking and what seems like entire front.

1. Shaking at all speeds.
2. Slowing down, without brakes seems to make the shake even worse.
3. Slapping the shifter into neutral while shaking does not change anything.
4. Pulled over, walked around car to check if anything is falling off, like the wheels, everything is good. As I start to drive, all is smooth for about 5 min. Then it comes back.
5. The faster I go the less the shaking, 70mph plus it is almost not noticeable.
6. Nothing to do with braking. Getting on the brakes does not make it less or worse.
7. Vibrations seem rotation related. Like in sync with speed and wheel revolutions.

So far my list of stuff to check.
1. Tie rods
2. Front drive shaft slop
3. Guibo front and rear
4. Axles and cv joints are original. Not sure how to even check these.
5. Rear control arms and slop? Can this even be a thing? Feel it coming from the front even steering wheel shaking.

Ty in advance.

Strange vibration. Need suggestions where to look.
 

Add to the top of your checklist inspection of ball joints and bushings attached to both front upper/lower arms. Upper arm also called tension strut is often your usual suspect.

Looks like you lost a wheel weight. Also good chance internal belt failure. Swap tires front to back. If shake moved to back it's tires. If so then swap one at a time with spare.

I've had three things cause the exact symptom you describe: the two above and a bent rim from pothole.


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Ty guys. Will add to list.
I don’t think this is going to be a tire, wheel, or balance issue. Reason I say this is that it would be repeatable and present itself at higher speeds, always. My issue does not repeat the same way. Once I come to a full stop, I can accelerate again and get to cruising speed of about 70mph with no issues at all. After a few minutes, I get vibration.

Looks like steering rods. This isn’t final, didn’t have time to lift the car and really use a prybar. So far haven’t been able to reproduce the problem, but I only drove it about 30 miles, lots of short trips.

Anyway turned wheels in both directions. Swift kick to the front of the wheel by an adult, significant metal on metal clunk and movement of tie rod on drivers side. I feel there may be more, as I did this, thrust arm, and control arms about 30k miles ago. Like 2 months ago I did the lower controls again, so this might all be NYC roads giving me the finger every 30k miles.

Bent rim, internal belt defect will both go through different level of shake at different speeds. An internal defect (belt delamination) can come and go.

Most often a front end suspension part will shake with soft braking or gentle lane changes. A ball joint can shake "only when or wants to" largely depending on the crown of the road


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Tentativelly SOLVED.

Transfer case fluid changed, adaptations have yet to be reset, will be doing it tonight.

Whine from the tcase when cold went away instantly.

Vibration was getting worse and worse, not it is gone. Have yet to go on a drive over 50 miles, but so far so good.

I installed magnetic drain and fill plugs into the transfer case when I did this last time 6 years ago. The fill plug was mostly clean, very little fuzz. The drain plug had a lot more fuzz on it, but nothing ridiculous.

Fuchs Titan ATF 7134 FE. This was done as per recommendation of my friend from OMG Motorworks in LI. Under $15 per QT, vs $40 plus from dealer. Supposedly same shit.

Was the transfer case full when you drained it? I guess a leak would be the only way it could be down on fluid, and I'm guessing it wasn't leaking...

I can't see anything that links the Fuchs ATF to BMW xDrive application but hey, if it works, why not. :thumbup:

Will be watching with interest to see how you get on, esp. once the oil wear adaptations are reset.

Yea, I don't see it either, but he is a pro, with a shop, and did quite a few of these already. No leaks at all. This is the second time I am doing this, 30k miles apart. Last time this happened I also flipped the gear on the tcase actuator. I didn't connect the dots that the vibration and whine were one and the same. Last time I used BMW "black gold" fluid.

Wish I'd known this a few weeks ago, when I changed mine, although the local dealer gave me a killer price on the OEM fluid, so I'm pretty happy. ;)