2002 x5 3.0l petrol gearbox
 

Goodday lock-downers,
Gearbox issue with my baby!!The car was driving great with smooth gear changes,kicking down and quiet. I stopped to help my buddy with his boat and approx 1 hour later started the car ,put it in D and there was nothing!! I could see the fwd drive shaft turning but does not move the car in auto or manual. There is ATF in the box but with the car not level I could not ascertain the level.The car rolls backwards/forwards irrespective of where the gearbox is and even in 'Park'
With our lock-down status I cannot get a reader for fault codes.
Has anyone an idea of why this occurred and any way of tracing the fault- spare parts are not available but I have 3 weeks to "play" with different ideas.

This sounds pretty unusual. It does sound a little like a shifter linkage issue. I would look first underneath and inspect the shifter linkage on the transmission.

Please keep us posted.

The shifter seems fine on the outside of the box and the electrical to the dash seem fine- they show whats selected.Could be the selector not moving inside the box ? It's almost as though I have lost 'pressure' in the box. I see there is a test point to check the hydraulic pressure- going to have to make something up to check. It's definitely home cooking with the lockdown !!

Is the gear selector position shown correctly on cluster?

Edit: You just answered to this. Cluster gear position is shown according to switch on gearbox (CAN-bus info from EGS) so that should rule is out. Is the transmission fault shown on cluster?

Could you elaborate what you mean by that you can see front drive shaft moving. So when D engaged the front drive shaft (propeller) is rotating but vehicle is not moving? What about rear drive shaft?

If your gear selector shows correctly and if I understand what you're saying... Front driveshaft is turning but car doesn't move.

1st) Guess is that your gearbox was screwed before and you had been driving on the front shaft only and now the splines are gone (common issue) or 2nd) splines have been gone on front shaft for awhile and transfer case (rear connector) shit the bed so you lost propulsion either way.

3rd) front splines gone but rear differential is locked up and since front hasn't been connected it's just spinning although I doubt this last assumption because it's the one thing that hasn't happened to me [emoji1696][emoji1787]

Drop rear shaft (on jack stands) and see if

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Sounds like you have a stripped front drive shaft. The end going into the front differential is stripped.

Thanks for all the input- looks like I will have to drop out both shafts and transfer case to see what the size hole in my pocket is !!
The rear shaft is Not turning so I was likely on front wheel drive .
When I put it back in Park there is a noise like teeth not meshing and then it goes clunk into park.
This vehicle was purchased from a BMW 'specialist'.... if we were not on lockdown there would be some harsh words and possibly blood !!!

2002 x5 3.0l petrol gearbox
 

Edit: I misread the op description and describe a completely unrelated but useful issue below;

My customer’s 328xi does the same exact thing going into reverse!

Sounds like it is just a linkage issue. Cable sleeve compressed or bent cable grip etc.

I will try to fix the one for my client but in the meantime he just has to push the lever a little past the center detent for reverse. Try to find a method such as putting into M/S and back to D that may snap yours into gear. (Since in your case you can't go past D)

There is likely an adjustment for cable length like a bike has for the brakes.

Unless the front wheels are are able to turn, the back wheel won't turn because of the transfer case. People have tried disconnecting the front driveshaft when it is stripped hoping to just drive it in rear wheel drive, but no buano.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spLPH3lqnW0

If the OP's description is what I think it is, this is the only answer that makes sense to me. More testing will be needed to narrow it down, but this guess seems to be in the right direction.

On those cars, the whole drive system after the transmission is mechanical. The transfer case can be though of as acting just like an open differential. No need to worry about codes.

My interpretation of OP's description, and I'm filling in assumed details - please correct this if wrong:
With the engine on, transmission in drive: the car does not move.
With the engine on, transmission in drive, foot on the brake, looking under the car: car does not move. The driveshaft going forward, from the transfer case to the front differential is seen to be rotating. Nothing else is moving.

That is exactly what would happen if there is a problem downstream (forward/outward) of the front driveshaft.
If neither of the front CV axles is turning, then it is further narrowed to the input or output from the front differential.

Simple tests, if in doubt, would be to jack the car and spin one wheel at a time to see how other things are working.

Reason why you have no buano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT8gtGjJdAE

About three times a year somebody posts about a front CV axle popping out of the differential.

The symptoms exactly match your description.

Jack up a front wheel and spin it by hand you should be able to tell which side is not connected.

Normally with one wheel off the ground you can't turn it when the car is in park.


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It doesn't work like that.

Before xdrive the transfer case is a very simple design using a planetary gear system for a fixed torque distribution close to 60/40% rear/front.

There is no such thing as "on front wheel drive" it's always all wheel drive .

(That is until something breaks).

The drive shaft for a particular axle turns when the wheels are turning. The back wheels not turning would mean the rear propeller / drive shaft should not be moving.

Likewise for the front: the front propeller shaft drives the front axle.

Unless on ice, if the car is moving BOTH drive shafts will be turning and similarly: if the car is stationary, the drive shafts will be stationary there are no clutches down stream from the transfer case (that's why many/most cars tap the transmission output for car speed ) (but weirdly not the X5)

If the car won't move in drive but one shaft turns that is good news for you it means the most expensive parts in the system aren't broken.

Unfortunately due to how the front dif is an "open did" it can be a little tricky to figure out where the disconnect is.

That said, pull outward on the inner CV axle it should not move more than a couple mm. If as I suspect it popped out , it may move inches!

Stripped drive shaft suggested: incorrect. That would have the symptom of loud gear grinding and no rotation of the prop shaft.

One member had their front dif self destruct and had the same symptom you describe but 2-3 members have has one side CV axle pop out of the diffential.

Thanks guys- will strip out front drive shaft and check splines (if any !). Thats the easiest place to start before going too technical. First car I've owned with auto box and 4 wheel drive so it's all new to me

I would do as anderwwynn suggested. Just raise one front corner at a time and test if you can rotate the wheel. Normally you can't if gearbox is in park and all other corners are on the ground. If you can rotate one corner check if the front propeller is turning with it or not. If the front propeller is also turning the splines between propeller and transfer case are broken. If the front propeller is not moving with that one front wheel the CV joint of that wheel has popped out from the front differential splines and could be corrected by just pushing the joint back in. (On the last scenario it can of course be something more involved with front differential but not as likely as a popped out CV joint.)

Goodday all,
Update on beast- Front drive shaft 100% splines still good.
Checking out the front and I see that the half-shaft on the drivers side has popped out of the transfer case. It has the spring-clip on it and I obviously never got it into the case correctly, is this the only'locking'mechanism on the shaft? (had to pull the shaft when I removed engine)
I still have to pull the shaft to see whats going on there. So I apologise to the BMW gods for what has been said thus far...

That spring clip (Nr.2) is the only think keeping inner joint attached to front differential.

When I changed my wife's CV axles i could not get one of them to seat until I swapped the old retaining clip.


It can be tricky to find a good place to push on to get the sucker all the way in.

Goodday gents,
Stripped out front drive and splines are 100%.!! Whilst crawling around I noticed that the half-shaft on drivers side (long shaft) had 'popped out' of the transfer case. I had removed the shaft to pull the engine and obviously hadn't got it all the way home when assembling, I have removed it and the splines are still good , only the taper splines are a bit damaged (file job coming up).
Is the springclip the only fastener on this shaft? Has anyone a good method of ensuring the shaft is all the way home or is it just by eye?
I apologise to the BMW gods for all the foul language, it was an error on my behalf !

Avoid driver/passenger side nomenclature: it's wrong half the time.

The long shaft is on the right side so I am guessing RHD in South africa?

The CV axles are connected to the differential. The front driveshaft/propeller is connected between the transfer case and the differential.

Not by eye by tug. You will not be able to pull the CV axle out by hand when seated. Not even with a moderate force with a crowbar.

All X5s are quite accustomed to four letter words in all languages.

Goodday gents, The beast is fixed !!! Thanks for all the input and suggestions- would have taken me a lot longer to narrow down the fault.
I can only drive up and down the driveway at the moment but its better than nothing .
Hope everyone stays safe and keep the blogs going... it keeps me out of trouble