Big Island X5 owners
 

Aloha, reaching out to any X5 owners on the big island of Hawaii. I’m in north Kohala and I have 2005 X5 3.0. Which has been great and sometimes a pain in the butt. Only left me stranded once. I am mechanically inclined but I have had a squealing noise which, coincides with accelerating. Just wanted to see if any other owners have had a similar issue. I’m thinking it might be an idler pulley or bearing. Sometimes the noise is non existent and other times it won’t stop. Thanks for any response.

Where does it seem to come from? Front of the car or underneath? Especially as it shifts gears upward?
What codes do you have?

Sent from my SM-A730F using Tapatalk

Do you have a stethoscope? They are invaluable in tracking down noises like these. It sounds like it could be an idler pulley or tensioner pulley bearing. The stethoscope will allow you to "zoom" in on the noise and isolate it from noises around it.

No codes currently, the noise sounds like it’s coming from the front of the engine. If car is just idling, there’s no noise. As soon as you press on the accelerator the noise appears, not quite a squeal, more like a tick/squeal whine. The belts are new. Is the idler pulley the one located at the bottom front, of the engine. I really appreciate the responses. Engine performance is great. Just this crazy little whine/ticking occurring is driving me crazy.

When my tensioner bearing went out it wouldn't make much noise at idle either, but sounded like a flute when I was driving based on engine speed. The stethoscope helped pinpoint it because it was producing a noise at idle, it was just hard to hear without assistance.

My idler pully de-laminated just after I bought the car. Would squeal when accelerating.
Eventually there was a lot of smoke from the front.

The pully has an inner ring and an outer ring, joined by rubber. When the rubber cracks, the inner spins with engine speed but the outer has tension fromt he belts and spins slower, causing the squealing. When not accelerating, the outer and inner get back to the same speed and stops squealing.

Right on guys. Really appreciate the feedback. My X5 has 203,000 miles, so it’s probably time to replace that component. I forgot how invaluable these forums can be.

Ok, so I’ve replaced the pulleys and tensioners and the belts and still getting a sequel/screeching on start up. I have no idea where it’s coming from.

The pulley Jughead028 mentioned sounds more like the harmonic balancer on the front of the crankshaft - they are well known to fail on the diesel (30d)) cars in hot climates.

The screeching on startup with a 30i could be the SAP?

https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...-no-codes.html

Sorry, my mistake.

Yes, it was the harmonic balancer pulley.

JG