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

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.

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

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

Alright, ill check both.

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.

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?

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).

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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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.

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.

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

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

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.

Well, After making the above post it started vibrating pretty bad from under the driver seat. Now a day later i heard a really bad noise from under the car and now it cant move. Luckily i wasnt far from my house.

The front driveshaft is now spinning freely when putting it in reverse. Is my TC dead or my splines bad?

I will be checking for codes later but currently no error or lights are on. Its like it has no idea it cant move.

https://streamable.com/fpik3w

Wow! Looks like the front splines are shot.

Uncommon on an LCI... but I guess it can happen. :dunno:

:wow: Mine is an LCI! Now, I'm really curious. I sold a spacer because LCI are known less to strip splines.

Yeah it was a ticking time bomb that was gonna go off at any time. Luckily it was less than a mile from my house and not on the highway.

ill get the driveshaft splines extension and have someone do it. I did check for codes just to make sure but nothing.

How hard is the job?

Isn’t 06 x drive? Or not until e 70?

x drive should shut off front axle if prop shaft disconnected but that sound is exactly what splines shot on front prop sounds like.

Anyway to get the car moving somehow? Just to my driveway which is less than a mile from where its stopped right now. Like disconnect something to make it run in some limp type mode.

If x drive pulling the fuse will turn off the front axle and you can at least drive. (I’ve done this on 08 to spin just rear axle off the ground to isolate squeak)

LCI im pretty sure is xdrive. Which fuse would it be?

Read that thread. It says better to unplug the motor under the car.

When I’ve unplug the fuse it made the wipers run continuously, something I’m sure you would be ok with to avoid a tow.

If park works it should work to disable x drive.

OG x five, park does not work if any spline not connected on the front axle gear train.

I went and tried to first disconnect the plug on the TC Motor but still couldn't move. Then I tried the TC fuse. All the lights came on for ABS BRAKE 4x4 which is fine since fuse is out but still couldn't move. The rear driveshaft is spinning normally. I am a bit worried its something else in combination with bad splines.

Not sure if you have to pull both fuses, F205 (40A, in the trunk) and F46 (7.5A, behind the glovebox)... :dunno:

https://www.xbimmers.com/forums/show....php?t=2131759

Might be e70 only.

Is it normal that i can feel and hear the rear driveshaft spinning while in the car after this happening in D and R or is it from the broken front shaft.

It's sounding more like an internal fault of the TC. The rear shaft has no way to disengage from the transmission.

If my TC was broken, would it start throwing faults? PASoft shows nothing

I went to the car this morning and took a second look. Its 99% the front splines without a doubt. Video shows the tc spinning fine and looking at the rear shaft, its spinning fine too. Now theres rust dust from the spinning now. Got the extension and hopefully the inner splines are ok. Since the oem splines dont reach it.

I've not seen the problem on the facelift but the sound did exactly match. I've pulled the front shaft off x-drive before and the system just worked and shut off the front axle.

I'm wondering if you have an additional issue like worm gear on the tc motor so it's not disengaging so it's reverting to old school always on.

I replaced the tc motor 3 years ago. It isnt making the classic clicking noise and the dash isnt a christmas tree. But yeah its weird after pulling both fuses and disconnect the tc motor it still doesnt wanna move.

Can you command the motor with your scanner? I'm pretty sure i can with foxwell. I think you mentioned using BMW software which should have the ability

Not sure, i have PASoft and INPA. What should I look for? When i checked for TC codes there werent any

Not looking for codes but look for test program. My scanner will run tc clutch 0-100% a few times on command for example

Nothing with PASoft but on inpa i tried clutch test and it lit up like a christmas tree but when i went to move it doing the same thing as before wouldnt move.

Do you hear the TC motor when doing the test?


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Yeah slightly, can hear it buzz a bit. But I may have 2 problems, splines and rear differential. Its making a weird thumping noise while in gear. The grinding is the splines in the front. in the rear you can hear lumping and the cvs moving a bit.
https://streamable.com/29skca

What are some ways I could check my rear diff to make sure its fine.

So after having someone see the car. The front splines are shot and the rear differential also died. Im honestly thinking because of front splines all the torque got sent to the rear destroying the rear diff. Gonna have someone take apart and see. Which part would be most sustainable to being destroyed by too much torque.

Dang... :confused:

No way should the rear diff be destroyed by 100% of the toque being sent through it - it's designed for exactly this. Something else must be afoot here.

Perhaps the rear driveshaft CV has failed (on the input to the diff) or the diff had a leak and ran dry... :dunno:

Yeah, was just a possible theory because the timing of both rear diff and front splines dying is interesting.

The rear shaft spins as normal and isnt loose on the rear diff side. I just hear a rumbing noises while its spinning with both right and left cvs vibrating.
Here is a new streamable link
https://streamable.com/4w9zlo

The diff is a bit wet but I do not remember any puddles in the rear while parked, just oil in the front(oil pan). The Cv in thr clip looks wet but its from a dirty glove when i was holding it. Maybe its been leaking so little for awhile that it wasn’t noticeable until it was too late and the extra torque just put it in the grave. ill drain whatever oil thats left and see if theres metal shavings.

Wow! That video is pretty clear!! It's a goner! :(

The only unknown now is how did this happen. :dunno:

Sorry this has gone so bad for you... :rolleyes:

Probably what you said with it being low on oil. I can’t be that mad. My fault for not taking care of the splines or paying attention more to the diff. For all i know the howling ive had and clicking were both indicators of something about to go wrong. Howling=diff, clicking=splines. Just didnt affect drivability enough to warrant more investigation. Anyway i dont know if ill be fixing it. Getting estimates on used diffs and labor.

Your location says "pa". What part? Ill be in pa in a month. I always bring most of my mechanic tools. Last trip in changed my valve cover and turbo solenoid. Previous trip rear brakes.

I go to north east corner but come from Wisconsin.

If the car would be "end of life" it's possible I'd help save from the scraper.

South East PA, near Philly. I am currently talking with mechanics in the area to see who would be able to install a used diff if mine can't be saved.

Tomorrow if i get the time ill drain the diff oil and see if theirs shit ton of metal in it.

And I assume its way too far gone to be rebuilt/change the bad parts judging by the sounds its making.

The car has been through a lot the past 3-4 years. 2 major accidents with less than optimal repairs to the body. Just enough so that it isnt ugly. I personally don't wanna scrap it but we will see what the future holds. Ill keep this thread updated if I end up fixing it or just let it sit. I won't be sending it to the scrapyard right away will prob hold on to it for couple months.

I am having a hard time figuring out which gear ratio is correct for my car. According to RealOEM and the dealer its a 4.10. But looking up the number thats on the diff next to the right cv, its 33111428634-04. Googling this shows 3.91 ratio diffs. Which one should be the correct one?

2006 BMW X5 3.0i
VIN: LY28389

If somebody put 3.91 on the back and not front would be a solid explanation of TC and rear dif damage.

See if you can find a part number on front diff.

I would have thought that if the diff ratios didn't match you would tear apart giubo joints befor a diff gave out but that part number does seem weird...

Couldnt find the part number on the front but i dont think the diff was ever changed. Car has been around for 10 years/since 120k. Plus i think it would have caused issues way sooner if the ratios were not correct.

With earlier X5 the transfer case is purely torque ratioed i think you could get away with mismatched difs for some maybe even permanently but a fair chance the mismatch will mess up the exact parts that broke.

I forgot the year of your car. If it's 04 or newer than it's for sure going to self destruct if the diffs don't match.

I can't cross reference the number you found on the rear diff. Was it cast into the diff or was it on a sticker?

The correct part number (33107510656) is on a sticker on top of the diff (you''ll need a probe camera or a mirror) and will include the diff ratio (4.10): -

https://anglparts.ru/image/catalog/e...e53-4-10_3.jpg

I just read above 06. Should be x-drive and not compatible with mismatch. I think bmw says 1% maximum difference between axles of 1%.

It was casted on the diff next to the right cv. I guess should ignore that. Just curious, should almost all post facelift models with 3.0i have a 4.10? Mine is 2006 production October 2005.

Afaik all 3.0 4.1 but diesel could have had the v[emoji2396] dif.

alright, i will stick with the 4.10 then.

Did you ever have drive train "shudder"? I've seen A couple examples of x-drive with just slightly different sizeb tires made the DSC very mad. Made the car shudder until they replaced the tires.

No, car drove fine prior to this. Just the howling at 60 and the clicking which was 100% the front splines.

I did have wheel spin with the 4x4 light flashing in the rear during the winter but its just because the inside of the rear tires are bad cuz of the toe. Was gonna replace them soon.

Im gonna get a mirror and find the part number and ratio later today or tomorrow

Its been awhile, but heres an update. After a lot of headaches, parts getting stuck at the post office and other things popping up I am finally driving the car again. Replaced the front driveshaft with a extended splines and replaced the rear differential. I did a front diff oil flush and TC fluid flush. Regreased all the cv joints as well. Car drives like a dream and noticeably more smooth. I don't know if the rear diff basically on its last legs had anything to do with that or the new oil in the diffs and TC. Regardless the old x5 is back on the road.

Great to hear that you sorted it. :thumbup:

I was checking the car with pasoft and noticed oil abrasion after a fluid change. I didnt have it pre change so I assume the values need a reset. I dont have the right tools sadly. Whats best way to reset thats not the dealer.

If you are talking about the VTG (transfer case) oil wear code, there is an oil wear reset routine that need to be run on the ATC500 transfer case after any power divider fluid change.

As far as I know, only DIS, ISTA (-D or +) and the Foxwell tools will do this, plus maybe some other scan tools.

So you can either grab a copy of ISTA and a laptop and get that up and running (not too bad to do) or locate someone with one of the required tools who is prepared to do it for you. An indy shop might help out here.

If you get ISTA, you'll find the VTG Oil Wear functions here: -

Vehicle management -> Service functions -> Power train -> Transfer box transmission control unit -> Oil change