Have you done a physical inspection of the drivetrain? The effect of the oil change in my case was not immediate but gradual over 1k mile driving period. But within a week of driving (about 100 miles) the noise started subsiding noticeably.

No, and I should clarify, I'M not doing any of this, my indy is.

They haven't opened it up. They got it warmed up this morning and got it to start vibrating, then put it on the lift and listened with their stethoscope. Basically, we're going to try the oil change and see what it looks like when it comes out. Give it a week or two and see what happens. If nothing changes, we'll order the transfer case.

And yes, they did mention needing to reset the adaptations after the oil change.

Guys any updates?? Did the transfer case oil change do the trick? I have started to notice similar issue.. WHen I turn the car on (especiallly when its cold) - when i drive (accelerate) for the first 15-20 minutes as car warms up - the winding noise happens from 1-3000 RPM or so.. The colder it is, the more of a whine there is. After a good warmup (30-40 minutes) sound goes away almost fully... I never notice the whine during this year in summertime. I live in New York. Last year it was barley noticeable during winter - this winter (today got cold 29F) the whine was bad.... What in the world is this?? its the transfer case oil?

Mine turned out to be a combination of things. Changing the oil in the transfer case/resetting adaptations didn't solve my problem. It was better for a day or so, but then the same shake came back. When I took it back in, however, a new code had shown up pointing at the transfer case.

My indy decided that the transfer case had gone bad, which in turn jacked up the CV joint on the rear drive shaft (had just replaced that). When we replaced the transfer case, we discovered it had also damaged the left front CV axle. Replaced that and my shake is gone.

But this was also primarily about a noise, which I never had a whining noise. I got a thumping when my shake got really bad, and a really bad squeak when it was really cold, but no whine.

But, regardless, new rear drive shaft, transfer case and front CV axle is what solved my problem.

My thread: http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...oot-shake.html

I got the whine when cold, and the shakes when warm, but with cold temps outside. Going to do the tcase fluid and reset adaptations before going for a used low miles case. This is some strange shit. Going to be awsome if fluid fixes this.

It's over 5 years now since the oil change fixed my issue. No whining noise. I should probably do another fluid change soon and not wait for whine again. But I think I may have changed it once more in the 5 years.

I did mine last time 6 years ago. 25-30k miles. I think that’s about how long it lasts.