Loud clunk = pain
 

Was making a simple right hand turn on a local road and hear a LOUD clunk from the back of the car. Coast to the side of the road, have it towed and the rear diff blew. Rear diff + axles will be $5k+

I hate this damn car.

Find parts used. I imagine this sort of failure is rare and used diffs would not be a gamble. Do the work yourself or take the used parts to an indy shop. I would also think that used diffs are plentiful due to low failure rates.

Also, why do you also need axles?

RD fully shredded and stripped the axles

10-4: I have many BMW's was thinking old school where the axles are bolted to the diff output flange. Not so on the X5. Still, think used.

going to definitely try to find some used axles. The diff on the other hand seems to be impossible to find.

What's the mileage on the X?

115k miles

I thought that I read that a few E70 owners on here had to replace their diffs. Do a simple search and see what comes up. I know that this is considered a no-no because BMW apparently uses "life-time" fluids, but did you change the ATF and Diff fluids (drain and fill)?

I did not. I was going to, but my mechanic strongly recommended that I do not because it could kick loose some gunk and cause bad things. On this one, I'm pretty sure that fluids didn't come into play. This thing seized and then pretty much exploded into 10 or so pieces.

BMW lifetime is about 150k km, I have 130k km now and have swapped both diffs, transfer case and tranny fluid already. You may want to try car-part.com for a diff and axles.

Edit: -> This recycler close to me has axles

http://standardautowreckers.hollande...ck.asp?S=DB213