[Martan]

As above, car has been juddering from pulling away to cruising along and putting your foot down. I thought it was bad fuel or injector problem. So car was booked in and thats when the service guy mentioned the transfer box problem, said its just been a problem on x drives and bmw want them to investigate. So the car has to go in for 3 days.
Has anyone else had a problem like this?

[Smee]

no but ill keep an eye on it as i notice a vibration in reverse

[kzg1969]

what age/mileage are you running?

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by kzg1969

what age/mileage are you running?

+ Are you running wheels/tyres other than OEM specs?

[SaintMac]

Had it in my f31 about 2 years ago. Initially the dealer tried to blame the tyres, but they were all the same, BMW spec run flat and equal wear. They then put on wheels from a demonstrator and I still had the issue.
Eventually, probably after four or five visits, BMW agreed to replace under warranty and problem resolved and was still ok when I replaced the car earlier this year.

[Smee]

Replace what under warrenty? Gear box or transger case

[SaintMac]

Originally Posted by Smee

Replace what under warrenty? Gear box or transger case

Transfer box.

[mbanks21]

Didn't you replace your tires recently? If so what sizes are you running?

[Martan]

Originally Posted by kzg1969

what age/mileage are you running?

Just over two years old and 47k mostly motorway

[Martan]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

+ Are you running wheels/tyres other than OEM specs?

Running standard m sport+ 19" and replaced oem goodyear with falken run flats. But the juddering was there before replacements put on.

The garage looked at the key and it showed the temperature high?!

[ComputerKnowHow]

Yes, I had a new transfer case after having 4 new tyres and alignment. This was on a 2.5 year old 320d xdrive at around 50k miles.

Relatively common fault I believe. Mine was replaced under warranty without any fuss.

[Martan]

Originally Posted by ComputerKnowHow

Yes, I had a new transfer case after having 4 new tyres and alignment. This was on a 2.5 year old 320d xdrive at around 50k miles.

Relatively common fault I believe. Mine was replaced under warranty without any fuss.

If it needs replacing, at least it's under warranty.

Contemplating the next car and was going on o go xdrive again, but now might just stay with rwd.

[F31-340i]

So that's 2 confirmed transfer boxes and 1 suspect.

These are interesting and slightly worrying odds.

Have BMW modified the transfer box in any way or are these at risk of letting go at 50k miles and BMW are playing the numbers/odds upto the 3 year warranty point?

Another tick against the 340i vs 335d perhaps?

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by ///ajd

So that's 2 confirmed transfer boxes and 1 suspect.

These are interesting and slightly worrying odds.

Have BMW modified the transfer box in any way or are these at risk of letting go at 50k miles and BMW are playing the numbers/odds upto the 3 year warranty point?

Another tick against the 340i vs 335d perhaps?

What's odds are those? You haven't heard from the hundreds who've had no problems.

The biggest issue on these cars is the EGR system and there's a load more than 3 people who've needed that sorted.

[F31-340i]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

What's odds are those? You haven't heard from the hundreds who've had no problems.

The biggest issue on these cars is the EGR system and there's a load more than 3 people who've needed that sorted.

Sorry, I didn't mean to knock them - it wouldn't put me off but it doesn't sound very rare either, for cars that are only 1-3 years old.

What is the EGR issue - is there a big thread on it? I've not been keeping up to date on F30/31 issues.

[ComputerKnowHow]

The dealer who did the warranty work didn't give any statistics but said they were "used to doing them." It reminded me of the 'common' traction control/hydraulic failure I had on my E90 where the whole unit used to be replaced before a fix became available. Perhaps a weakness will be identified?

Before the juddering became unbearable I did notice the droning of the transfer case became worse.

I've been ultra careful with tyre pressures and checking for even wear ever since it was replaced.

[daac]

so i was on a test drive today 2014 xdrive 335i msport 52000km. In sport and sport + manually shifting with shifter in sport at higher revs full throttle from 1-2 I felt and heard a judder with a deep sound in my seat with a short loss of power 1/2 second then it took off again. Does it every time. Also did it on the freeway last week at like 80kmh when it was raining thought it might be traction control so came to try it in the dry and same thing. Hard to tell if the deep noise is the exhaust or blow off valve but seemed to follow the judder feeling. Im wondering if this is normal for xdrive? Gonna go test drive anotheto see if the same thing happens. Anyone have ideas?
Comparing to the s4 I drove last week it had an exhaust rumble between shifts but no judder just crazy smooth shifting and power.

[Hooded]

Originally Posted by ComputerKnowHow

The dealer who did the warranty work didn't give any statistics but said they were "used to doing them." It reminded me of the 'common' traction control/hydraulic failure I had on my E90 where the whole unit used to be replaced before a fix became available. Perhaps a weakness will be identified?

Before the juddering became unbearable I did notice the droning of the transfer case became worse.

I've been ultra careful with tyre pressures and checking for even wear ever since it was replaced.

im not surprised, it seems a very common problem on the US part of the forum

[pilotyoda]

I got sick of the original Dunlop tires on our 2012 X1 20D. They kept failing (bubbles, casing failures, etc).
Switched to Bridgstone Potenza S6001 Due to the cost we did 2 tires at the dealer and arranged for the other 2 to be done in 6 months. From the minute we left the dealer there was a juddering from the transfer case. We returned the car to the dealer and they spent 27 hours diagnosing the problem without success. In the end they fitted a set of 4 matching display wheels & tires and the problem went away. So w had to buy the extra 2 tires then and they were good enough to let us have the extras for half price.
No further problems including replacing the 2 most worn tires (front) with another pair of S6001s. By the way, apart from the shorter tread life these tires are way better than the original Dunlops in grip, feel and control.
Just had the other 2 (rear) done and the problem is back with a vengeance. Shaking, power loss & Stability control cutting in and out.
Will go back and get the tire place to swap the rear and front tires around but I think it is back to the dealer. NOT HAPPY

[RobUK]

Is this a problem peculiar to BMW F3x models? Presumably it doesn't affect their range of SUVs in the same way? Her indoors has had four (non-BMW) 4WD cars and never had these sorts of issues.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by RobUK

Is this a problem peculiar to BMW F3x models? Presumably it doesn't affect their range of SUVs in the same way? Her indoors has had four (non-BMW) 4WD cars and never had these sorts of issues.

There are a lot more issues with AWD than we often hear of. All depends on the system used and how front to rear RC tolerances are allowed for and controlled. BMW have not been immune from issues from the start. E9x xDrive models (none in the UK) have had just the same issues.

E83 X3 was very sensitive to tyres. Some of the issue appears to be what tyre sizes the models are fitted with. The X3 tyre sizing for staggered wheels, (18 & 19"), just didn't work on generic tyres of the same sizes. BMW were clearly controlling tolerances of the star marked tyres, to stay within the xDrive's tyre logic.

Other factor as I see it, the build tolerance stack can mean a few examples are very sensitive to tyre tread variation. Many also forget tyre pressures can be very critical in getting the ideal RC, for a given tyre on xDrive models.