[hunter04]

I have a 2019 50i with 69k miles.
I have been having an issue during slow/ sharp turns — the rear seems to be binding up. Anyone else experience this? Not sure if I should start by changing the rear differential fluid.
TIA

[TurtleBoy]

You can try that but my first stop would be to your dealer or favorite indie.

[hunter04]

It’s out of warranty so I’d like to avoid paying the $250 “diagnosis” fee they charge if it’s something I could do on my own

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by hunter04

I have a 2019 50i with 69k miles.
I have been having an issue during slow/ sharp turns — the rear seems to be binding up. Anyone else experience this? Not sure if I should start by changing the rear differential fluid.
TIA

I would also suspect the transfer case. Try an oil change there too. Oil changes are pretty inexpensive as a first attempt at a solution.

[bagd0003]

Originally Posted by hunter04

I have a 2019 50i with 69k miles.
I have been having an issue during slow/ sharp turns — the rear seems to be binding up. Anyone else experience this? Not sure if I should start by changing the rear differential fluid.
TIA

Known issue, SIB exists for this. Transfer case fluid needs to be changed assuming your tires are evenly worn.

[eelnoraa]

Originally Posted by hunter04

I have a 2019 50i with 69k miles.
I have been having an issue during slow/ sharp turns — the rear seems to be binding up. Anyone else experience this? Not sure if I should start by changing the rear differential fluid.
TIA

Not with my x5, but I have other car with similar symptom. I agree differential fluid changes. It is cheap enough to do. 69k mile is although a bit on the low side for diff fluid going bad, but not out of reason. Transfer case fluid is also a good choice, cheap enough. But since x5 is RWD base, if transfer case bind, you will notice the front bind more.

I would avoid dealer too. They really don’t know how to repair, because they don’t work on car if this milage much. They are good at replace for car much newer within warranty.

[hunter04]

Will do the transfer case Fluid and post an update once I have one. Thank you everyone

[Leotno]

My 2019 is in the dealer now for a new transfer case. They started out by changing the fluid but it was still shuttering at parking lot speeds. My service advisor said theres been a huge influx of transfer case replacements.

[TechCTU]

Originally Posted by Leotno

My 2019 is in the dealer now for a new transfer case. They started out by changing the fluid but it was still shuttering at parking lot speeds. My service advisor said theres been a huge influx of transfer case replacements.

Are you still within warranty? What would the cost be if out of warranty?

Interesting given the extended warranty conversation in another thread

[Leotno]

Originally Posted by TechCTU

Are you still within warranty? What would the cost be if out of warranty?

Interesting given the extended warranty conversation in another thread

I am! I plan on keeping the vehicle for a while so I have extended warranty. I did not inquire about price but I can ask my SA.

Also, just got a text that parts are backed up and my transfer case wont be in from Germany until the end of August.

[smovva]

Originally Posted by hunter04

I have a 2019 50i with 69k miles.
I have been having an issue during slow/ sharp turns — the rear seems to be binding up. Anyone else experience this? Not sure if I should start by changing the rear differential fluid.
TIA

What the! I came here to seek guidance as my rear wheels feel like they are slipping (3 month old dealer installed tires so its not the tires) and find thread this at the top of the list! My 2019 X5 with 47K miles started this same thing about two weeks ago. Turning right or left at slow speeds in a parking lot and it feels like the tires are slipping. Thankfully I had bought the extended warranty till 75K miles as the car is out of factory warranty as of May 31. I see a SIB was mentioned but I didn't find in this thread. Would a kind soul please post a link to it? many many thanks!

[bagd0003]

Originally Posted by smovva

What the! I came here to seek guidance as my rear wheels feel like they are slipping (3 month old dealer installed tires so its not the tires) and find thread this at the top of the list! My 2019 X5 with 47K miles started this same thing about two weeks ago. Turning right or left at slow speeds in a parking lot and it feels like the tires are slipping. Thankfully I had bought the extended warranty till 75K miles as the car is out of factory warranty as of May 31. I see a SIB was mentioned but I didn't find in this thread. Would a kind soul please post a link to it? many many thanks!

SIB 27 02 20
Give that number to the dealer, they'll pull it. Or you can search for that online if you are curious to read what's in it.

[smovva]

Originally Posted by bagd0003

SIB 27 02 20
Give that number to the dealer, they'll pull it. Or you can search for that online if you are curious to read what's in it.

Thank you! Printed it and appointment booked for next week!

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by smovva

Thank you! Printed it and appointment booked for next week!

I had this issue with a 2011 X3. At parking lot speeds in combination with turning the steering wheel near its full rotation in either direction, I would get a shutter felt through the seat. The dealer drove it, felt it and said he thought it was the transfer case. He replaced it ($3K back then) luckily I still had the factory warranty That worked for a few hundred miles but the shutter came back under the same set of conditions. Upon a subsequent visit a couple of months later, he was on the phone with BMW who suggested changing the transfer case oil to a specific type, which the dealer had in their shop. That completely solved the issue!
This was back in 2013, how can that same issue still exist today in the X5???? Reading through SIB 27 02 20 it appears to. Well, let's hope that all it amounts to.

[bagd0003]

Originally Posted by smovva

Thank you! Printed it and appointment booked for next week!

You are welcome! Changing the fluid is obviously the first step and the cheapest. Hopfully it fixes the issue! I just got my 2020 in June and noticed it and took it in right away. I've put in over 1k miles on it since and still no issues, hoping it will stay that way.

[bagd0003]

Originally Posted by Marty in NY

I had this issue with a 2011 X3. At parking lot speeds in combination with turning the steering wheel near its full rotation in either direction, I would get a shutter felt through the seat. The dealer drove it, felt it and said he thought it was the transfer case. He replaced it ($3K back then) luckily I still had the factory warranty That worked for a few hundred miles but the shutter came back under the same set of conditions. Upon a subsequent visit a couple of months later, he was on the phone with BMW who suggested changing the transfer case oil to a specific type, which the dealer had in their shop. That completely solved the issue!
This was back in 2013, how can that same issue still exist today in the X5???? Reading through SIB 27 02 20 it appears to. Well, let's hope that all it amounts to.

Yup, if you read the SIB, it says incorrect type of fluid was used at the factory. You'd think they would've adressed that by now, or, they are just covering up transfer case issues.

[smovva]

Originally Posted by bagd0003

Yup, if you read the SIB, it says incorrect type of fluid was used at the factory. You'd think they would've adressed that by now, or, they are just covering up transfer case issues.

My cynical self thinks its the latter! If the clutch packs in the transfer case are indeed slipping with wear and tear, nothing but a replacement will fix that, though a different formulation or viscosity of oil may help mask the problem for a while longer (maybe past warranty)!

[hunter04]

I think I have some valuable info to share.
I reference to the binding issue. I ordered the transfer case oil, an Allen head wrench and a syringe to remove and fill with new fluid. So here’s what I found.

I’ve change the oil currently three times and I plan to do it one more time and here is why. There seems to be only a fill plug on the 2019 model so in order to remove the fluid I tried extracting it with the syringe, but to no such luck. It turns out you really can’t get past some of the gears. Unless I’m doing it incorrectly. So what I wound up doing was actually reversing and blowing air into the transfer case forcing the fluid out. I did this my first go around and think I did a halfway decent job. In turn I filled it up again, put the cap on and drove it around for a bit. Then I decided to do it one more time as I had 2 quarts of fluid. In doing so this time I decided to use a small Milwaukee hand blower to blow the fluid out at a more rapid rate. This worked well, but is a little bit messy. Again I refilled the fluid, drove it around quite a bit further this time and then once again, used the blower to blow out more fluid and refill it again for the third time. . I must say so far it has been a dramatic improvement. I do not feel the binding. I cannot say a total cure as I have not driven the car more than 75 miles. I do question how having the fluid changed at the dealer once would fix the problem considering you have to do this as a flush multiple times. In my opinion, I don’t see how you can do this one time and get completely clean fluid. So you would have to go back to the dealer multiple times or they would have to do multiple flushes to do this properly. So I bet they push a transfer case on you. Like I said, I plan to do this one more time after driving it quite a bit more mileage and try to get the fluid as clear as possible. Upon removal of the fluid originally it was a brown not super filthy, but definitely dirty compared to the yellowish clear fluid of new. I hope this finds to be helpful to some people. I will probably do a YouTube on this as I do it for the fourth time from start to finish.

[915M]

I feel little bit of resistance when turning in parking lot speed and I thought it was normal to feel it.
Definitely not binding level but I feel it is not free rolling.

Is it normal?

[smovva]

Originally Posted by hunter04

I think I have some valuable info to share.
I reference to the binding issue. I ordered the transfer case oil, an Allen head wrench and a syringe to remove and fill with new fluid. So here’s what I found.

I’ve change the oil currently three times and I plan to do it one more time and here is why. There seems to be only a fill plug on the 2019 model so in order to remove the fluid I tried extracting it with the syringe, but to no such luck. It turns out you really can’t get past some of the gears. Unless I’m doing it incorrectly. So what I wound up doing was actually reversing and blowing air into the transfer case forcing the fluid out. I did this my first go around and think I did a halfway decent job. In turn I filled it up again, put the cap on and drove it around for a bit. Then I decided to do it one more time as I had 2 quarts of fluid. In doing so this time I decided to use a small Milwaukee hand blower to blow the fluid out at a more rapid rate. This worked well, but is a little bit messy. Again I refilled the fluid, drove it around quite a bit further this time and then once again, used the blower to blow out more fluid and refill it again for the third time. . I must say so far it has been a dramatic improvement. I do not feel the binding. I cannot say a total cure as I have not driven the car more than 75 miles. I do question how having the fluid changed at the dealer once would fix the problem considering you have to do this as a flush multiple times. In my opinion, I don’t see how you can do this one time and get completely clean fluid. So you would have to go back to the dealer multiple times or they would have to do multiple flushes to do this properly. So I bet they push a transfer case on you. Like I said, I plan to do this one more time after driving it quite a bit more mileage and try to get the fluid as clear as possible. Upon removal of the fluid originally it was a brown not super filthy, but definitely dirty compared to the yellowish clear fluid of new. I hope this finds to be helpful to some people. I will probably do a YouTube on this as I do it for the fourth time from start to finish.

The X5 (G05) uses the same transfer case, ATC13-1 as the X3 (G01).
See the attachments and information I found on the G01 forums. Link below: https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1989918

[eelnoraa]

Originally Posted by smovva

My cynical self thinks its the latter! If the clutch packs in the transfer case are indeed slipping with wear and tear, nothing but a replacement will fix that, though a different formulation or viscosity of oil may help mask the problem for a while longer (maybe past warranty)!

In this particular case, it is NOT the clutch pack is slipping. The clutch pack is binding. In slow speed, they should not lock at all. When they do, because each wheel is supposed to turning at different speed, some wheel shutter. A wrong type of fluid or old fluid definitely can cause this. Just 50K is very early. In one of my family car, CRV, the transfer case start bind at 200K. Dad never knows there is transfer case in the car. I changed the transfer case fluid, car drive perfectly normal at 240K now.

[eelnoraa]

Originally Posted by hunter04

I think I have some valuable info to share.
I reference to the binding issue. I ordered the transfer case oil, an Allen head wrench and a syringe to remove and fill with new fluid. So here’s what I found.

I’ve change the oil currently three times and I plan to do it one more time and here is why. There seems to be only a fill plug on the 2019 model so in order to remove the fluid I tried extracting it with the syringe, but to no such luck. It turns out you really can’t get past some of the gears. Unless I’m doing it incorrectly. So what I wound up doing was actually reversing and blowing air into the transfer case forcing the fluid out. I did this my first go around and think I did a halfway decent job. In turn I filled it up again, put the cap on and drove it around for a bit. Then I decided to do it one more time as I had 2 quarts of fluid. In doing so this time I decided to use a small Milwaukee hand blower to blow the fluid out at a more rapid rate. This worked well, but is a little bit messy. Again I refilled the fluid, drove it around quite a bit further this time and then once again, used the blower to blow out more fluid and refill it again for the third time. . I must say so far it has been a dramatic improvement. I do not feel the binding. I cannot say a total cure as I have not driven the car more than 75 miles. I do question how having the fluid changed at the dealer once would fix the problem considering you have to do this as a flush multiple times. In my opinion, I don’t see how you can do this one time and get completely clean fluid. So you would have to go back to the dealer multiple times or they would have to do multiple flushes to do this properly. So I bet they push a transfer case on you. Like I said, I plan to do this one more time after driving it quite a bit more mileage and try to get the fluid as clear as possible. Upon removal of the fluid originally it was a brown not super filthy, but definitely dirty compared to the yellowish clear fluid of new. I hope this finds to be helpful to some people. I will probably do a YouTube on this as I do it for the fourth time from start to finish.

I think you are doing it right. newer BMW transfer case only has one plug, the fill plug. If you do it at dealer, they use a pump to suck out the fluid, whatever they can, and refill. That's it, not a full fluid change. But this should mitigate the binding. for DIYer, I would do what you do, multiple run to make sure most of the fluid is changed.

BMW's life time fluid is life of the the component. Transmission, transfer case, diff, radiator ...... They just need to make sure the life time is longer than the warranty.