xDrive issue

[JeremyPL]

A week ago I left my car in the garage for changing oil in xdrive box. I didn't have any issues with xdrive, I just wanted to do maintenance. A couple of days later I've got alerted with an error: Dynamic stability control...

Does anyone knows what it could be? I just can't believe that xdrive has broken a week after replacing oil in it...

[Opie55]

You need to be more specific. XDrive is not itself a single physical thing that has oil in it. An XDrive car has four different places under there that contain oil of one kind or another. The transmission (same as on rear wheel drive cars), the transfer case (only XDrive cars), the front differential (only XDrive), and the rear differential (both XDrive and rear wheel drive). What fluid or fluids did they change?

[JeremyPL]

Originally Posted by Opie55

You need to be more specific. XDrive is not itself a single physical thing that has oil in it. An XDrive car has four different places under there that contain oil of one kind or another. The transmission (same as on rear wheel drive cars), the transfer case (only XDrive cars), the front differential (only XDrive), and the rear differential (both XDrive and rear wheel drive). What fluid or fluids did they change?

I'm talking about transfer box - https://parts.bmwnorthwest.com/p/BMW...108662300.html

Here are some errors from bimmercode:

[Opie55]

Also, who did the work? Of the four possible things, in my mind the transfer case most closely fits what you are describing. Changing fluid in the transfer case on our cars is hard, and is one of those things where BMW calls it lifetime fluid. Under BMW's official instructions, step one to changing the transfer case oil is "remove transfer case". Step one to removing the transfer case is "remove entire exhaust system." You get the picture. There is an easier "unofficial" way that I did in July on my car, but it's still kinda tricky and requires some tool adaptations and patience. But the transfer case is sensitive to both fluid type and fluid level. So you should inquire about those things if they changed that oil.

The second most likely prospect is the transmission. Is has specific procedures that must be followed with the correct fluid, but any competent shop that works regularly on BMWs should know that. In a nutshell, you drain it then refill with about half the amount you drained. Then you shift it through every gear (including the manual gears) and hold each for a few seconds, then fill the rest of the way until it spills out the fill hole with car running in Park and the tranny oil temp between 40 and 50 C. If they did not follow the shifting procedure or filled it when it was too hot to too cold, then the level could be too high or too low.

[Opie55]

Originally Posted by JeremyPL

I'm talking about transfer box - https://parts.bmwnorthwest.com/p/BMW...108662300.html

Here are some errors from bimmercode:

OK, then my first paragraph above applies.

[Opie55]

If you drill down on that transfer case (or box) error, what does it say?

[JeremyPL]

Originally Posted by Opie55

If you drill down on that transfer case (or box) error, what does it say?

I'm sending more pics..

[JeremyPL]

Originally Posted by Opie55

Also, who did the work? Of the four possible things, in my mind the transfer case most closely fits what you are describing. Changing fluid in the transfer case on our cars is hard, and is one of those things where BMW calls it lifetime fluid. Under BMW's official instructions, step one to changing the transfer case oil is "remove transfer case". Step one to removing the transfer case is "remove entire exhaust system." You get the picture. There is an easier "unofficial" way that I did in July on my car, but it's still kinda tricky and requires some tool adaptations and patience. But the transfer case is sensitive to both fluid type and fluid level. So you should inquire about those things if they changed that oil.

The second most likely prospect is the transmission. Is has specific procedures that must be followed with the correct fluid, but any competent shop that works regularly on BMWs should know that. In a nutshell, you drain it then refill with about half the amount you drained. Then you shift it through every gear (including the manual gears) and hold each for a few seconds, then fill the rest of the way until it spills out the fill hole with car running in Park and the tranny oil temp between 40 and 50 C. If they did not follow the shifting procedure or filled it when it was too hot to too cold, then the level could be too high or too low.

The work was done by BMW service (but not an authorized BMW service), but they have pretty good opinions. They were doing engine and ZF transmission oil change and suggested that I should also have oil change in the transfer box, it wasn't expensive so I agreed. I'm almost sure they did it in "unofficial" way. However, I had no issues before with xdrive, everything worked smooth, so it's hard to believe it's a coincidence.. On Monday I'm going to a good BMW coder, I still hope it can be fixed via ISTA, because regeneration of transfer box costs a lot.

[Opie55]

Does the car exhibit any symptoms, or do you just have codes? Anyway, I think your best bet is to go back and tell them what happened. If the transfer case really has a mechanical issue consistent with that code, I'd think it would drive funny. You can reset the transfer case adaptations. Maybe that would help. It supposedly adapts to all sorts of things, including the condition of the fluid. How it does that is a mystery to me.

[JeremyPL]

Originally Posted by Opie55

Does the car exhibit any symptoms, or do you just have codes? Anyway, I think your best bet is to go back and tell them what happened. If the transfer case really has a mechanical issue consistent with that code, I'd think it would drive funny. You can reset the transfer case adaptations. Maybe that would help. It supposedly adapts to all sorts of things, including the condition of the fluid. How it does that is a mystery to me.

I don't experience any issues at all.. It's like front drive is disconnected because of these errors but everything works fine. I went back to them, they tried to make adaptations, but it wasn't possible because of the errors. The weird thing is that it started to happen just after I left car wash - so my second thought is that maybe it's something with electronics?

[SWFLf10]

Originally Posted by JeremyPL

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Based on where it says signal error, and hearing about the car wash before the incident, I'm inclined to think it's a sensor that was damaged by the shop or not installed properly and allowed water to get into the sensor or short the wires. Not sure what sensors it has, but worth looking into whatever sensors it has and the wiring harness around the area.

[Opie55]

There's a control unit on the transfer case. Somebody should check if the the connector is plugged in securely I suppose.

[rasa bmw]

did they remove teh transfer case(oil wear code) if it had one,this is tricky to remove and can only be done with ista etc

[JeremyPL]

Today we tried to do some coding, programming and calibration with ISTA - with no success. The code shows just after starting the engine. The guy who was doing this was a bit surprised, because usually this happens when driving the car, the error shouldn't show up just after starting the engine. Tomorrow I go to another garage, they will try to replace some "motor" inside transfer box (no idea what part this is referred to) and we'll see then. For now it was checked only via ISTA, tomorrow they're going to check this under the car, so maybe there will be more informations.

[rasa bmw]

could be the plastic gear inside transfer box,it can be bought cheaply and replaced cheaply

[rasa bmw]

https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1280920

[Opie55]

Originally Posted by rasa bmw

https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1280920

I did not read the whole thread you linked, but it is an X3 thread. The X3 uses a totally different transfer case. Internally, an X3 transfer case is basically two big gears linked by a very fat chain. A 6 series transfer case has no chain, but instead has large gears that directly mesh with each other. So any internal parts discussion would likely not be applicable here.

[JeremyPL]

Originally Posted by Opie55

I did not read the whole thread you linked, but it is an X3 thread. The X3 uses a totally different transfer case. Internally, an X3 transfer case is basically two big gears linked by a very fat chain. A 6 series transfer case has no chain, but instead has large gears that directly mesh with each other. So any internal parts discussion would likely not be applicable here.

Thanks Opie for clarification. Today I went to another BMW specialist who was able through ISTA to remove these errors and run the calibration. It helped and error disappeared. I drove about 60 kilometers after and for now everything is perfect. Interesting thing is that two previous specialists weren’t able to do this using the same software! Hopefully it won’t happen again soon…

I’m still wondering what went wrong with changing oil in transfer box that it caused such issues.

[JeremyPL]

Damn it! A couple hours later errors started to appear again.

[Opie55]

Originally Posted by JeremyPL

Damn it! A couple hours later errors started to appear again.

That sucks. I remain curious how they changed the fluid. The transfer case has no drain plug. So there are two options. Remove the transfer case per BMW protocol and empty it out through the vent on top. Or you have to suck it out the fill plug hole, as I did. That is an easy task on a transfer case like on an X3. You just need a suitable pump device and a vinyl tube. They also make a metal elbow that connects to the vinyl tube just for that purpose. But the transfer case on a 6 is much harder because the location of the fill plug hole is at 90 degrees (around a corner, so to speak) from where the fluid resides. You have to go in the fill plug hole, then make a hard right, then go down. After you make the hard right, your extraction tube hits the large internal gears, so you need to slide down the side face of the gears into the oil below. I had to put an adapter into the first vinyl hose to join a section of smaller diameter, then whittle the end of the the smaller tube so the edges were beveled and would not catch. I eventually removed 500 ml of fluid, which is what I got out of my X3 transfer case. Maybe your shop long ago fashioned a special tube to insert in such transfer case, but I'd like to see it.

[rasa bmw]

Originally Posted by Opie55

I did not read the whole thread you linked, but it is an X3 thread. The X3 uses a totally different transfer case. Internally, an X3 transfer case is basically two big gears linked by a very fat chain. A 6 series transfer case has no chain, but instead has large gears that directly mesh with each other. So any internal parts discussion would likely not be applicable here.

my bad,just assumed the gears would be similar..

[Sbvich]

I could be wrong, but I think literally just dealt with this issue for 3 months on my 2016 650 M. It's most likely your transfer case, and the transfer motor. From how my mechanic explained it to me: The transfer motor is burning out your transfer case causing the car to go into limp-mode. Could be motor gear is damaged, and grinding when it turns.

The solution was for them to replace the transfer case and motor. It's been ~4 months, so far so good. I used my personal mechanic to do it, BMW charges crazy rate for this. If I find photos from my error codes, I will post them up.