Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
Originally Posted By: DriveHard
Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
What issues have you had with the AWD in the X3? I see a ton of X3 and X5's around my area.
I have had to replace the plastic gear that engages/disengages power transfer to the front twice. The first time it failed in a traditional way (would not engage AWD) and threw the appropriate codes. The next time it failed locked into AWD, threw no codes and the car was not drive able. It took me half a day of troubleshooting to figure out it was the same POS plastic gear.
Other fun:
replaced starter required gutting half the engine compartment
replace coolant overflow tank...way harder than it should be
if one tire wears faster than the others that it throws off the AWD system
had three coils go bad...two of them were less than 2 years old
now has parking sensors going bad
only 123,000 miles...
Wow there are plastic gears in the AWD system?
The starter is a common failure on that engine, as well as the coils. My friend had the starter fail on her '06 325xi. That required removal of the intake manifold and a bunch of other stuff. Not all that fun.
Yup...plastic. The BMW fix is to replace the entire module which costs ~$800 just for the module in the aftermarket. I can't imagine what it would cost for an OEM part and the labor to do it. With a little research you learn you can take that module apart and replace a plastic gear for between $10 and $90 depending on which aftermarket choice you choose. The first time I went with the $90 plastic gear...want to guess which option I chose this time?
