Hey guys I'm Allan. New to the forum by the way 😊. I've recently came across some problems with my car and I'm hoping one of you vets can help me decipher it. Every time I start and turn off the car, there's a loud grinding noise. This goes on for about 1-2 seconds and then shuts off. I ofcourse have the ABS, BRAKE and 4x4 lights on. They don't turn on until the moment I start rolling forward, but not backwards. The car is obviously no longer AWD as it's only running on the rears ever since it failed. Since there is sound coming from it, does it mean that the actuator motor is still working and there is still hope for it and I can just replace the gears and the oil with the rebuild kit from ECS Tuning? The kit comes with 3 or 4 gears and is around $142 atm. Or is it dead and should I start looking for a replacement transfer case? I don't have a thousand dollars to dish out so this is my only hope to getting my AWD back and those pesky lights off my dash. Any help is welcome! Also I have a front left sensor 1 "lambda" error activating my service engine soon light if anyone knows about that. Thanks!
PS: The car has 105,XXX miles.
Last edited by allansegura; 09-22-2018 at 12:45 PM. Reason: Forgot to add mileage.
I would definelfy check the transfer case actuator gear first, when the actuator is working the gear does not spin in a circle let's say it moves from 12 o'clock position to say 4 o clock position. So when you pull the gear out part of the gears could be wasted but if you reposition the gear to the unused teeth your ready to go. Then service the transfer case which does not hold much fluid at all. The oxygen sensor could be many things but you have to dx that. Oxygen sensor faults a lot of times are reacting to conditions upstream, a lot of people just throw those in when they have an o2 fault only to find out after the fault returns thru dx the sensor was just reacting to other things
Last edited by jclausen; 09-22-2018 at 01:18 PM.
Hello Allan, and welcome to the forum.
Jbird has given you excellent advice. Certainly, I learned something....I'd never thought of repositioning the plastic gears. (Plastic part failure, I just replace.)
HOWEVER : Step one is to have the codes read, from every computer, with a BMW specific diagnostic computer.
"Assuming" that your issue is the actuator is a slippery slope. Yes, it's the likely culprit, given your symptoms, but the computers have illuminated a bunch of warning light to say "I have something to tell you". I have to recommend asking them what they know
Chris Powell
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Master Auto Tech, owner of German Motors of Aberdeen
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yup, i've seen what jbird is talking about. there are replacements parts out there affordably priced. there are even "upgraded" parts that will not have the same failure pattern.
it's not a difficult job - but, getting the case apart to replace the actuator does take some care.
i don't know how critical it is, but there is a routine in the scanner to tell the system about new fluid when you change that.
'95 325iS - auto to manual swap done!
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