I felt a vibration, like a tire, but it persisted. I called the dealer, who was booked for a week or more. A couple days later the front driveshaft broke, hitting and cracking open the transmission and oil pan like an egg, I now find that cars manufactured from April 2011 onward were recalled for this issue. Mine was manufactured in March. Mine had the transfer case replaced and yet no one mentioned the U-joint going bad or the recall. Shortly afterward it failed. BMW denies any responsibility. If anyone has a 2011 X5 and feels a vibration, take it straight to a dealer. Do not drive it. I wish someone had warned me. This could be a life threatening issue, not to mention a $12,000 repair.
Wow - ugly. Hadn't heard of that, but I don't have an X5 - Charlson, is this an issue for similar-era x-drive cars as well as sav's?
Yes this issue I have seen a few times with similar results. My question is how many miles your x5 has?
If your transfer case was not replaced at one point the repair probably would have been covered, from what I have read, and calling BMW on my own X, the warranty on the front driveshaft has been extended to 10 yr 120k miles. You may want to force the issue with your local BMW dealer, it may still be covered.
