BMW X3/X5 Transfer Box Motor repair

While the COVID-19 pandemic places heavy restrictions on personal transport use, Rob Marshall advises what to do if you place a car in short-term storage.

Non-operating 4WD might be down to an £8 repair job.

With many people remaining on lockdown, owners of multiple vehicles are taking at least one of them off the road to save money. This guide should help you to avoid fines and keep your stored motor in fine fettle over the spring and early summer. We presume that the car is a typical example and not a cherished classic that will reside in storage for the rest of the year. Due to government advice changing daily, we’ve added weblinks and advise you to confirm the latest updates.

The authorities are keen to point-out that the current laws on vehicle condition, tax and MOT are still in force, so COVID-19 is not a valid excuse for flouting them.

MOT

 Should the MOT for a car/ light van expire after 30th March, the government has confirmed that you will receive a six-month-long extension from the original expiry – for now. An end date has not been set at the time of writing.

The latest advice is here: gov.uk/guidance/coronaviruscovid-19-mots-for-cars-vansand-motorcycles-due-from30-march-2020. Not every vehicle will qualify, so check-out the online MOT checker for your new MOT expiry gov.uk/checkmot-history. We understand that not all details will be updated immediately, so log-on regularly. Should you continue to use your car, the extension does not mean that you should allow its condition to fall below the legally required standards. More details about basic roadworthiness can be found here. gov.uk/checkvehicle-safe. We understand that the DFT is working with insurers so that your car is still covered but it will be voided if you allow your car’s condition to slip.

Insurance and SORN

 Your car must be insured, if it is not only used but also parked on the highway. If you are poised to renew your cover, be wary that reducing your needs (such as removing cover for business mileage while you are in lockdown) may save money in the short-term but you could be hit with policy update fees later. Gocompare told us that these costs vary between £28 and £62.

Should you decide to stop your insurance, a cancellation fee may be payable – and that’s £58 on average. Consider also that (for certain policies) you will lose theft cover while your car is unused. Be wary of incurring an £80 fine by cancelling your insurance without declaring a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) first. This is detailed under Continuous Insurance Enforcement legislation: gov.uk/vehicleinsurance/uninsured-vehicles

Often you look at an automotive part and how it has failed and you wonder why it was designed that way. The transfer box actuator on X-drive BMWS is like that. A steel worm drive gear operates on a plastic gear and, eventually, the steel part wins. A lot of it is failsafe so that if something needs to ‘give’, it can. But looking inside this 2006 X3 2.0 turbodiesel motor, it’s fairly obvious that Bosch didn’t give it anywhere near enough grease. So, on diagnostics, this one showed that the motor was working – but it had no effect and wasn’t engaging the transfer box for 4WD.

This is a very common fault on these X3 (E83) and X5 (E53) cars, now that they are getting older. Yet it’s a cheap and simple fix. BMW themselves sell a repair kit that contains the oil seal plate, both white and black drive gears and the annoying circlip seen in photo No.2. The part number is 27102413711 and it retails at £70.64.

That’s not bad compared to a new Bosch motor from BMW, though the bit that fails costs around £8 including postage from various ebay and Amazon sellers – and it’s the bit that actually fails in 99% of cases.

Not just that, but there are now plenty of aftermarket new motors on ebay for £70-£80 or about the cost of the BMW repair kit give or take a couple of pounds. However, we can’t vouch for the reliability of these cheap new motors and a repair of a genuine Bosch unit may just be a better idea. Think of Bosch hand drills compared to cheap and nasty ones…

We chanced it with the £8 gear and effected a full repair in a couple of hours – sounds like value to us.

While this is not a comprehensive detailing feature, using a pre-wash snow foam on the paintwork helps to release abrasive dirt from the surface, which is washed away when you hose it off 5-10 minutes later. Bird faeces is especially damaging to paint, if left to bake on the finish by the sun. Let it soak; never scrub.

Iron-fallout remover loosens stubborn iron deposits and causes them to turn purple, before being rinsed off. While popular for cleaning alloy wheels, applying the product to paintwork will stop iron particulates (from either the brakes, or industrial fall-out) from turning rusty and causing small orange marks to appear on your paintwork.

Do not forget the underside. This attachment fits to a domestic pressure washer. Note that corrosion-causing salt deposits from the winter are especially stubborn, so using a gentle chemical should help, such as this remover, sold by Rustbuster: rust.co.uk

Using the two-bucket method, one containing car wash shampoo, with clean cold water in the other one, wash the wet bodywork by hand with a microfibre mitt. Work from the top, down. Never allow products to dry on the paint and try not to wash the car in direct sunlight.

After drying the paintwork with a microfibre cloth, you could apply polish – but wax adds the protective property, especially to ultra-violet light. You can even apply wax to plastic headlight covers, for extra protection against clouding. Follow the product’s instructions.

Ensure that the car isn’t parked beneath trees, because falling deposits can damage paintwork. Using a car cover can also cause problems. As you can’t go on a non-essential trip to dry-out the brakes (especially if you have cancelled the road tax/insurance), the handbrake could seize on. Should the car be stored off-road on a flat surface, engage first gear, release the handbrake and chock all wheels.

This is where the actuator is located on the X-series BMWS. It’s secured by four M8 Torx bolts and an electrical connector. There won’t be any oil loss as it comes out. This 2002 BMW X5 3.0d auto doesn’t have one – but they are bolted where the red square is.

Using a suitable male Torx driver, undo the four screws that secure the drive unit to the actuator body. Do NOT pull the unit away from the actuator body just yet until you’ve read the next bit… In this photo you can see the Bosch part number and manufacture date – January 2006.

This is the fun bit. Removing the small circlip that secures the support washer and the plastic gear to the shaft. There are no ‘ears’ to use with regular circlip pliers so it’s patience with very small circlip pliers and tiny screwdrivers. It’s not hardened steel so it will bend – and will reshape for refitting.