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      11-18-2016, 02:16 PM   #111
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X5 is back up and running again with another new transmission.

And another battery, since the battery on the 50i doesn't seem to last more than a year at a time before giving up the ghost...

Anyway, hopefully this time it'll stay running. That driveshaft failure sucked.
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      01-01-2017, 06:24 PM   #112
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This afternoon the front driveshaft on our 2011 50i with a 12/10 build date (a few weeks outside the recall parameter) and 53k miles on the odometer broke, and we had it towed to the nearest dealer. Looks like there was some damage to the transmission as it was leaking what appeared to be transmission fluid.

I would certainly like to understand why the recall was restricted only to cars with the noted build dates when it seems clear the problem extends beyond those dates (indicated by the fact that the extended warranty covers a much larger group of cars).
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      01-01-2017, 10:38 PM   #113
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shark715 View Post
This afternoon the front driveshaft on our 2011 50i with a 12/10 build date (a few weeks outside the recall parameter) and 53k miles on the odometer broke, and we had it towed to the nearest dealer. Looks like there was some damage to the transmission as it was leaking what appeared to be transmission fluid.

I would certainly like to understand why the recall was restricted only to cars with the noted build dates when it seems clear the problem extends beyond those dates (indicated by the fact that the extended warranty covers a much larger group of cars).
Sounds like BMW didn't calculate the correct book ends for the failure dates. I'm hopeful that BMW will make it right for you. Luckily the driveshaft didn't pop through the floor board and really cause injury or more damage.

As an aside, I'd get on the phone with BMWNA and assertively give them a piece of your mind about the failure and insist on them making you whole.
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      01-02-2017, 08:48 AM   #114
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Originally Posted by BzsBimmer View Post
Sounds like BMW didn't calculate the correct book ends for the failure dates. I'm hopeful that BMW will make it right for you. Luckily the driveshaft didn't pop through the floor board and really cause injury or more damage.

As an aside, I'd get on the phone with BMWNA and assertively give them a piece of your mind about the failure and insist on them making you whole.
I'm sure they will but the issue here is with others who have the part number in question and hasnt broke yet. Now it is just a waiting game for when it will break.
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      01-02-2017, 09:06 AM   #115
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I'm not really worried about the repairs being covered under warranty as I don't think that could be more clear given the documentation about the extended warranty.

Given that this never had to happen (if our car had been properly recalled) I hope they will reimburse us the $169 we had to pay to have it towed to the nearest dealer. I'm trying the dealer to furnish a loaner tight now.
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      01-02-2017, 09:16 AM   #116
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It is all about statistics and calculated risk, from a company standpoint.

As an end-user, I am more conservative that I can't stand the thought of putting my family at risk when i knew about the issue can get me into a powerless (no pun intended) position any day, any where.
Rather than waiting for a recall that might come too late, I had changed out my driveshaft once the issue became well known, and has been inspecting the U-joints on every oil change, even with the new part.

Same applied to the injectors, coils; and water pump for my N55 previously.

PS for those that have pm'ed me on the driveshaft, I got another brand new revised P/N because i have an early build M and hence uses a front prop shaft that is a good .5" shorter.
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      01-04-2017, 05:07 PM   #117
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Just heard from the dealer. When the driveshaft let go it cracked the side of the transmission case (I believe at least one other forum member had that happen, and it needs a new transmission.) They estimate it will take a week to procure it...apparently it's air freighted in from Germany.

At least they are finally giving us a loaner car tomorrow, although it's a hour south of here and I have to figure out how to get there. And he did confirm that all the repairs will be covered under the extended driveshaft warranty.

I'm going to bring a copy of the $169 towing bill and request they ask BMW to reimburse us for that.

The service advisor explained that the reason for the extended warranty (versus recall) was that they expect only a small % to break, and unfortunately ours was one of them.

It was easy to tell that he was expected me to go ballistic with the news on the transmission, and I went easy on him as he is just the messenger.

I think it's unethical that BMW knew of the potential of this at least as early as 2014, and let us keep using the car while failing to warn us of the potential consequences. We never received the "extended warranty" letter, and even if we had the letter failed to mention how dangerous this is (and they are certainly well aware of the danger as it's referenced in their form recall letter).

If BMW was fully upfront about this at least some customers might recognize the noise/vibration and stop using the car before the driveshaft completely flies apart.
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      01-07-2017, 02:40 PM   #118
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shark715 View Post
Just heard from the dealer. When the driveshaft let go it cracked the side of the transmission case (I believe at least one other forum member had that happen, and it needs a new transmission.) They estimate it will take a week to procure it...apparently it's air freighted in from Germany.

At least they are finally giving us a loaner car tomorrow, although it's a hour south of here and I have to figure out how to get there. And he did confirm that all the repairs will be covered under the extended driveshaft warranty.

I'm going to bring a copy of the $169 towing bill and request they ask BMW to reimburse us for that.

The service advisor explained that the reason for the extended warranty (versus recall) was that they expect only a small % to break, and unfortunately ours was one of them.

It was easy to tell that he was expected me to go ballistic with the news on the transmission, and I went easy on him as he is just the messenger.

I think it's unethical that BMW knew of the potential of this at least as early as 2014, and let us keep using the car while failing to warn us of the potential consequences. We never received the "extended warranty" letter, and even if we had the letter failed to mention how dangerous this is (and they are certainly well aware of the danger as it's referenced in their form recall letter).

If BMW was fully upfront about this at least some customers might recognize the noise/vibration and stop using the car before the driveshaft completely flies apart.
They were able to procure a new transmission in just two days, and the repair was finished yesterday. Picked it up this morning and so far everything is fine, although probably tomorrow I'll have a look for myself underneath.

Based on the part number shown on the receipt, the "new" transmission they gave us is not "new", but merely a rebuilt unit.

The BMW list price for the rebuilt unit is more than $9000, and the price for a brand new unit exceeds $14000, although discounts exceeding 15% seem to be plentiful on line.

No response on our request to be reimbursed for the $169 towing bill yet.
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      01-07-2017, 10:00 PM   #119
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I just had my front driveshaft replaced by the dealer as preventative maintenance. It wasn't showing any signs of an issue, but I talked to the manager and he got approval from BMW to replace at no charge to me.
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      01-08-2017, 12:22 AM   #120
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Quote:
Originally Posted by -c- View Post
Guys I'm going to be looking at getting one of these designed and built for each front and rear drive shaft.

If theirs enough interest I may be able to get more made. I'll keep y'all posted.
Any development on this? I'm scared not to have this too
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      01-08-2017, 08:04 AM   #121
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Quote:
Originally Posted by infantrytroop22 View Post
I just had my front driveshaft replaced by the dealer as preventative maintenance. It wasn't showing any signs of an issue, but I talked to the manager and he got approval from BMW to replace at no charge to me.
Was this on an X5? (not clear from your post) If yes, what build date?
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      01-08-2017, 08:16 AM   #122
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Qarban View Post
Any development on this? I'm scared not to have this too
If you are at all mechanically inclined (and it sounds like you may be), one thing that could be helpful in the interim is to take a look underneath every few thousand miles and see if there is any evidence of the shaft starting to fail. How to make such an inspection has been published by BMWUSA and discussed in other threads (not sure if it was here or one of the X5 forums).

Seems to be a very easy inspection, other than having to get under the car.

Not suggesting this should be your responsibility, but as long as BMW is going to simply allow owners to continue with these driveshafts until they fly apart, it could be a prudent thing to do. Would hate to see you have to experience what we did.
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      01-08-2017, 05:16 PM   #123
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Originally Posted by okyereis View Post
Fellas, I need help and direction on this one here. So my wife was driving our 2012 BWM X5 and called me that she's suddenly hearing some unusual noise, I had her pull to the side of the road, went over and lo and behold all the oil in the truck was oozing out of the vehicle. I bent down yet couldn't see anything broken.
I later found out that it was the drive shaft that was broken, since I bought the car from Carmax and it was covered under a 5 year warranty I towed it there and left a note in the truck as their service center was closed that no one should start it as there's no oil in the truck. The service consultant (SC) told me that they need to replace not just the shaft but the oil pan. Upon taking the oil pan they discovered METAL SHAVINGS in the oil pan. METAL SHAVINGS???? YES! METAL SHAVINGS! How in the world is there metal shavings in the pan? Well, they called to tell me that it looks like there may be some more damage to the extent that the engine may probably need replacement. OH MY!
Fellas I need help on this, first of all, the drive shaft caused the problem. My car has almost 55000 miles. Does BMW cover this shaft problems? Or I should just have Carmax work on it? Am just confused, I know Dawgman had a similar issue, is there anyway I could go about this?

As far as my experience with CarMax has been with other vehicles, they only perform in house repairs that are more universal or straight forward. I have had a couple vehicles put in for service there and I was told that they were sent to the dealership for certain issues. As finicky and complex as Bmw's can be, I would expect them to have most repairs done by the dealership.
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      01-08-2017, 05:43 PM   #124
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Originally Posted by okyereis View Post
Thanks alot bmwx5er, I will do that this week.
Is there any recall document from BMW that you're aware of for this? I figured if I have some kind of documentation it may make my request more authentic.
May be not..but I thought I'd ask.
Fairly certain you should have received a letter like the attached from BMW explaining the extended warranty.

Based on my experience (see my posts above), they cover any collateral damage that occurs when the driveshaft lets loose.

If you don't have the letter, I would call BMWUSA (not a dealer) first thing tomorrow with your VIN number, and assuming they confirm your car is subject to the extended warranty, I would expect they will tell you to bring your car to a BMW dealer.
Attached Images
File Type: pdf BMW X5 - Driveshaft - 10 YEAR WARRANTY (4).pdf (363.7 KB, 330 views)

Last edited by shark715; 01-08-2017 at 06:41 PM..
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      01-08-2017, 09:13 PM   #125
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So my shaft had let loose at some point and chewed up the trans and took big chunk of aluminum off the housing near the pan, should BMW have replaced it ? Would it lead to a housing failure at some point? Have no idea, have you guys who had the trans replaced was it leaking or where they just damage to the aluminum housing ? Just curious .....
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      01-09-2017, 03:40 AM   #126
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Quote:
Originally Posted by -c- View Post
ave you guys who had the trans replaced was it leaking or where they just damage to the aluminum housing ?
Ours was leaking profusely.

We had seen what appeared to be transmission fluid all over the ground under the car. I would guess there was several quarts of it.

The dealer service advisor told us the when the driveshaft let go it hit and cracked the transmission housing, and if I recall correctly the receipt the dealer gave us when we picked up the car said more or less the same thing.
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      01-09-2017, 01:32 PM   #127
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shark715 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by infantrytroop22 View Post
I just had my front driveshaft replaced by the dealer as preventative maintenance. It wasn't showing any signs of an issue, but I talked to the manager and he got approval from BMW to replace at no charge to me.
Was this on an X5? (not clear from your post) If yes, what build date?
X5M with an October 2011 build date. I also got them to replace the engine compartment partition under goodwill. I think the service manager could probably tell I can be a pain, so just wanted to get me taken care of.
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      02-21-2017, 09:44 AM   #128
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2012 X5 Drive Shaft Failure

Well it happened to me yesterday. Going 70 MPH on the Dallas North Tollway and it started off sounding like some sort of shield was loose underneath the car. Then, all of a sudden, their was what sounded like a Tazmanian Devil under the driver's seat pounding away at the undercarriage and grinding as I tried to steer to the off ramp and then a parking lot. I got out to look under the vehicle and it was spewing hot oil/transmission fluid.

BMW SA was not the least bit surprised when I got it towed in; he mentioned the extended warranty on the drive shaft, but curious to see what other damage was done in there. This is a very dangerous part failure that only seems to happen at high speeds. This is my 4th BMW, but I have to say, I'll never feel safe in that vehicle again.

Can't wait to see what this repair bill ends up looking like!
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      02-21-2017, 11:53 AM   #129
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RPT23 View Post
This is a very dangerous part failure that only seems to happen at high speeds.
Obviously BMW doesn't think it's dangerous, and that it's going to cost them far less to repair the ones that break versus paying to proactively replacing all of them at the owner's convenience (along with the collateral damage to the vehicle when the driveshaft flies apart).

They could care less about the owners who end up stranded on the side of the road...absolutely shameful.

Sort of reminds me when Ford's bean counters decided it would be cheaper to pay the lawsuits based on a few people dying or frying from the Pinto's gas tanks, versus just fixing all the cars.

Just curious, how did you determine that the failures only seem to happen at high speeds?
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      02-21-2017, 01:08 PM   #130
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Wow this is scary as hell, thanks to all for sharing your experiences !
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      02-22-2017, 02:40 PM   #131
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Quote:
Originally Posted by infantrytroop22 View Post
I just had my front driveshaft replaced by the dealer as preventative maintenance. It wasn't showing any signs of an issue, but I talked to the manager and he got approval from BMW to replace at no charge to me.
Dang it - I bought and put it in it was $150 and took 20 mins ... although I'm surprized the new one looks EXACTLY like the one I took out
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      02-24-2020, 12:17 AM   #132
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Same thing happen to me

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Originally Posted by archival View Post
I'm back...

Couple months and a few miles after the driveshaft failure and subsequent massively expensive repair, the newly replaced transmission just grenaded itself while driving through a school zone at low speed.

BMW is covering the replacement in full despite now being out of warranty... Can't speak higher about that level of customer service... Can't speak lower about the amount of problems this vehicle has had.

At this point, BMW warranty has shelled out so much money fixing my X5 50i that I could have bought a new one.

Love the vehicle, love driving it, shocked that it's the least reliable vehicle I've ever owned.


Hey, I just got my BMW x5 from a private party. Bought it with 89k and 2 months later drive shaft fails and blows a hole in transmission. Come to find out my car is apart of the recall. Do you think bmw would take care of the transmission since it got damaged by a recalled drive shaft?
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