New to me E70 LCI 2011 - Problems?

[Pedro C]

Hi All.

Joined this forum as it seems the most active for X Cars. Little bit about me, I'm a self confessed BMW man though and through, although they don't make them like they used to!

Just bought the Mrs an E70, which on inspection looked in really good nick. It drives surprisingly well for a monster of a bus.

I was hoping for some advice for the only two niggling problems we've got with the car.

The car as 360 camera's and when putting in reverse, get the camera fault bong, even thought they all work perfectly. I was thinking of taking the boot trim off and inspecting the rear camera connection. Otherwise, what other options do I have here?


The second problem is a slow speed/slow turning shudder though the steering wheel. Car has the staggered 20" wheel set up on star rated Dunlop's which by all accounts look almost new.

I've got the old girl booked in with my BM specialist for a full fluids changed including diffs, gearbox and transfer box. Apart from a new transfer box, which I couldn't stomach at the moment, is there anything else the shudder could be such as tyre pressures? Do they all do this?

TIA

[X5Sport]

Hello and

Probably worth getting a fault code log read out done to see what is sitting there - even if historic - and what it current. A fault log may show what the camera system isn’t happy about.

The shudder is often associated with a diff problem, which albeit rarely, can occur even with the right tyres. CondorX5 had just that a couple of years ago. Of course it may have previously had the wrong tyres and the previous owner(s) hoped changing to the right ones would fix it! It’s normally too late if that is showing.

Also check tyre pressures, steering fluid level, does it do it in both directions? If you can get to the drain plugs for the diffs, it might be worth checking for metal in the oil.

If it’s got a warranty then time to start using it would be my suggestion, or get your money back as a diff (if that turns out to be the actual issue) will not be cheap.

kkx5 on the Forum will give you the latest ten on this issue as it’s what he does for a living, so send him a PM. He’ll also be able to pint you at the right bit of the transmission to check, other things to try, and even which fuses to pull to see if the shudder stops.

[Pedro C]

Thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately, the car was purchased privately from what appeared to be an honest seller. Its the right car for us, and don't really want to go through the agg of trying to offload it.

I checked the power steering fluid, and seemed to be on the minimum line, so will try and top up.

The tyres are set to 2.2 bar for normal load as per the door sticker. This did seem a bit low to me seeing as they're gigantic 20" tyres (275 front and 315 rears!). To be fair before I changed the tyre pressure to normal load spec (was much higher before), I hadn't noticed the shuddering.

It deffo does it in both directions. I also noticed that reversing off my drive today (which is on a slight incline), I tried to give it some beans, and I got the same shuddering. Eased off the throttle and was fine.

I've got the car booked into my indie to have the diff and transfer box oils. Do you think I'm wasting my money?

I did try and drive the car with the DTC turned off, and I thought it cured it, but I think that was placebo.

[X5Sport]

2.2bar is what I run mine (20” summer) at and no issues. The only time I have heard noise was when running the 19” winter wheels at max load pressures - which it did not like but was fine again once reduced.

kkx5 knows which fuses to pull as that disables the transfer box. Apparently it can help with diagnosis.

Changing the diff oils won’t hurt and at least will allow inspection of the fluid quality and for swarf.

It could be bad discs or a dodgy caliper as I had that a year back. It caused vibration but only at random intervals and a hot wheel was the final clue.

[Pedro C]

Been reading up on tinternet about changing the TC builds. It appears that BMW recommend doing that before placing the TC.

Do they only make one oil for the TC, or is there a thicker oil for the Tc's that have problems?

[alan996]

Change the fluids first before you panic...

I had the exact same thing with mine when I bought it. It was a AUC and the first thing they did was change the tc fluid.

20k+ miles later not a hint of a problem

[mr angry]

My 2010 40d also does this but it is way down the list of things needing sorting so watching this thread with interest.

[Pedro C]

Mildy reassuring, thanks.

I guess I'll have to live with it til the fluids are changed. Everything crossed

[Huxley06]

As your new to the e70 and you have the same tyre &wheel sizes as my 4.0d, a little tip. When we got ours the outer fronts were more worn and the inner rears were more worn. After a few sets of Dunlop’s I have come to the pressures of 39psi all round. This has totally eliminated edge wear front and rear. What with the tyres being run flats, I can’t say it’s any harsher to drive either. ......just my opinion!

[mr angry]

I seem to have jinxed myself in my earlier post...last night while parking at the supermarket the 4x4 light illuminated. It seemed fine however on the drive to work this morning. I have bought a litre of bmw transfer case oil and will change it tomorrow to see if any improvement .

[Alan Gunn]

You should reset the box after the fluid change.

[mr angry]

You should reset the box after the fluid change.

What is the significance of doing this, will it affect the operation of the transfer box?

[Alan Gunn]

It has a sensor of some sort to monitor wear.

[mr angry]

Wel,l tried to change the transfer box fluid today but not enough clearance to get in to remove the fill and drain plugs with the plug/allen keys I have. I watched a video online of some guy doing it but it looked different to mine, so guessing the pre-LCI transfer box is different.

[Pedro C]

Bit of an update from me.

I checked the power steering fluid level in the week and it looked slightly lower than the max line. £17 later after a trip to my local bunch of clowns (BMW dealer), and promptly topped up.

The next trip out, there was absolutely no low speed shudder. Haha I thought, what a simple fix.

Unfortunately not.

The 2nd trip after the top up, shudder was back albeit not quite as bad. I noticed on the reservoir cap the level @ 20 degrees temp. How on earth would you know when the engine is at that temperature

Something else that freaked me out in the week was a Hill Descent malfunction error that pinged up on the dash. That only occurred once, and fortunately hasn't returned.