E53 D-Sport 2005 - Rear Diff Failure

X5-D-Sport · Post by **X5-D-Sport** » Thu Nov 21, 2024 9:29 pm

E53 D-Sport 2005 - Rear Diff Failure

UK - West Midlands - I need a replacement diff.

Here's one for you Guys...
My D-Sport 218 rear diff broke up this evening on the way home from work today.
Left hand side supporting output bearing is burst of the casing, ball bearings & bits of smashed steel fell into the road.

so, the big question is..... for the 2005 3.0 218hp Diesel Sport....

is there a variety of rear Diffs for this contraption ???

This is possibly a question for Richard.

Any help welcomed.....

Leslie · Post by **Leslie** » Thu Nov 21, 2024 10:56 pm

There will be a sticker on the top usually if its still there and it will tell part number and ratio

X5-D-Sport · Post by **X5-D-Sport** » Fri Nov 22, 2024 12:41 am

Many thanks Leslie.... I will have a grope & see if it is there & I can get it off to knackered diff

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Fri Nov 22, 2024 9:07 am

There are multiple diffs and as above the sticker will tell you which one you have.

X5-D-Sport · Post by **X5-D-Sport** » Fri Nov 22, 2024 12:01 pm

Would it be TOO SIMPLE to expect another 2005 218 auto 3.0 D-sport to have the same rear diff ??

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Fri Nov 22, 2024 3:31 pm

No, that should be OK. The variance is usually to do with engine & gearbox combos so you should be able to find another one for the same year/model.

They were really rare as many ended up back in the hands of BMW and went for remanufacturing which made them hard to find. With more E53s approaching end of life, there ought to be more around these days.

Any indication of cause? Back in the day, wrong tyre size or type was a very wide trigger of such failures, but there are other causes including just wearing out.

X5-D-Sport · Post by **X5-D-Sport** » Fri Nov 22, 2024 7:43 pm

Well, my X5 has 210,000 miles on her...

Ok, so, i found the label on the REAR diff.
07512662 3.91 is the one i need.

The prices vary on ebay wildly from £200 ~ £700

Any one have one of these diffs ?

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Fri Nov 22, 2024 8:49 pm

Not a bad distance. Be wary of any that are cheap, there may be a reason! Of course you can try a rebuild of the replacement ‘just in case’. Warrantied ones seem to be at the upper end of pricing.

My almost 20-year old one is still in the road somewhere in the UK. I wonder what distance that has on it now. Was about 55k when I sold it in 2011.

Leslie · Post by **Leslie** » Fri Nov 22, 2024 9:59 pm

Traders/breakers tend to charge a lot more ,given the low value of these cars now a diff isn't worth 700 quid imo, you could buy a breaker for less and get a free spares car with your diff.

You can be sure they have all covered big miles by now .
seems 3.91 ratio is shared with some v8's but the part number is different so I dunno what the difference is.

X5-D-Sport · Post by **X5-D-Sport** » Fri Nov 22, 2024 10:04 pm

Hi Leslie,
You can pretty much guarantee that the 3.91 V8 diff wont fit, purely because BMW will ensure none compatibility.... BECAUSE they can !

X5-D-Sport · Post by **X5-D-Sport** » Fri Nov 22, 2024 10:13 pm

Richard / Leslie....
Here is an idea...
I pondered removing the rear diff, rear prop & half shafts for now, & drive it gently with the centre diff locked untill the correct rear diff shows up ?

Depends whether the centre diff lock is strong enough, & whether it would stay lovked, & not engage/dissengage with a bang & smash up the centre diff as well ???

I drove a Landy Discovery like this with Front wheel drive for a few months years back... but you have a gear stick to lock the diffs on those...

Penny for your thoughts.

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Sat Nov 23, 2024 9:14 am

I didn’t know there was a diff lock. I’ve heard of people pulling the fuse for the xDrive unit out to make it two-wheel drive only. There were a couple of threads on here about doing it, but I thought it isolated the front diff as the X5 is ‘predominantly’ RWD.

X5-D-Sport · Post by **X5-D-Sport** » Sat Nov 23, 2024 10:29 am

The centre diff locks if one wheel runs away on a slippy surface, & the "4X4" logo illuminates in the cluster.

X5-D-Sport · Post by **X5-D-Sport** » Sat Nov 23, 2024 10:29 am

The centre diff locks if one wheel runs away on a slippy surface, & the "4X4" logo illuminates in the cluster.

Leslie · Post by **Leslie** » Sat Nov 23, 2024 11:14 am

Seems like a lot of work and even then I can't see how it would actually work , even if the splines to the front diff go which is a common enough problem an e53 it won't even attempt to move and there is no diff lock like landrovers have any locking is done by the abs at each wheel afaik.
Are you planning on keeping the car much longer ? maybe given the mileage etc its time for a change with e70's being cheap to buy now and id imagine by the time you pay somebody to swap out the diff unless doing it yourself it won't be cheap . My diff swap on my e70 cost me about £800 all in but Ive a guy can fit it fr reasonable money and I was lucky taking a chance on a complete rear subframe assembly that the diff was in good condition. (only the diff was fitted to my car ) as earlier e70 rear diffs suffer pinion bearing failure at high miles and are really hard to find too .
You cant even repair yours as its sounds like a catastrophic failure and will be damaged inside , the bearings coming out may just be symptom of what has happened inside as side bearings tend to not give much trouble . I wouldn't be surprised if the end of the halfshaft is damaged too

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