[BMWZ4]

Originally Posted by BMWZ4

Good luck, fingers crossed. I truly hope this is the fix so you can finally enjoy the vehicle

Definitley keep us posted

Found this definition of defective rear output drive shafts - sure sounds like what M4IG01 described...

Common signs include intense car vibrations and abnormal noises, like clunking, rattling, and scraping, coming from under the vehicle.

[M40iG01]

really hope it's been fixed. The shop foremen at my dealership has been very persistent even going against what BMW says do do during the diagnosis process. I have the upmost confidence in the fact he is confident that it is fixed and he wants me to test drive with him in the morning. I will update you all

[M40iG01]

update for you all.
my x3 m40i is out of the hospital all better!
The very dedicated shop foremen fixed it.
Good luck to you other guys, hope they fix yours too! Very happy to have it back.

[Mocon]

Great news-Happy for you! Already spoken to my tech-what dealership do you use in Toronto-the name will help me-I worked in Toronto for ten years-great city-lived in Mississauga and the Beaches-thanks

[M40iG01]

BMW Toronto.

[BMWZ4]

Great news. Very happy for you (and others!)

Curious though, were they able to determine if both shafts were defective in some way, off the assembly line?

[cthomp88]

I wonder how long it will take to trickle to BMW and then to all the other dealers where our cars are sitting.

[M40iG01]

@BMWZ4.
They didnt confirm which rear shaft was the culprit. They are sending both shafts back to the factory for a full analysis. I hope they determine the cause of them being out of balance. It is hard to say if it was possibly a bad batch of shafts or maybe there is more to this? The engine in the m40i has a ton of power and torque as we know....
It is possible the shafts have not been engineered to deal with the power. I guess this remains to be seen once they examine them and if the shafts have issues again in the future. I would imagine that anyone with this issue will get it resolved hopefully pretty quickly now. Good Luck all.

[skier219]

Could be that the shafts had balancing weights that fell off, or something like that. If the car was fine initially and the problem cropped up later, and it's attributed to an out-of-balance condition, something had to lead to that.

[BMWZ4]

Originally Posted by skier219

Could be that the shafts had balancing weights that fell off, or something like that. If the car was fine initially and the problem cropped up later, and is attributed to an out-of-balance condition, something had to lead to that.

Agreed, something would've lead up to the shaking. As M4i0G01 eluded to, maybe the shafts haven't been engineered correctly for all that torque - although, as I type this I'd like to believe the engineers had thought of that since they have experience will full on M SUV's with lots of torque, but you never know.

In any case, glad there appears to be a fix. Maybe we'll see a recall or TSB in the coming weeks?

[RegieX]

as soon as someone mentioned torque, Tesla came to my mind.
Sure enough, I was able to find a thread on tesla forum about the same problem.
lol

[RevNev]

Do the cars with vibrations have the M Sport diff option (S2T4A) as the drive shafts are a different part number for the M Sport diff?

[Mocon]

Just spoke to my shop foreman and he has gotten the ok to order the rear output drive shafts-he told me that BMW at this point does not know if this will completely fix the issue-that do not know if the parts are bad or if it is a design issue -they think when the weight in the rear of the car is increased the vibrations are controlled-with the car being lower than the old model and the m-sport parts that there also could be a problem-for now BMW is willing to try it on my car and we will at this point hope for the best until they are 100% sure-not sure either, but I do not think I have anything to lose at this point-about a two week wait for parts

[weez]

This is disappointing. I will be car shopping in December and have narrowed it down to X3 M40i, (S)Q5, and GLC300. The Q5 was the front runner, but there seems to be lots of reliability issues with it right now, plus my wife doesn't like the looks. That moved the X3 M40i into first position, but this steering issue seems pretty common and is scaring me. GLC300 is creeping to the front.
Hope this gets sorted.

[BMWZ4]

Originally Posted by weez

This is disappointing. I will be car shopping in December and have narrowed it down to X3 M40i, (S)Q5, and GLC300. The Q5 was the front runner, but there seems to be lots of reliability issues with it right now, plus my wife doesn't like the looks. That moved the X3 M40i into first position, but this steering issue seems pretty common and is scaring me. GLC300 is creeping to the front.
Hope this gets sorted.

Pretty sure it's been sorted as mentioned above. that said, there's no proof it's a widespread issue. A dozen posters (even a hundred let's say) out of +7,000 X3's sold in the last year does not mean every vehicle has this issue.

[Mocon]

That info came from my shop foreman after speaking to the foreman in Toronto and BMW head office for this problem-from what I got there is all kinds of math involved with the changes to the new size of the M40i-they put the weights in the car to bring the height of the car down to change the angles of the shafts and the drive system as a whole-the car being lower to the ground than past models was one of the issues they were looking at-I hope it is just bad parts,but at this time they are not sure-sorry

[M40iG01]

Update:
my M40i was fixed yesterday and I drove it for 4 hours straight today. Vibration definitely gone! Let's hope it was just a bad batch of shafts. Regardless, BMW now knows the issue and will be able to correct it if in fact it is an engineering oversight.
Such a great SUV to drive with so much power ! Catches lots of people off guard who think their goona beat me. Leave em in the dust

[weez]

Originally Posted by BMWZ4

Pretty sure it's been sorted as mentioned above. that said, there's no proof it's a widespread issue. A dozen posters (even a hundred let's say) out of +7,000 X3's sold in the last year does not mean every vehicle has this issue.

It really doesn't sound sorted to me, it sounds like there is no solution at the company level yet, at the moment its all trial and error at the dealerships in coordination with BMW. Otherwise there should be a TSB or recall. I don't know the ratio of M40i owners on this forum with the problem vs without. I really hope you're right though.

[XXX3]

Originally Posted by weez

It really doesn't sound sorted to me, it sounds like there is no solution at the company level yet, at the moment its all trial and error at the dealerships in coordination with BMW. Otherwise there should be a TSB or recall. I don't know the ratio of M40i owners on this forum with the problem vs without. I really hope you're right though.

Happy for the OP. I don’t have the issue, but if I did, and I mentioned to the dealer that they may want to read the solution from the forum, I would be laughed at! I had an electrical issue with a Ford Super Duty, and it took Ford 18 months to finally issue a TSB.

[BMWZ4]

Originally Posted by weez

It really doesn't sound sorted to me, it sounds like there is no solution at the company level yet, at the moment its all trial and error at the dealerships in coordination with BMW. Otherwise there should be a TSB or recall. I don't know the ratio of M40i owners on this forum with the problem vs without. I really hope you're right though.

Sometimes the company doesn't know and it's the field I.e. the various talented shop foremen who come up with the solution, who then report back to corporate who then would decide if a recall (on certain VINs) or TSB for all vehicles if it's like an adjustment that needs to be performed.

If it's a design flaw, it'll take longer while they study the problem, engineer the solution and manufacture replacement parts....that's when it could be quite sometime before seeing a recall notice.

[weez]

The vibration problem alone doesn't worry me, because it sounds like there's enough attention on it now that a real solution will be out there soon. What worries me is the fact that I plan to purchase a car in December (I want this car), and then a week later will be doing a 2,800 mile road trip. Don't really need unexpected problems during that trip with a brand new car.

[Volvos are boring]

I've been reading your blog with interest as I'm about to take delivery of a M40i.
However BMW now fit the M sort diff as standard so I guess they have seen a problem and dealt with it by fitting this and increasing the price by £2000.
Also a power increase next year not good for already over stretched shafts.
Just my observation