I don't think I'm making any new friends in this sub-forum lol but I've got to ask has anyone put an e46 transfer case in their E30 iX? I know the E30 unit is more complicated but the idea is the same. I don't see why it wouldn't work, possibly with custom mounts, lengthened or shortened driveshafts, or even mated to an E46 tranny. I'm only asking because the newer units are so plentiful and cheap and the E30 transfer case is expensive and suffers from a high failure rate, especially in auto cars. (The transfer case in mine has been replaced by the dealer 3 times at about 50k intervals according to the service records.)
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You don't want to. It's an open transfercase, it has nothing to lock or limit slip. The E46 uses ABS to "simulate" a locking mechanism in the diffs. It's not that great.. It would be like driving around with a burned out VC.
The only reason a transfercase should fail is if you run it dry, run mismatched tires, or tow it improperly.
I wonder about dealer installs, my car had the same issue - but they never lubricated the front driveshaft properly, so it kept stripping. I'm pretty sure all the transfercases they replaced on my car were actually fine, they just put them in wrong.
My last one had 275k (I finally killed it on a track), I just swapped it for my original auto t-case that had ~40k on it. Prior to finding the proper front driveshaft lubricant I went through 4 front driveshafts (and one t-case output gear). I haven't had a failure since 2006 and I've been way harder on it. -
Amazing. It does make me wonder. Perhaps they had a bad tow or went low on fluid. When I first bought the car the previous owner gave me a set of studded snow tires and 2 were much more worn than the others. It also had mismatched tires. I quickly put on a new matching set. My mother is driving the car now and yesterday she told me it started making loud grinding noises like metal on metal. She can't tell whether it's coming from the wheels or the center of the car. I hope it's just the brakes. She lives on the coast so I haven't had a chance to look at it yet. She has another rig she can drive in the meantime. When I had it last month I topped the tcase off with some Valvoline ATF I had laying around. I hope that was ok. I don't know which ATF was in it already.Comment
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Hey Chris - the e46 TCase - does it make the XI almost pointless then? I remember reading they were open. I've been considering picking up an e46 330xi and I keep seeing people say the e30 325ix would drive circles around the e46...so sad. :-\- Sean HayesComment
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yeah basically
the new xdrive system is totally different though, and is actually pretty nice.Comment
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So, if getting an AWD, go for a car with x-drive or stick with the e30? Noted. hahaOriginally posted by nando View Post- Sean HayesComment
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