The owner of this 2007 BMW X5, brought the motor to me with both the ABS and 4X4 warning lights on. My first action was to connect my scanner and look for any codes in the system.

I found that the codes coming up from the transmission control module, were 4F7A (EGS: Signal from transfer box is faulty), 5462 (Servomotor or coupling force too high) and 5463 (which also indicates Servo motor or coupling force too high). The ABS code was 5F3A (Transfer case malfunction).

Thankfully for this BMW’s owner, the failure wasn’t inside the transfer case. The problem was with the drive gear on the control motor, which is available as a separate unit in the form of a repair kit.

Removing the old motor, I discovered the gear was stripped, and it was just spinning and not operating the mechanism. After cleaning things up a bit and fitting the repair kit with the new gear, I carried out a transfer box oil change, which got this X5 back on the road, with the 4X4 system working again and the unwanted lights extinguished.

You can download this story as a PDF, as well as other technical tips at TechTips.ie.

There are lots more Tech Tips to view, and they are all searchable, on TechTips.ie.