[zaj24]

I have a 2009 328i xDrive. This morning I was driving and all of a sudden my front wheels decided to almost lock up, causing the car to almost instantly stop from 30 mph, I heard a grinding noise the whole time.

The car tries to move in both forward and reverse. Sometimes throttle causes it to just rev like its in neutral, sometimes the tires squeal and the car jerks back and forth, only able to move 2 feet.

The rear wheels and driveshaft operate like normal.

The front wheels can be spun too, however they bind up in both directions making it difficult to spin.

The car has zero codes in Inpa and no lights on the dash.

Front diff, rear diff, transfer case, and transmission fluids were changed about 6 months ago with the correct fluids and adaptations were reset.

Greatly appreciate anyone's input

Update: When the car is in neutral and I spin the front wheels by hand, the front driveshaft tries to turn but the transfer case won’t let it. I’m assuming this would mean internal damage to the transfer case? I will drain the fluid tomorrow to see what it looks like in there.

[E92William]

Well if you try and turn the driveshaft and the clutch to send power to the front from the transfer case is engaged then you wouldn't be able to turn it as since the car has a direct connection to the rear wheels and a clutch connection to the front, if the clutch is engaged you won't be able to move the front driveshaft as it's engaged to the rear. That's a weird issue you're having for sure though

[335xs2dinan]

Any update on this issue?

[E92William]

I actually had this happen to me after resetting the transfer case actuator, while after replying to this thread if I remember. The front brakes were basically like locking up. And my car doesn't have front driveshaft or axles even tho it's xdrive so it isn't transfer case internally. Try pulling the transfer case fuse and see if it still does it. It largely disables the dsc and lets you move the car. I haven't sorted the issue just been driving without dsc for a while as I don't have much time to mess with it

[Yotaismygame]

I had a front diff failure and the indy mechanic thinks it was the clip on the end of one of the front axles came dislodged when removing the axle which then destroyed one of the bearings in the diff. Same deal car could barely move but all tires would spin when on the lift.