Helmuth thanks for the reply....jeez that is a big bill .....was it a difficult job?

as for hearing the fuel pump, yup did manage to here a whirring noise in rear so that seems ok.....but again relay maybe intermittent..... gonna start with battery AGAIN (despite stating in post that I had this issue witha full battery)...and as I dont have a load tester will do this:

fully charge battery out of car take reading 12.8-12.6 v should be the reading
then check after a couple of minutes should be 12.7-12.6
then check after 6 hours should be no lower than 12.6 IF it is lower, then battery needs to go...and I can take it from there....

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E53 X5 3.0d SUV prod.date 11/2004 eng.variant M57N Europe Right hand drive N