Just did this job on a 2011 X5 3.5 at 88k mi. I removed the fan and radiator. Made things much easier. I also removed the plastic shields inside the wheel. I made a plastic rivet puller from a little piece of sheet metal originally for my e46, and it worked great on this. I did not remove the metal cooling pipe that goes to the block. With everything else open it was pretty easy to get the rubber connecting hose on the end hooked up. It is pretty supple. I did pump, thermostat and expansion tank. I also changed the serpentine belt while I was in there. I was going to change the pulleys and tensioner but I only ordered one idler and the tensioner. There are two idlers. :-( The idlers still dragged a bit like they still had grease in them so new belt was it. Next time I go in, I'll have the other idler. By the way you need a really big torx (maybe T70???) bit to work tensioner. neither of my sets had it. a 9mm allen wrench worked but wasn't pretty. I used OEM parts and figure I saved $1500 by doing it myself.