View Single Post
  #8  
Old 10-30-2019, 08:24 AM
spyro235 spyro235 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: New Jersey, USA
Posts: 161
spyro235 is on a distinguished road
Hey- I've got a good amount of hands on experience with the 35d. I bought mine at 203.5k on new years this year, and I'll be turning over 240k miles on my way home from work. 11 months, about 36k miles on a high milage unit, I feel I'm qualified to talk about reliability.

First of all- common problems that were mentioned- emissions. True. Mine started throwing active tank sensor codes at 200k miles. I bought it wih that problem, knowing I'd be deleting it soon anyway. You can find craz deals if you're willing to delete off the bat- I bought mine in great exterior and interior condition, just with 203k miles and an emissions code, for $4300. The delete cost me $2000 flat including labor and tune.

Boost hoses do go at high milages, the red one being more common. Really, the hose is fine, but the seals go, so it kind of seeps oil everywhere. Annoying and messy but not a crazy pressing problem.

Thermostats are common to go about every 100k. This sounds scary, because most thermostats fail closed, so you overheat.... but not true for the m57. They fail OPEN nearly every single time. It's not something that needs replacing until it actually goes bad. It won't throw a code or anything, but the motor will run a bit colder than it should, it should run at 88c and it'll fail and run between 55 and 80c. The way to tell is that your gas milage will plummet from your normal average, for no apparent reason. Then you use a reader that can pull real time data and check the temps. It it's below 86 after running more than 10 mins, the thermostat is bad. So, don't let this one scare you. It wont leave you stranded.

The Harmonic balancer is an issue, they basically go bad and blow up. They take out accessories and belts and overall it's not a good time. I've never replaced mine, but I'm going to soon. There's no way I've got the factory unit on still. Fluidampr is the go-to, but their great reputation was tarnished when they had a bad batch of units and had to recall a bunch of balancers, and it caused damage on a few select cars. From what I heard, they didn't handle the situation well, so now people sometimes don't recommend them. YMMV, but I'll be installing a new fluidampr when it's time for my HB.

DPFs don't really have a timeline- it's super use dependent. My DPF was in GREAT shape when it was removed at 215k miles. barely any ash in it, differential pressures were great. That's because my vehicle drove over 25k miles a year- these diesels and their systems are VERY happy doing distance highway driving. They are less happy doing city, stop and go, etc say in and day out. THAT SAID, A deleted diesel has no problems doing stop and go, city, day in and day out. it's only an EGR/ DPF/ emissions problem.
Engine moutns need replacing just like literally any other vehicle, once at high milages, it's something to look out for.
Glow plug controllers go- this leaves a check engine light. Lots of people pull the whole manifold, becasue when the controller goes it usually throws codes for one/ a few specific glow plugs. 95% of the time, replacing the actual plugs is entirely unnecessary. 2 hours, $140 from FCP with lifetime warranty, and some aggravating tight spaces to work in, and you can swap the controller out without removing the manifold. I had glow plug 1 and 5 codes, and my diesel started fine, but sometimes missed in the very cold on startup. Now with the now module, it starts much more smoothly in the cold.

As far as the COLD- don't worry. Seriously. At all. My 35d started fine in -10f, I go to vermont in the winters sometimes and my car sits outside, and gets cold cranked while still covered in snow. It doesn't even crank longer. When really cold, you might see the glow plug symbol come up, and it'll warm the cylinders for a second or two, and then crank on it's own. It starts up fine. Just like a normal car, make sure your battery is good for the winter, but as long as your battery is strong you'll have NO issue.

Those are the major issues I've read or experienced. Maintence that isnt mentioned above that I can think of would really be transmission based- refreshing the fluid, filter, and some of the seals in the trans is SUPER DIY friendly, and nets a much smoother and happier transmission.

As far as a vehicle for towing- this is a GREAT one. Have good trailer brakes, and a tongue scale, and be careful about how the trailer is loaded. I don't have the levelling suspension, but I put helper air bags in my rear springs. They helped A LOT in smoothing out the ride, and bringing my sag back up. I tow fairly regularly, and at the beginning of september did a 2300 mile trip over 4 days of driving, towing my 18' Big Tex car hauler loaded with my drift car, tools and spares. I suspect my trailer was close to being at it's gvwr, which means I had about 7000 lbs behind me. I averaged 19.5 mpg doing 70-75 over the pocono mountains, and always had an abundance of extra power on tap. My trailer has 2 brakes axles, which definitely helped. a well set up brake controller aided in making my drive VERY comfortable, and on the highway, other that stronger gas an brake inputs, you could barely tell we were towing. It was an awesome, amazing way to tow long distance.


The M57 motor is an amazingly reliable motor once it's deleted. Most of it's issues stem from emissions systems, and it was reliably around in various forms for many years before emissions were a thing. Overall I LOVE my X5. I get 28-30 mpg on my NJ highway commutes (with traffic) and it's a GREAT commuter car. It's practical enough for me to fit 4-5 drift spares in the trunk without folding seats down, and all of my emergency/ recovery stuff fits under the trunk. It tows 5-7k lbs of drift car and trailer with ease, and I can even put my dirtbike on a hitch carrier behind it if I'd like. 28+ mpg highway, and all the creature comforts of being a bmw. While towing 7k going 75mph up highway hills effortlessly, my rear passenger had hit heated seat blasting, and the 4 zone climate going, while my $400 retrofitted carplay played us music and google maps was on the screen. For $4300, I can imagine a better vehicle!
__________________
'10 X5 35d- 279k mi, deleted and DUDMD stage 2, daily and tow vehicle
'01 330i- Drift car: SLR Super angle, BC coils- keep it simple
'07 335i 6mt - Sold @ 171k miles- stage 2 daily commuter for 2 years
Reply With Quote

Sponsored Links