[QUOTE=andrewwynn;1207344]take your belt off and run the engine after it’s warmed up of course.

That's a pretty ingenious diagnostic hack... I think I would need to be able to drive it at minimum 20 mins even if I take the belt off warm to convince myself the noise is/isn't there. Will an 18 year old X5 run for 20 mins in triple digit Texas summer heat w/ no belt?

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Ikiris the X5: 2002 e53 m54 3.0i in Oxfordgrün, 180K ///

Last couple of years she's spent time all over the US from NYC to Detroit to New Mexico to LA and everywhere b/w, she's paid her dues in the Mojave, the Badlands and the Rockies. Recently rear ended by a prostitute in Dallas, where we are settled... for the moment

Was my dad's last car. He was a master mechanic w/ a successful Euro repair shop in Dallas. In his honor, I plan on running this thing 'til the wheels fall off.