Not sure what it will help at this point but I'm going to offer the unattractive update of my X-5's issues.

Shaking, difficulties starting/ turning over, continued and soon after my last post the engine began consuming coolant (with no signs of leaking) and smoke began comming out of my drivers side pipe. REALLY BAD SIGNS!!!

So I took it in to the dealer, dealer said they saw evidence of overheating including brown on the inside of the radiator cap, and observed evidence of "water" in the oil from looking into the oil filler cap. Conclusion: They said I have a bad block but the only way to be sure was to charge me a bunch of money, torqe down the head bolts to see if any are or will strip at spec torque.

So I took it to a non-dealer BMW specialist who did the same for much less, said one bolt was striped, also pulled plugs and found water in one of the cylnders (#6) on the drivers side bank and suggested to pull the heads, have them milled and hope the block isn''t warped. The dealer also suggested the same but wanted to charge me $11k to replace the heads or $25k to replace the block.

So I said since only one side is smoking and water only found on dirvers side bank, pull that head, have it milled, get a head gasket that will make up any difference in compression compared to the other bank and I would cross my fingers. Job completed about two weeks ago, first week everything seam ok, on or about day 7 +/- "Check Engine" comes on and rumbling begins again. A few days more and smoke again comming out of the drivers side bank, and a few days more smoke out of both banks.

So now I'm looking for a used engine, and or considering parting out or selling my ride as is. Any comments, thoughts, suggestions other than: "Get the guns out of your house and or Sorry dude!" ?

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STORM