Danny's X5 4.6 Thread

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by bcredliner

I full support PM but since most parts can have quite different lifecycles, I don't replace costly parts such as a water pump or alternator until there are symptoms of failure other than when I have to take parts like that off to fix something else. I used to do that many years ago and gave or sold the used parts, primarily to friends. Very often the part was still working fine after many more thousands of miles. There's obviously risk. AAA is my backup.

Yep, no right/wrong way to own the vehicle. So long as you've got your plan for vehicle maintenance... to each their own.

I certainly understand all sides to it. Maintaining 5 BMW's the way I do was still cheaper than a new car payment, but did cost at least $2000/yr.

[dannyzabolotny]

Maybe if I only had one car then I could justify preventatively replacing everything. But with a bunch of cars, I don't have as much money to spend on each car. Right now my fleet consists of:

- 2000 BMW 540i Touring with 199k miles
- 1996 Mustang GT 5-speed with 184k miles (should be sold pretty soon)
- 1998 Chevy Corvette with 188k miles
- 1987 Porsche 944S with 114k miles (hasn't run in 6 years, it's my project car)

And until recently I also had this X5 4.6is to feed. I want to fix the Porsche and actually do some mods to the Vette so I'm thinning the herd a bit.

[BimmerBreaker]

I would have done the same with the water pump, it seemed fine, and the replacement wasn't too much. Just a bit of a job to get to but hey, it's a 200K+ 4.6is, what was I expecting

The rod bearings on this car also went out in January. I've been trying to keep my other cars on the road so haven't had time to fix it quite yet, but started tearing into it yesterday with Danny and another friend's help since my daily driver isn't on the road right now. Got *to* the subframe... spindle had to come out on the passenger side to remove the axle, was able to get the driver's side axle out while leaving spindle attached to the strut. Suspension is disconnected. Ready to support the engine from the top and drop the subframe and get the diff and oil pan out and get to it....



More soon... would like to get it back on the road by this weekend

[BimmerBreaker]

I'm actually unsure what caused the failure, if I had to guess, sustained high-RPM driving uphill to Flagstaff awhile back maybe cause some oil starvation issues, bits of timing chain guide may have jiggled loose and found their way into the oiling system, it seemed the wear was caused by contamination. Cylinder 1 was the worst by far, and the scoring/scratching on the bearings coupled with the wear pattern and scoring on the connecting rods tells me the bearings were spinning for quite a while and had done a few rotations. The weird thing is it drove for a couple thousand miles no problems after that trip to Flagstaff, so hard to say. M62's are pretty durable though, I gotta admit!

Been toying with the idea of a RWD conversion as well... but I don't think I'll go through with it.

[smokeyyank]

Originally Posted by BimmerBreaker

I'm actually unsure what caused the failure, if I had to guess, sustained high-RPM driving uphill to Flagstaff awhile back maybe cause some oil starvation issues, bits of timing chain guide may have jiggled loose and found their way into the oiling system, it seemed the wear was caused by contamination. Cylinder 1 was the worst by far, and the scoring/scratching on the bearings coupled with the wear pattern and scoring on the connecting rods tells me the bearings were spinning for quite a while and had done a few rotations. The weird thing is it drove for a couple thousand miles no problems after that trip to Flagstaff, so hard to say. M62's are pretty durable though, I gotta admit!

Been toying with the idea of a RWD conversion as well... but I don't think I'll go through with it.

Do it! No need to keep it AWD