After a 5 year hiatus, looking to get back into an E53

[DiscoStu]

Originally Posted by bcredliner

I would be flexible as to the year and focus on the mileage,maintenance history and a 1-2 owner vehicle to go along with that PPI. As a safety measure I would strongly consider a warranty. At 100,000 you are into the range that some of the more expensive parts such as suspension components are coming to the end of their life cycle. An X5 with 75,000 miles or less would be a good target.

Just the other day I spent a couple hours in a shop that has been repairing ZF transmissions for many years. I was in the rebuild area with main tech. In his view the ZF5hp24 is a better overall transmission. He said the 6 speed has more problems but is still a good transmission. He mentioned that almost all 6 speeds that come in have the same problem which does not require a rebuild. I can't remember what part he was talking about or the cost to fix. I would have a transmission shop familiar with ZF transmissions do a separate PPI.

I have been changing transmission fluid every 40-50,000 miles since new and use ZF fluid. He said that is best practice. Very often fluid changes are because the transmission already has symptoms and fluid change is an attempt to fix it, that's too late and further developing symptoms in a the near future are attributed to the fluid change.

I'd actually love to get a warranty. I think you might be hard pressed to find someone willing to warranty a 10+ year old BMW, no?

What automatic transmission does a '03-'06 3.0 come with? 6-speed ZF?

[bcredliner]

Originally Posted by DiscoStu

I'd actually love to get a warranty. I think you might be hard pressed to find someone willing to warranty a 10+ year old BMW, no?

What automatic transmission does a '03-'06 3.0 come with? 6-speed ZF?

Never assume, my mistake, the 3.0 has a GM transmission, none of the ZF transmission stuff applies. That's V8 stuff.

[oldskewel]

Originally Posted by audiophool

^^I was told mine has the A5S 390R (GM 5L40E) box. Did some of the 3.0i use a ZF box?

No ZF's in the E53 3.0i's. You were told correctly.

[oldskewel]

I think these old 3.0i's are great. I got my '01 a little over 2 years ago, with ~160k miles. I replaced a few items in the suspension (most urgent was the rear ball joints which were causing excessive rear camber and extreme tire wear), all the window and regulator clips. Then in year 2, the alternator died, needing a new voltage regulator, and the fuel pump died. I attribute both of those failures to just plain wear and their time was up.

Other than that, the thing is very solid. I read this list quite a lot, and from the problems I see, there is no way I would touch a V8. I value reliability much more than power. Perhaps surprisingly, the gas mileage seems to be comparable between the V8 vs. I6.

Similarly, I'd also avoid the air suspension and panoramic sunroof. Nice features, but also headaches, from what I read here.

I did some very careful ATF changes on mine (first ever on this car at 160k+ miles) and there do not seem to be any problems. I think if you do get one around 100k, and you change the ATF carefully, you'll be happy with it.

I concur with the other comment about not worrying so much about year. I'd much prefer a well maintained '01 over a less-maintained '06.

Also, I concur with the OP's comment in the first post, "There was a certain level of pride and satisfaction in fixing it."

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by audiophool

It makes a 'clink' noise when first put in reverse. Probably the front driveshaft?

I just fixed a problem with clinking when beginning motion from a stop, whether in forward or reverse. Not sure of the exact cause but here's what cured it. Replaced front driveshaft quibo, greased front driveshaft splines to prevent wear, replaced rear driveshaft guibo, replaced rear driveshaft center support bearing, didn't mess with rear CV joint on the shaft, U-joints felt fine, used anti-seize on parts that had frozen together and made disassembly a royal PITA. BTW, I reused the bolts from the stiffening plate as well with some red locktite torqued to 43ft lbs (I think, memory is fuzzy). All of that done, and the noise is gone. Seems some driveshaft wobble was cured as well... the guibos I removed had cracks but no major failures. They were probably at fault.

[audiophool]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

I just fixed a problem with clinking when beginning motion from a stop, whether in forward or reverse. Not sure of the exact cause but here's what cured it. Replaced front driveshaft quibo, greased front driveshaft splines to prevent wear, replaced rear driveshaft guibo, replaced rear driveshaft center support bearing, didn't mess with rear CV joint on the shaft, U-joints felt fine, used anti-seize on parts that had frozen together and made disassembly a royal PITA. BTW, I reused the bolts from the stiffening plate as well with some red locktite torqued to 43ft lbs (I think, memory is fuzzy). All of that done, and the noise is gone. Seems some driveshaft wobble was cured as well... the guibos I removed had cracks but no major failures. They were probably at fault.

I have to think the 'clink' is a dry spline somewhere. Noise comes from the xfer case area. I have no driveshaft wobble or any vibrations. One of these day's when my life insurance has expired, I'll crawl under the car and have my wife shift it from drive to reverse a few times and see if I can isolate the noise.

(Sorry about the little sidetrack - back to regular programming.)

[ylwjacket]

That car looks great. It has 101k miles, so I guess you know that you can look forward, in the immediate future, to:
- valve cover gasket
- oil filter housing gasket
- coolant system rebuild (belts, hoses, water pump, thermos, temp sensor)
- radiator in the next 20-30k miles
- drive axles (or at least the boots) in the next 25k or so.

None of the above is terribly difficult to DIY, and the parts are all cheap if you DIY.

At 100k, you're hitting the first refurb cycle. If possible, I'd try to bargain the price down a little to account for that.

Originally Posted by DiscoStu

From what I'm reading, everything sounds par for the course. Nothing really scares me about these cars other than the automatic transmission, which I have zero experience with.

I've been eyeballing this Stratus Grey 2006 X5 this week. Seems to be in good shape, low miles, with the options we want, at a great price. The history looks good too - originally a lease and then sold as a CPO. It has three prior owners, each owning for roughly an equal amount of time. I might have a look at it this week.

[itsbrokeagain]

Originally Posted by DiscoStu

From what I'm reading, everything sounds par for the course. Nothing really scares me about these cars other than the automatic transmission, which I have zero experience with.

I've been eyeballing this Stratus Grey 2006 X5 this week. Seems to be in good shape, low miles, with the options we want, at a great price. The history looks good too - originally a lease and then sold as a CPO. It has three prior owners, each owning for roughly an equal amount of time. I might have a look at it this week.

That looks like a really sweet truck. Love the interior color.

I'd haggle on price some. I managed to steal my 06 3.0 for $3000, but it didn't run and the owner wanted it gone. I'm the third owner, first was a lease then my chiropractors assistant owned it CPO from 2009 until now.

I had to redo the entire cooling system to start (snowball effect), fuel filter (black), all air filters, oil change, and all the rear upper control arms. Have lower control arm bushings waiting to be done.

Had I not needed to do any of this, it would easily be a $6600-7000 truck...

Good luck and hope you purchase it. So jelly lol

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by audiophool

I have to think the 'clink' is a dry spline somewhere. Noise comes from the xfer case area.

Possibly, but BMW did not grease the splines from factory. All X5's have dry splines, from what I've gathered here anyway. It's one of the reasons the front shaft fails.

My clink sounded as if from the Xfer case area as well, but I never bothered isolating it. I read a few threads where it was rear driveshaft related so I just went hog wild doing a full refresh of front and rear shafts so I don't have to bother with them for a VERY long time.

Sorry for the thread jack OP. That X looks pretty good, though I pretty much only look at BMW's with sports package on it. That's a personal preference thing.

[DiscoStu]

Originally Posted by ylwjacket

That car looks great. It has 101k miles, so I guess you know that you can look forward, in the immediate future, to:
- valve cover gasket
- oil filter housing gasket
- coolant system rebuild (belts, hoses, water pump, thermos, temp sensor)
- radiator in the next 20-30k miles
- drive axles (or at least the boots) in the next 25k or so.

None of the above is terribly difficult to DIY, and the parts are all cheap if you DIY.

At 100k, you're hitting the first refurb cycle. If possible, I'd try to bargain the price down a little to account for that.

Well I went to look at this one and walked away very disappointed, especially given the color/options that it had. The engine, and everything under the hood for that matter, was in great shape. The issues I saw though were the fact that it had very badly mismatched tires. The front tires were nearly bald and the back tires appear to have been replaced recently. I know it's bad for AWD car to have mismatched tire diameters so I had concerns about the transfer case. The vapor seal on the rear driver's side door was also ripped, so there were water stains all over the rear interior. The bolts holding the drivers seat were completely rusted too. I didn't even want to know what else could have been hiding under the carpet.

The icing on the cake though was when the salesman went to open the driver's door for me, the handle broke He was embarrassed, but I wasn't really bothered by it. Just X5 things...