First post - Estoril Blue 4.6IS + ice driving

[Ekliptix]

Hi,

So, I was looking for a winter car that'd fit in my parkade (parking garage for you 'mericans). I also wanted something to tow my 2 snowmobiles with in my enclosed trailer. I landed on a V8 E53. In my browsing, I found silver ones, black ones, etc. I even found a red one 800 miles away. Then I stumbled across this blue one, except the seller had made the worst add for it. I think the mileage was entered wrong, the price was wrong. The ad basically caused most people to ignore the car. I ended up buying it for $11k Canadian after I paid for a mechanical inspection at BMW. 125,000km, or 77,000mi.


Wow, I loved driving it that first week. I'd never owned a European car. My past cars include 2x 5L mustangs, 2x Corvette Z06's, Fiesta ST, WRX STI, jeeps, and my prized 1972 C10 pick up (still have it). This BMW was so quiet inside, and the steering and ride was so nice. Plus these seats were the nicest thing I've sat in.

I immediately bought some Hakkapeliitta 8 winter tires, had them studded, and mounted on an extra set of factory IS rims I found for $600. This was now the ultimate winter daily driver, to me.




I installed a Curt hitch. Even after reading about all the people on here who don't like them for actual towing, I had success towing 3,000lb for over 3000 miles including icy logging roads to get into the back country for snowmobiling. My X5 didn't come with a trailer plug, so I installed a Curt setup from the tail lights, plus added a Tekonsha 90250 Prodigy RF Electronic Brake Control which was a bit of a PITA, but it ended up working eventually for trailer brakes.


I also got a set of Thule tire chains which have been amazing and seem to give unlimited traction climbing ultra steep icy slopes.


A few other highlights include an ice driving school that started with specific obstacles to learn your car's behaviour in different skid situations, and ending with a 2 mile ice road course where you basically can act like a kid and hang it out. Among the 20 or so cars, my X5 with the help of the studded winter tires was by far the quickest on the ice. I nearly went through an entire tank of gas that day I was having so much fun.








I've also had the center muffler (resonator?), removed and replaced with an X pipe. The sound is better, but still a little tiny, not really deep and def not loud enough. More plans below for exhaust.


More recently, I found the shocks seemed to have given up, with the ride getting much less refined over bumps. I ordered 4 new sach's shocks from Rock Auto, installed them myself, but there was not much of an improvement, especially up front. More on that later.

I was getting board, so I decided to replace the valve cover gaskets. I'd had some slight oil leaks, and I determined it must be coming from there based on the research I did. Many hours later, I'd finished the job and replaced the spark plugs at the same time. Unfortunately, some of the valve cover bolts on the passenger side seemed to have stripped, so the gasket couldn't get well seated. I was still able to drive it, but it cost oil. When warm, I could see oil steam escaping from the passenger side valve cover gasket.

I needed a reliable car while I figured out the X5 situation, so I bought this weird Suzuki SX4 car, with a 2" lift and BFG KOs. It's kind of neat, but so goddamn slow.


After the X5 sat for a few months, I finally brought it into Sheni's Auto-Trend here in Calgary, based on the advice of my father in law plus some reviews.

I asked them to check out the front suspension too, as the new shocks I installed didn't seem to improve the front feel. I got the repair quote a few days later. Check it out:


This is:
Replace timing chain, rails,guides and upgraded oil separator. $5,700
Replace Steering Tie Rod Assemblies. $640
Replace Front Lower Wishbone Control Arms $480
Replace Front Sway Bar Links $240
Replace Rear Lower Ball Joints $565
Replace Rear Shock Absorber $900
Replace Front Driveshaft Universal Flex Disc $360
Misc

The fellow was nice and all on the phone. He basically said the pressure release valve/oil separator will often go bad, especially in cold weather, and cause the gaseous oil pressure to escape in places I don't want it to: Gaskets.

He also suggested if I sold the X5 in it's current state, I'd get $1-3k for it. So, I've decided to pull the biggest maintenance/repair bill of my life and go ahead. This was after considering:
a) If I sell it as is, I'll still have to spend $10k+ to get an equivalent car.
b) If I pay for these repairs, the X5 should be bullet proof for many years and miles to follow, providing me with a reliable vehicle that I can hopefully still sell for ~$9k later even with higher miles. Current milage is 175,000km or approx 110,000mi. And
c) I still like this car. If I need to spend $10k on a boring new car vs fixing this and enjoying it, I'll pick the second option.

I did notice the shop was charging WAY too much for parts. I ended up ordering all the suspension parts and flex disk online for 50% of their quoted price, saving me $1000 in parts. By paying their high price for the engine/etc parts, i get a 2 year/30,000mi warranty. I don't want to pay for their labour again, on the, engine so I'm paying their high prices for parts in that area.

What's next:
a) pay a massive bill to get everything done above.
b) exhaust. I've listened to dozens of clips of modified X5 exhaust. The straight pipe sound is not a quality sound, to me. The best I've come across is this. 4.8, replaced the rear mufflers with some short resonators. https://youtu.be/xx3kq3vRxgQ. I'm either going to do the same, or possibly get these even quieter resonators. https://www.youtube.com/redirect?red...YMZ8sBLxRbr5on
c) drive drive drive and enjoy.

I since bought a 2000 GMC 3/4 ton and I can fit 2x sleds on the back, so the X5 does not need to tow.

Car wash video: https://youtu.be/sGrK8azQ138

Pardon the M badges. The previous owner was a bit of a ricer, although he had a lambo.

My other cars, plus obligatory sledding photo in BC.