New X5 E53 Owner introduction and What service to do?

Redraptor141 · #1 02-04-2020, 03:43 PM

Evening all,

Just thought I’d introduce myself. I’ve just bought a 2005 X5 3.0D Sport in the south west of the UK. Loved the X5 for years and I’ve owned a E61 535d lci for years before this as well. That’s the Euro 282hp one..... well it was when I bought it.... it had 396hp by the time it left my ownership. I also owned and restored a P38 Range Rover two years ago.

It’s got 119,000 miles on it. I’ll be using her as a motorway machine to get me from Cornwall to Portsmouth twice a week! She’s black with tinted windows and on 20 inch BMW alloys.

She is in really good Nick all around with just a few faults. One being a diff PDC sensor on the rear and one of the rear handles is broken on the outside (both parts are in the mail to me) and pulled the three miles of old subwoofer cable out of it as i won’t be using it!

But before I start putting some serious miles on her I’d like some advice on what to do to give her a major service before I start. She was serviced 5000 miles ago but by a random garage and by a local BMW independent specialist before that every 10,000 to near new where it was BMW history

I was thinking

Engine oil + Filter
Air filter
Fuel filter
Pollen filters (which ones for A/C as there are two one activated carbon and one plain)
Coolant
Dif oil (both ends 75w90 right? Also may sound stupid but are they LSDs?)
X Drive transfer box oil (on order from my local dealer as I know it’s the friction modifier stuff)
And the ZF transmission oil change.

Crankcase breather?? I had a 535d e61 a few years ago and that had the newer vortex style breather and I vaguely remember someone saying the X5 engines were changed in 2004 during the LCi? Is this true? As that saves me a job

Brake fluid was done 500 miles ago by the garage I bought it off and so where the front pads and disks for ATE branded items

Anything else you guys recommend I should do as a matter of course/good practise?

Cheers for the assist guys, I’m all for forums and I love getting involved as much as I can as I’m an engineer by trade I do all the work on my cars myself so I’m always read to give anything and up to a body lift on the drive a go!

Cheers,
Billy

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andrewwynn · #2 02-04-2020, 05:03 PM

About a year ago a new guy posted and got a lot of good answers. If somebody can find a link to that page will save a lot of effort

wpoll · #3 02-04-2020, 06:03 PM

Welcome Billy...

Righto.. in order...

Engine oil + Filter - I use Castrol 5W-40 LL-01 now that the miles are up.
Air filter -Use a good brand - Mann etc.
Fuel filter - ditto (Mann is OEM)
Pollen filters (which ones for A/C as there are two one activated carbon and one plain) - your call. Not a biggie.
Coolant - replace with same type as is there already - it a PAIN to flush properly if changing types. Thermostats fail often - use OE/OEM only.
Diff oil (both ends 75w90 right? Also may sound stupid but are they LSDs?) - 75W90 - not LSD - Redline works well.
X Drive transfer box oil (on order from my local dealer as I know it’s the friction modifier stuff) - BMW DTF 1 - and then perform oil wear adaptation reset (DIS or ISTA etc.)
And the ZF transmission oil change. Hmmm.. is it working OK? Ever been changed before? Might pay to think carefully about this one.... Mines OK(ish) at 240,000kms on original fluid. Not by choice mind you...

Crankcase breather?? Definitely check/change it!! Change to Vortex type was May 2005. Loo roll type works better than vortex but requires frequent (50,000kms) changes.

HTH...

Redraptor141 · #4 02-04-2020, 06:38 PM

WPoll

Cheers for the information

Means I go out with a half decent shopping list tomorrow!

Yeh I did my E61s gearbox at 120,000 and knew that was a risk but it did make the drive so much better! But the X5 is a lot heavier and probably had more wear on it. Maybe I’ll give it a couple of months and see how she drives then make a call on it.

Why did BMW not just put the 70,000 mile service like ZF suggested!

wpoll · #5 02-04-2020, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redraptor141

Why did BMW not just put the 70,000 mile service like ZF suggested!

Because in some markets that would have fallen inside the warranty period and then BMW would have to pay for it....

EODguy · #6 02-04-2020, 10:30 PM

Expansion tank, hoses, transmission heater block o-rings and a super degreasing so you can start with a clean slate to help find any leaks now or later...

A true deep scan with a Foxwell NT-510/NT-520 to see if you have any hidden or old stored codes.

May also want to post your ViN's last 7 for ease of help.

Congrats and welcome!

Sent from my SM-A730F using Tapatalk

wpoll · #7 02-04-2020, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EODguy

Expansion tank, hoses, ...

While not a bad list to check out, these items don't fail as often on the cooler-running M57TU diesel engines - the 88Deg.C thermostat sees to that.

aureliusmax · #8 02-05-2020, 02:45 AM

the service you should do is repair the issues like your door handles and the codes first.
i would suggest taking fluid test samples of your engine, transmission, coolant and diff oil and sending them to a oil lab to determine if there's any issues that you can mitigate before they occur.
a second good bet is an engine compression test to see how it has worn over the years.

wpoll · #9 02-05-2020, 02:47 AM

Bit hard to compression test a diesel..

aureliusmax · #10 02-05-2020, 02:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wpoll

Bit hard to compression test a diesel..

oops, didn't think of that

diesel fuel injectors dont usually come out as easy like spark plugs.

I would recommend to ad to the fuel tank some of the 'Hot Shot's Secret P040464Z Diesel Extreme Clean and Boost'
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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