Things to Watch for if Your X is Around 50K

[X5Flyboy]

You know, when I look back on my other cars, I've had the same problems. Admittably, maybe SOME cheaper repairs, but I like the car telling me what's wrong, instead of getting a ticket for a light that's out or driving until something bad really breaks. Battery is just plain old prevent maintence. NONE of them last longer than 5 years of use, no matter WHAT car you put them in. I've replaced the water pump on all but one of my cars. Batteries, more than once on most. The cost of electric window repairs on American cars ain't cheap either. Of course, we would rather do without having to repair or replace something, but in the imortal words of a former VP, "Why does it only break when we use it?" Park it in the garage and NOT use it, should eliminate most, if not all your repairs.

[asawadude]

I don't recall ever seeing metal hoses or tubes attached to a coolant reservoir in any car. Metal would get plated with corrosion from heated coolant.

[Zulu95]

They had them in earlier cars and they worked just fine. The coolant reservoir in my 1966 "E Type" Jag lasted until 1985!

[asawadude]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D060; Blazer/4.5) 16;320x320)

That was back in the 60's when everything was made of metal. Bumpers, dashboards, radiator shrouds, trim pieces, etc. were made of metals. Nowadays, its not unusual to find hoods, doors skins, and fenders made of some type of plastic composite. The same holds true with minor components in the engine compartment.. Those good old days unfortunately are long gone, but fortunately the plastics have improved greatly over the past 2-3 decades.

[abarth]

Battery I can understand, but CV boot at 40k, window reg at 40k, a little hose that should have been metal but PVC instead. I will accept the fact that I have a bad X, if I am the only one that had all the problems, but look around other X owners too and some even with lower miles than mine. Come on this is a BMW we are talking about not a SUV from GM or Kia.

Metal would get plated with corrosion from heated coolant

Not if you follow the maintenance schedule and change the coolant. The X radiator core is Aluminum alloy and the inside diameter is smaller than the hose in question, is your radiator corrorded?

[rogerkiu]

Battery, CV boot, evaporator, steablizer links, engine belt, A/C belt, A/C final stage controller, rotors, lower control arm, bushings of pull rods. Now, the dealer tell me that the cylinder head gaskets need to be changed since they see slight leaking, also the gasket of oil pan needs to be changed due to slight leaking. Now my X is about 80,000 KMs.

[NOVAX5]

We must admit that X5 is far less reliable when compared to the Japanese SUV. I have had my Toyota 4Runner 2003 which now has the same miles that it is on the X5 which is 78K. With the 4Runner all I ever replaced beside regular oil change is the brake pads. Everything has been origninal from the day I drove it off the dealer. In contrast, the X5 has been giving tons of little things bills. Nothing big, but still a lot more than I am prepared for. How the heck did the windows regulators on both doors fail? How the heck did both CV boots break? And the door actuator just died on me all of the sudden. A list of a lot of little things. But i hate it. I love my X, but I dont love the repair bills.

[abarth]

rogerkiu, didn't know driving in Hong Kong can be that tough on the X. All those low speed city driving really take a toll on the suspensions huh? Seriously, do you drive your X to Mainland?
NovaX5, I work on my own cars, so its not the repair bills that bother me. It is the inconvenience and the thought that if other car companies can make parts that last a lot longer and charge cheaper, why can BMW designs and engineers a car with parts that will last just as long. I love the way BMW drives but.....

[rogerkiu]

abarth, the dealer told me that driving 10000 kms in Hong Kong equals driving 30000 kms in USA or Europe. Always driving at low speed and always stop and go really hurt the engine. Regarding the suspension, I guess it is caused by my off-road driving. If I have done less off-road driving, my suspension would have lasted longer. I do drive my X to China mainland, but not frequently, about 2 time a year. Each time I drive my X to China mainland, I do some off-road driving for excitement and pleasure. I guess off-road driving makes my X' suspension failure faster than other X.

[Hammystuff]

Hello Everyone, I'm a new owner of a pre-owned 2002 X5 4.4. I really think this site is wonderfully organized and super informative. For example, just today I was reading through the posts below and noticed just how accurate the "watch list" was for 50K miles. It's amazing, just about all of the things listed in this forum is why my X5 is in the repair shop right now. Thank god I had a certified pre-owned X5 because my out of pocket costs for the things not covered so far are over $1600. I'm kind of in a daze right now so I thought I'd write so I could could feel better. I'll post another message tomorrow and let you know exactly what was fixed and how much each item cost.