Official 3.0 Diesel Engine Issues & Comments Thread - Page 12

JBF · #**111** 04-29-2009, 10:58 PM

Well it was a beautiful day so I made the most of still having a soft-top and drove down to a large independent BMW supermarket which always has 10-20 X5's in stock.

There were two that caught my eye; a late 2004 in Titanium Silver with Black leather and a 2005 in Black with Sand Beige leather. Both had approx. 60k miles on the clock, both were 3.0d Sport.

Personally I think Titanium Silver with privacy glass and running boards looks very nice from the outside. I was disappointed with how tatty the interior was. It was dirty, smelt funny and the seats showed quite a lot of wear. The carpet in the rear was worn to the lining by the doors and there were water marks visible as mats had clearly never been used. This one didn't have NAV and there was a line of pixels flickering in and out on the radio display. Definitely not interested

I had concerns about the Black one after taking a walk around and noticing the rear passenger side wheel arch trim had some pretty deep scuffs with traces of white and blue paint. The rear quarter showed a lot of buff marks where it had obviously been freshly polished. Of more concern was that the rear door didn't seem to be lined up correctly as it stuck out a little too much. Looking down the side of the car I would have said the door was aligned but the rear quarter panel had been compressed inwards slightly in a low speed bump against something big like a pillar, wall or truck.

Ignoring that, the interior was clean and relatively intact apart from the steering wheel trim peeling off around the buttons. The Sand Beige was nice but I think without privacy glass it made the cabin too bright. It had NAV with TV which worked although the TV reception was awful; is that normal? I had a poke around in the boot and looked in the area around the spare wheel. It was dripping wet with condensation. The the entire area was wet to touch although there was no standing water at the bottom. Still not good with most of the electrics living in there. It did make me wonder whether the damage to the rear could be due to flooding!

Despite these issues I still took it out for a test drive, just to get a feel for the car and see if I could detect any lurching. When I turned the ignition on the message 'check brake linings' flashed up on the dash. I pretended not to notice but was obviously not impressed. I was impressed by how quietly the engine runs and how smooth the ride is. There were a couple of roundabouts on the test route and I couldn't detect any kind of lurch despite trying. Obviously after just getting out of a 2 seat roadster it felt like driving a tank but I had a similar feeling when I got in to the Cayenne I had on courtesy last year. It soon wore off once I got used to the different driving position.

So overall it was a bit of a disappointing day. The quality of cars available, at least from that particular outlet seem quite poor. I'm now less concerned about 'the lurch' and think a lot of it may be down to drivers being too aggressive and not taking in to account that they are driving a 2.5 ton truck with a TD engine (lag) and automatic transmission (more lag).

Sorry for the mammoth post but I wanted to share my experience so far. I'm still a little sad at the thought of not being able to drop the top and go for a drive 'just for fun'. There were a few nice Z4's on display which caught my eye

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omodos · #**112** 04-30-2009, 05:22 AM

I am sorry to hear about your lack progress, you are just unlucky, I searched a few places last year not dealers though, and the quality varied from great to useless, I even had one where the rear floor pan was wet and also the rad cap cracked!!!! I steered clear as for the bodywork well, mine is a nov 2004 3.od sport titanium silver with black leather, no sat nav though 29k on the clock so wear and tear was no existent, and bodywork was flawless(I soon changed that) I got the check brake lining too but had the seller attend to this, it is a case of the sensors not being replaced when the pads get changed…the pads on mine were fine and the seller sorted it…one point that does annoy me is that if you are NOT over 6ft tall and you slide onto the sit rather than sit down onto it, the leather on the outer edge will wear, I have seen many x5’s here with beige interior and it wears badly, changes colour to a blue, so go for the dark interior if you fine an e53 in good enough condition. As for lag, mine doesn’t have it, anyone who has driven it is gobsmacked, for a 2.5 tonne beast it goes! It looks better than a Q7 and the touareg (looks great) is cumbersome, cayenne was too thirsty and pricey so I went for the X5… tell ya what though there is a hummer looking Honda on the roads now that I love the look of, it is a bit boxy but looks good http://upload.moldova.org/auto/Honda...rossroad_1.jpg but I shouldn’t be promoting the competition on x5 world, last night I washed and waxed the x5 and was happy with it…..

JBF · #**113** 05-03-2009, 01:12 PM

I went to another used car supermarket a few days ago. They had a couple of 3.0d X5's coming in stock soon but only had a 3.0i on display. I still had a good look around it and took a test drive to get a feel for the driving position etc. The interior was again very tatty despite only having covered 35k miles. I think this is a characteristic of all cars in these places as they are mostly ex company cars brought from auction. The steering wheel trim was peeling which I saw on both the previous X5's I looked at. I'll look to buy privately or from a small independent dealer (then I'll be covered for 6 months for any major failures under the sale of goods act).

Before taking a test drive I spent a while sitting in the car and getting a feel for it. Something I noticed about the driving position; the arm rest seems to be quite a long way back, even when slid to the forward position. If I tried to rest my elbow on it, the side of the sport seat really dug in under my arm. Not sure if this is due to me setting up the seat position in a strange way or whether other people under 6ft notice it too? In a 4x4 I don't want to be laying back in the seat, I want to have a more upright position so I can see what's going on around me.

On the test drive I was actually very impressed with the performance of the 3.0i engine, it was responsive and not underpowered as I had imagined it to be. I didn't notice the armrest position while driving but it was only a short urban route. With no lurching issue that does make the 3.0i tempting but after doing a little research they are no cheaper to buy and would cost me an extra £800+ in fuel cost despite the higher price of diesel.

The 3 hour round trip through central London did help me to come to terms with selling the Boxster. After hours of sitting in traffic and being buffeted around over bumps I had an aching left knee and my back needed a good stretch! On the topic of seats I don't think the X5 is sporty enough to benefit from sport seats, remembering that the sport seats in my old E46 coupe were exactly the same as the E53 sport seats I wouldn't mind finding one with the comfort seat option. Apparently BMW ran out of comfort seats for the E70 because so many of the E53 owners trading up to an E70 ordered that option. My back would certainly appreciate it if I could find a car with them.

Giving some last minute consideration to buying a soft-top rather than a 4x4 I test drove a 2005 Audi A4 Convertible yesterday. It was a nice car but having the roof down just wasn't the same without two seats and the roar of a tuned 6-cyl engine. The X5 it is.

Typically just as I'm seriously looking to buy it seems prices are either going up or supply is slowing down right now. There don't seem to be half as many available for under £18k as a couple of weeks ago. Guess I'll have to get used to not having a car for a while.

X5Sport · #**114** 05-04-2009, 03:09 PM

The analogue TV reception is average unless you are in a good signal area, and the Freeview Digital TV one can be much worse!! Not exactly a great TV antenna fitted!! I have an '05 3.0D Auto with almost all the toys and it does suffer from Digital TV reception issues, as does tother half's E46 Convertible so from that I would say that yes it's a common issue. Not really a problem in my view as I don't tend to use it that much.

The E46 has Sports Seats and the E53 has Comfort Seats - which I much prefer being 6'4" so I know what you mean.

Good luck with finding a good E53 in a private sale. There must be more than a few around now as all of the dealers around here are full of them so prices must be low.

Blue Eagle · #**115** 05-05-2009, 04:01 AM

Hi guys. My X5 is 04 E53 3.0D with 50K+ mileage, regularly serviced by the Dealer. Brought it recently to the Dealer to have the a/c checked (no cool air coming out of the vents). Was told aux fan and compressor needed to be replaced! Anyone had the same experience? What could have caused them to break down this early? Where can I get these at a reasonable price? Dealer (Makati, Philippines) quotes PHP42,486 (USD 885) for the aux fan, PHP 86,441 (USD 1,800) for the compressor. Thanks.

blueagle · #**116** 05-16-2009, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Eagle

Hi guys. My X5 is 04 E53 3.0D with 50K+ mileage, regularly serviced by the Dealer. Brought it recently to the Dealer to have the a/c checked (no cool air coming out of the vents). Was told aux fan and compressor needed to be replaced! Anyone had the same experience? What could have caused them to break down this early? Where can I get these at a reasonable price? Dealer (Makati, Philippines) quotes PHP42,486 (USD 885) for the aux fan, PHP 86,441 (USD 1,800) for the compressor. Thanks.

Blue_Eagle,

I drive an 02 E53 X5 3.0d and had the same problem. I went to my BMW dealer and they found out that I had to replace my FSR ( final stage resistor) and auxilliary fan assembly. Get a second opinion from another stealership before you make your final decisio. Shoot me a pm so we can exchange info...

blueagle · #**117** 05-16-2009, 11:36 PM

To all X5 diesel owners,

I drive an 02 E53 X5 3.0d model and I have encountered my first engine trouble after 7 years. My stealership has diagnosed some unusual noise in my diesel engine whether it be idle or I do some sudden acceleration.

The culprit is a part called a " vibration damper" that is somehow attached to the crankshaft. Mileage of my X5 is about 45k kms. I just want ask you guys if you have encountered such problem and at what mileage ? I almost fell of my seat when the stealership gave me the cost of the part to be replaced. A whopping USD530.00 + labor, tax..etc....

Feel free to share your comments..........