Official 3.0 Diesel Engine Issues & Comments Thread

[JBF]

As a prospective 3.0D owner I would love to see a diesel forum. It woul d be nice to have all of the diesel related posts in one place.

I'm looking at selling my Boxster S and picking up a 54/05/55 plate X5 3.0D. There are a couple of things I'm concerned about:

Blown turbo seals? Saw a video of this on youtube and it looked horrific, I hate to think what fixing it would cost, I'm guessing new turbo/PCV/exhaust as a minimum?

Clunky ZG auto transmission. See to have been a lot of people complaining about the auto gearbox clunking and shunting the car when pulling away after slowing down for a roundabout. Quite a few have had the transmission fail.

[omodos]

I got a 2004 3.0d , ok so have had the negative camber 'issue' and the camber taken out to reduce tyre wear on the rear, I think i have the sway bar link clunking noise, and also a mystery coolant loss issue,had the odd shunt you mention twice in 6000miles of driving , car has 35000miles on it, and got the mystery creaking noises in the back that nearly all x5 owners mention...ok the turbo has got me thinking too although touch wood it is fine, but if i really wanted reliability i would have gone for a toyota rav or something?it's your call though

[stef]

I drive a 3.0dA e53 for 4 years. It has actually 165 000 km and had two issues :

- a steering box changed for a new one at 90 000 km
- a transfer case changed for a new one at 120 000 km

Theses two issues where took under waranty by my BMW Dealer !

The engine run great without any oil consuption, all the electric/electronic equipment works fine (NAV, TV, HiFi, Webasto, Xenon, etc...) and I respect strictly the BMW maintenance plan in my BMW Dealer's workshop.

I asked for a Automatic gearbox Oil change at 120 000 km wich is not in the BMW maintenance plan and will ask for a preventive water pump + accessories belt change during the next oil service.

Before the X5 I had a 530d Sedan that my dealer took in exchange at 210 000 km.

3.0d Engine is really solid with a low diesel consumption, perfectly adapted to France where 80% of the gas price are constituted by taxes...

;o) Stf.

[omodos]

Thanks for the update, being diesel is good out here in cyprus too, but by god do we pay high road tax, the larger the engine the greater the tax 615 euros a year for a 3.0l car....i am hoping they put the tax on fuel instead rather than engine size....

[blueagle]

I drive an 02 E3 X5 3.0d euro . Diesel price in the Philippines is cheaper than gas. I use my X5 as my daily driver. No major breakdowns except for replacement of FSR and auxilliary fan assembly....

[omodos]

Thanks for the reply....the more info we get on diesels the better.....

[JBF]

Water pump issue sounds serious considering I'll probably be buying something in the 40k-60k miles range. AFAIK a water pump failing can do some serious damage to the entire engine through overheating?

It's probably the case that most X5 3.0Ds are solid and will plough on through to 200k before they fall apart. I guess it's the nature of Internet forums that you only really hear about the problems, horror stories etc. I think I'll put the Porsche up for sale and see if I can get a reasonable price for it (resale prices have plummeted in the last 8 months). If I sell that then I'll have to decide on something or be stuck without a car

What are peoples opinions on the best way to buy an X5? Usually I'd look at private sales and auctions for the best value, however I'm a bit worried about buying without a Warranty! BMW Approved are way overpriced which would only leave independent used car sellers offering a warranty. Generally I would want to steer clear of used car dealers as you know they are only buying cars privately or from auctions and then selling on at a mark up. I went down to BigMotoringWorld a couple of months ago as they always have a good stock of X5s. They were unloading some cars they had brought from auction at the time -- one which they were putting out on display made the most awful squealing/grinding noise as it was being reversed. They didn't take any notice of it and I'm sure they would have sold it to someone like that!

Has anyone brought an aftermarket warranty for a car they've brought privately or from auction? Are they worth the paper they're printed on?

[omodos]

Water pump is serious yes, but alot of the posts on here I read mention they swap it out as routine, haven't searched the forum for symptoms of a faulty water pump so not sure if they just 'go' no warning, or if they make any sounds, but yeah you are right it may lead to overheating, I got 35k on mine, and today the temp out here is 27.5 c, summers hit 40C! so I am concerned too, but like I said don't really wanna get rid of the car on the basis of a what if this happens and what if that happens?

sorry I can't help ya on warranties etc, I bought private, and the only thing I did miss was the low coolant level in the expansion tank, they guy had his own garage that services his road laying trucks etc and hr agreed to let me get in under a pit and check anything out i wanted...thing is the guy was honest was clueless about cars and said if anything does need changin you the computer tells you! brake pad sensors played up at the time he had them sorted....ok c ya

[stef]

First bad news for you, driving a X5 after a BoxsterS will be as cool as driving a smoothing-iron !

Second bad news, only the Range Sport and the X5 have a pleasant interior comparable to the Porsche.

The toughest might be the Toyota, but the driving experience will really be an "experience" for you !

The BMWdealer's bills are much cheaper than the Porche's one, don't worry...

;o) Stf.

[JBF]

Yeah tho the Boxster isn't as great as you'd think. Sure it's lovely on a sunny afternoon in the countryside but it's hell to drive in the city with huge pot holes, traffic jams etc. I remember when I first had the Boxster I couldn't believe how much power/acceleration it had on tap, you soon get used to it though and then it just becomes another car. Better to have one as a second car but I can't afford to run two at the moment and don't want an old banger of a daily drive.

Porsche haven't been too bad in terms of servicing costs, it's the other things they try to sting you with. I had a Major service (40k) at Xmas which cost me £500, not bad.

After the service they recommended new tyres all round (because one on the rear was a different brand and unevenly worn) at £1400 for the set, new discs and pads on the front at £700, brake fluid flush at £250 and a new climate control unit at £450 because there is a little bit of coffee damage to the display.

I had the rear tyres replaced elsewhere for £250 (and I recouped £100 by selling the tyre which was still only half worn on eBay). I brought the new discs/pads/sensors etc for the front brakes, plus new brake fluid for £300 and did all of that myself in an afternoon (means £650 labour if I had let Porsche do this!). They would have tried to make £2800 out of me when I put everything straight for £450!

Point being I guess that I won't get the Stealers to replace or fix something I am perfectly capable of doing myself because you know they'll milk it for all they can. It's the catastrophic failures which happen without any warning that scare me!