looking to buy an x5, found a nice one, but lots of smoke after hard acceleration

[Rev Engineer]

I'm on the hunt for a 01-02 X5. I test drove what appeared to be a nice one at the local BMW dealer the other day. After running through the gears in sport mode and later coming to a stop, there was a ton of smoke coming out the tailpipes - the nice sweet smell of burnt synthetic motor oil. I cautiously made my way back to the dealer and the smoke appeared to have mostly gone away. The dealer I was working with wasn't too up on the X5 (he was from the MB side of the dealership), but thought it might be the oil separator issue. I thought this might be the case too, but after reading through this forum, I'm not seeing anyone report the same symptom - lots of smoke coming out the exhaust after driving the vehicle somewhat hard.

Everything else seems in order and I'm pretty interested in the x5. Since it's a bmw dealer, I can probably work out some up-front repairs before I make the purchase. Can anyone clue me in on what the problem is so I can more intelligently negotiate with the dealer? As an FYI, I do plan on having the x5 inspected by an independent shop, before I cut a deal. Funny thing is that the dealer said that a previous guy had gone through an independent PPI, but later had the financing fall through. A little fishy since I uncovered a fairly major problem after a basic 15 min test drive.

Any advice would be appreciated! I'm really looking forward to getting and X5! I'm generally pateint so I can walk away from this one if it's prudent. I plan on going back to the dealer to get the service history and talk more about the smoke problem, but it would be great to get a little advise from this group before I go back.

Here's a few more details on this x5: silver on black (the color combo I like the most), very clean inside and out, 123k miles, cold weather package (big bonus), tow-package (bigger bonus), no squeaks or rattles, from the driver's seat everything appears solid and in-order. They're asking $12,900.

Comments!?

[amacman]

oil separator will allow oil to be drawn through burst diaphragm , my 740i would smoke at various operating conditions . when i removed oil filler cap with engine running there was a lot of vaccum . my wife has X3 that blew crank vent and smoked a lot but did not have extreme vaccum at filler .

[sobi6111]

i woudln't buy X5 with so many miles. I bought mine with 65k and had many things to repairs even everythign was fine at day of purchase. Also transmission is a common fail or oil seperator. take it to mechanich who knows BMWs,not Chevys :-)

[amacman]

$ 5,000 at high miles if i was buying it , but i own one already and i won`t touch a bmw ever again .

[vegasX5]

That is an extremely high price for 123k. I have seen several 01-02 with around 60-70k going in the $12k range. I have 75k on mine and I would never consider buying one with over 100k just because of all the expensive issues you WILL encounter.

[lo_jack]

12.5 for a smoking 01-02 with 123k? Only if it's CPO'd, baby.
You want ALL the service records. Nothing without a paid invoice should be assumed to have been replaced. Don't assume they did anything with it when they bought it back. Unless you can substantiate it, here is what might blow up on you tomorrow:

water pump
t stat
radiator/hoses
separator (seems like it may have already)
valve cover gaskets
ICV
oil filter housing gasket
HP power steering line

Here's what probably needs attention on top of that
pan gasket
all the fluids minus engine oil
CVs - all eight better have non compromised boots
most of the suspension bushings/control arms. No squeaking..but what about clunking?

And finally, transmission - is it the original? it is an automatic from the early days...

If you don't know the condition of these things, buying it out of warranty is suicide unless you are a tech.

And please for the love of anything good and happy, have someone take the skid plate off the bottom of the car and see what is on the plate/on the pan. It will hold a few quarts of oil before it starts dripping to the ground.

[X5 Meister]

Open the door, exit the car, turn around, and run quickly in the opposite direction. Hey lo jack, btw, CPO ends at 100k so that's impossible.

[Rev Engineer]

Thanks for the responses and concerns. I started a thread a few days ago about buying a high-mile x5 because from reading this forum (and from the comments people just posted above) it sounds like the x5 is a different animal and maybe more problematic than other models. The thread I started subsided my concerns as other people with high-mile x5's chimed in. Let me mention, as I did in the high-mile thread, that I do consider myself a tech and with that I don't mind buying high-mile cars with the idea that maintenance will be required. As an example, my e39 with nearly 180k miles has needed: front shocks, belts, hoses, window regulator, PS hoses, wheel sensors, control arms, EWS module, etc... Looking back at that list, I can see how that stuff could have been vary painful for someone who doesn't work on cars. The list lo_jack rattled off doesn't sound too bad, but it would certainly suck if I needed to do all of that right off the bat. As I mentioned before, I would have the x5 checked-out by a good indepenant shop who are familar with x5's. In my area, Orr Auto fits that bill.

Vegas_x5 mentioned that $12k is a lot. That could be good news as I would love to spend less, but I've searched through cars.com, traderonline, carsoup, craigslist, and I'm not finding them much cheaper. I have access to manheim.com and it's reporting an average of $9.5k with 115k miles. That is the average cost for a dealer buying at auction - model year 2001. If I get lucky, I might be able to match that with a private party. I would also be more than happy to go out of state, but coordinating PPI and trusting it is much more difficult. Also, I have a dealer friend who could buy at-auction for me, but that would require buying one sight-unseen. I'd rather spend a could grand extra and be able to have a shop do a PPI.

If anyone knows of a good x5 in their area for around 10-12k, please let me know.

Getting back to the problem with the x5 I just test-drove, is the smoke from the oil seperator valve? It's clear that every x5 out there will need this part replaced at some point. My thought here was that that I one I just drove needs it right now and I could probbly get the the dealer to do it for free. Assuming everything else on the car is tip-top (let's not assume that every x5 over 100k miles is a time-bomb), I could be better off getting an x5 that has just had the repair versus another used x5 where I'll end up doing it myself later down the road. Now if the smoke is from something else, than by all-means, I'll run away from it.

[vegasX5]

Originally Posted by Rev Engineer

Vegas_x5 mentioned that $12k is a lot. That could be good news as I would love to spend less, but I've searched through cars.com, traderonline, carsoup, craigslist, and I'm not finding them much cheaper. I have access to manheim.com and it's reporting an average of $9.5k with 115k miles. That is the average cost for a dealer buying at auction - model year 2001. If I get lucky, I might be able to match that with a private party. I would also be more than happy to go out of state, but coordinating PPI and trusting it is much more difficult. Also, I have a dealer friend who could buy at-auction for me, but that would require buying one sight-unseen. I'd rather spend a could grand extra and be able to have a shop do a PPI.

If anyone knows of a good x5 in their area for around 10-12k, please let me know.

Here's the first one I found on CL - 02 84k super clean desert car for $12.9k 2002 BMW X5 3.0i Sport Utility

Here's at that's even at a BMW dealer in Scottsdale 01 with 114k for $9k
BMW North Scottsdale - Photo Viewer

Clean 02 with 85k $10.9k BMW X5 WAY UNDER BOOK

Those took less than 30 seconds to find. I found many more in the SW region for $9-$12k. They may be harder to find up where you live but I think it's worth it to look outside your area to find a nice clean X. Even if you are mechanically inclined, it's not fun to constantly be working on your ride to keep it reliable. Find something in the 60-80k miles region and save yourself a lot of work and busted knuckles (although in this mileage region you will still have a fair share of DIYs to do).

[Rev Engineer]

Originally Posted by vegasX5

Here's the first one I found on CL - 02 84k super clean desert car for $12.9k 2002 BMW X5 3.0i Sport Utility

Here's at that's even at a BMW dealer in Scottsdale 01 with 114k for $9k
BMW North Scottsdale - Photo Viewer

Clean 02 with 85k $10.9k BMW X5 WAY UNDER BOOK

Those took less than 30 seconds to find. I found many more in the SW region for $9-$12k. They may be harder to find up where you live but I think it's worth it to look outside your area to find a nice clean X. Even if you are mechanically inclined, it's not fun to constantly be working on your ride to keep it reliable. Find something in the 60-80k miles region and save yourself a lot of work and busted knuckles (although in this mileage region you will still have a fair share of DIYs to do).

Thanks for looking those up. I do appreciate the help. Unfortunately, they're all 3.0. Since I'll be doing some towing with it, I think I should stick to the 4.4l.

I took another look through crazedlist in the SW for a 4.4.

Phoenix - 2001 125k, $11.9k
El Paso - 2001 119k, $12k
Austin - 2001 93k, 13k

A little bit better than what I'm seeing in Minneapolis. I really do like the idea of getting a SW car or anything outside of the snow belt. My last purchase was a e36 m3/4 in Florida. It had some mechanical issues, but the exterior and interior condition were better than anything I could find in MN.

Interestingly, I talked to a guy selling a west cost based x5 that he brought to Minnesota last year. He had to put in about $3k of work (OSV and heated intake manifold) to take care of the cold weather issues. I would have been all over that one, but it was a 3.0. Bummer.