And so it begins…

[Storm13]

My wife and I are now “proud” X5 owners. We’ve wanted one for quite some time, but haven’t found one at the right price. It’s not that we’re poor, just that we wanted to pay cash for one (can’t STAND car payments). I currently own a 93 740i and an 89 535i. The 535i is pretty much a gonner (197,000 miles, and my son hit a deer (or more accurately the deer hit my son in the driver’s door)). The 740i is my daily driver.

Anyway, I’m not new to BMW, so I mostly knew what to expect along the lines of maintenance and cost. I have a couple of local mechanics who (as long as it’s just mechanical) are more than willing to take on repairs, plus I’m pretty handy with a wrench myself.

On to the story…

We’ve looked on and off for a couple of years for an “affordable” X5 that wasn’t already a lost cause. A couple weeks ago, I stumbled across a listing at Joe Machens BMW (Columbia, MO) on their website. It was a 2001 3.0 with 145,000 miles and a “call for price” notation.

Called and got one of the sales staff who said it had just come in on trade and he’d call me back.

To make a long story a little less long, I ended up buying it “as is” (at a huge discount from the estimated retail asking price) from them rather then them fixing it for retail. They had a list of parts it needed to fix a driveline noise, and it has a small oil leak that they hadn’t identified yet.

I took them at their word without doing too much of a look around, and I ordered the parts that Machens said it needed (ordered from fcpgoton), a left front axle shaft, and the two rear “wishbones”. Took the car to my mechanic friend, and he installed the parts. Machens estimate for the work was about $1,800. My parts and my mechanic’s labor totaled $405.

Unfortunately, neither he nor I actually looked around at all possible problems before I ordered the parts and he started the work. I took Machens at their word that this was what was needed. After it was all put back together, it had the same noise that it had at first. After taking it for a drive a listening, I’m “sure” that it’s the transfer case chain being stretched, just like here. http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/x5-e53-forum/63004-transfer-case-removal-pictures-2.html

Certainly not something I’d want to do in my basement, so I’m looking a shelling out a pretty good penny for labor, and either rebuild the transfer case, or order a rebuild for $1,135 delivered.

Not quite as much of a bargain as I thought I was getting.

Plus, one time that I started the car, it acted like it was only running on 3 cylinders and the check engine message came on. I drove it for about 100 yards and it didn’t get any better. I shut it off, started it back up, and it ran perfect. No clue what that might have been.

So, it’s going to take 2-3 times the amount I budgeted to fix what I know is wrong, plus it’s possibly got some computer problem that’s going to creep up again.

On the plus side, the “small oil leak” is most likely a leaking power steering hose.
Does NOT give me much confidence at Machens’ service department to get both of the problems wrong.

Anyway, I’ve done quite a bit of browsing on this forum before registering, and I hope that everything with this X5 works out fine and I get to hang around here a while.

If anyone has any ideas about that “3-cylinder” thing, I’d appreciate any ideas.