My BMW X5 just hit 250,000 miles today!

[X5Dawg]

Congrats!! Good to see another 200K+ X5.

I was in the same boat with the repairs at around 150K - spent $12-15K over a two-year period. Since then I think I have only replaced an alternator. Seems like the less I take it to the BMW repair shops (dealer and indies), the less things break or need replacing.

[diyanich]

Originally Posted by X5Dawg

Seems like the less I take it to the BMW repair shops (dealer and indies), the less things break or need replacing.

That makes a lot of sense since parts wear off slower by themselves than with somebody "supervising".A friend of mine,an engineer,always said,don't fix unbroken stuff,obviously not referring to maintenance items.My dad prefers not to disturb the crap by poking a wrench or BIG screwdriver under the hood.As I grow older I start to adopt their point of view and try to avoid disturbing rather yet working X.

[tomgtv]

Originally Posted by diyanich

That makes a lot of sense since parts wear off slower by themselves than with somebody "supervising".A friend of mine,an engineer,always said,don't fix unbroken stuff,obviously not referring to maintenance items.My dad prefers not to disturb the crap by poking a wrench or BIG screwdriver under the hood.As I grow older I start to adopt their point of view and try to avoid disturbing rather yet working X.

Case in point - I was told my Power Steering reservoir was leaking and needed to be replaced. I investigated and found on a forum that the hose coming off the bottom had a one time only clamp from factory that leaks after a while. It is super easy to take the PS pump off the bracket and just look under it. I did and put a regular screw type clamp on it. Several years later, just a couple weeks ago, I was getting PS fluid in the driveway. I looked at it after taking off the rubber air dam (easy) and there were those same clamps right on the steering assembly. Just added another screw clamp and voila.......no more leaking.

I'll give you another big tip - AIR MASS SENSOR - This has to be one of the biggest ripoffs going in auto repair land. It consists of two platinum wires suspended in the air flow reporting back to computer. They get dirty, just a speck of dirt shorts them out. They are about $400 plus 1 hr labor from BMW. I did it the first time..........you can put one in with no tools! Now for the rest of the story.........my car started idling very rough on a jetski trip. Oh no, another $500 coming.....sitting at breakfast with some fellow club members I was advised all you need to do is buy Air Mass Sensor cleaner spray from any auto parts store for about $3. I did so, sprayed the sensor and idle completely fixed!! I need to do this procedure about once every year or so...........So when that code gets thrown.......or you see rough idle........run, crawl, walk, fly to your nearest parts store and get some CRC (brand)!

[dkl]

Care to share your permanent window regulator fix?

[diyanich]

Originally Posted by dkl

Care to share your permanent window regulator fix?

Yeah,I am wondering if it's the same I saw on youtube involving the copper wire

[GABRIEL]

Originally Posted by tomgtv

I wonder if anyone has driven an X5 longer??
It burns very little oil. I use 15/50 Mobil 1 and change every 15,000 miles.
23.5/gal mpg on road using regular gas.........never put premium in it!

Repairs............now that's a story! But the motor and transmission are
running strong! Never touched the transmission.

Hope to see 500K?? This has turned out to be a science experiment for
me......never ever ran a car this long. Previous record for me was 107,000
miles in a BMW 3.0 sedan.

Think BMW would use this in an ad campaign?? I'll take a new one as payment!

have you ever change the water pump

[tomgtv]

Originally Posted by dkl

Care to share your permanent window regulator fix?

The window regulator is about $200, only from BMW. There are install guys who will come to you for about $250/$300

I found that there are some square clips that connect to the glass itself and they are what breaks. I through bolted it with stainless steel bolt with nyloc nut. I think it was 10mm fairly short. I had it from my boat stuff. Once I did that it never broke again. This was Drivers door and would have been the third one just for that door. First one went at 30,000 miles and was warranty.

All of my door auto lock actuators have died.........really a pain to have to open door locks manually. They are $240 each just for part. A local flea market shop says they can use generic for $80/door total.

[tomgtv]

Originally Posted by GABRIEL

have you ever change the water pump

I did the first water pump about 100,000 miles as a preventive maintenance. Good we did it as it was starting to go once we had it out of car.

Second one done about 190,000 along with upper radiator hose and coolant reservoir that had sprung a leak. You can see that the housing and seals take a beating. If they go on the road you're in for lots of headache.

I just did my lower radiator hose as the temp sensor had started to leak. When I pulled hose I found it was about to pop. At 250K miles it didn't owe me anything!

[bgsquad]

Having a 2001 3.0L just like you and like X5Dawg, makes me feel good

[ewebby]

Hi
So can you share what the permanent fix for the window regulators?