What did you do to / for your E53 today??

[X5only]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

That looks very very handy. Good review


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I bought it. It's high quality and really small. It has many uses only left to your imagination. A little bit pricy ($40) but worth every penny.

[andrewwynn]

I looked on Amazon l couldn't find so I think harbor freight is in my near future

[Themoog]

Today I swapped the centre arm rest for a second hand item as mine broke. Also, I whipped out the driver seat, removed the console side panel to reveal the parking brake teeth that were worn out. Then I got a small file and created a fresh set of teeth so the ratchet works.
The carpet also go a good clean while the seat was out.
Sorted.

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by Themoog

... to reveal the parking brake teeth that were worn out. ...

Hint: Push the release button on the parking brake handle when raising it (applying the brake) - stops the ratchet wearing out.

[Henn28]

After drinking half the Gulf of Mexico on a day trip to the beach last week one of my pups subsequently barfed most of it back up in the X5 on the drive home. This wasn't anywhere near the first time for this either so after wasting too much time trying to clean it up with rags, I broke down and ordered a portable Bissell carpet cleaner.


I spend this morning with the X5 and the new machine cleaning 21 years worth of crap out of the carpets. Judging by the final product, and the crap that was in the collection container when finished, I can say it worked better than I had hoped (given its reasonably small size). A bit more suction would be nice as I judged about 25% of the detergent/water I sprayed into the carpet, stayed in the carpet. A crevice tool with a brush would be nice too, but beyond those quibbles I'm happy with it. Bonus: the rear-seat middle seatbelt decided to start working again, after being locked for the last 10 years.



I'm on the cusp of finally finishing a few upgrades that have been in limbo for quite some time.
-The front seats I've got out for new foam and upholstery may finally be close to completion, after an endless, and ultimately fruitless wait for an OE leather match. The leather company my upholstery shop uses couldn't source the OE dye so I picked another brown, that frankly looks like the same shade and they can provide. I'll get the rear seats cleaned and color dyed if the new front leather is significantly off. The rear seat leather is fine, and ultimately I'll have the center sections of the rear seats redone with the uberkaro fabric as well.
- I'm also ready to buy the new amp, which will allow me to finally finish my sound system upgrade. The Kicker speakers have been installed in the OE enclosures I picked up on Ebay for cheap and I just need to break out the soldering iron and bridge the OE tabs on the enclosures to the input tabs on the speakers. I'm planning on using the OE speaker wires, connected to the new amp, and just plug the OE plug into the speaker enclosure.


I ran RCA cable in the roof when the liner was out last year and have a 10" Kicker powered sub in the right cubby working great, connected directly to the Kenwood head unit via RCAs. The new system will have 6.5" two way Kickers for the rear doors (mids on upper doors will be inoperative) and 6.5" Kicker components for the fronts. The tweeters will go in the side view mirror positions (I hope), which will make for much easier wiring and placement of the crossovers inside the door. Assuming the tweeters fit in the sideview mirror positions without much drama, then I'll disable the dashboard speakers.

[sandbagger]

Pulled the headliner out to rebuild the sunroof( NON PANO) due to broken plastic parts.
with the cassette out was able to replace all the broken parts, clean everything up and lube it.
Only problem is I cannot for the life of me get the sunshade to actually close like it should. I have a feeling that the end of a cable that has plastic on it is broken? Anyone have a good link to the E53 rood that might show it as I cant seem to find one and most lead to the pano and that does me no good.

Also finally drilled out the 3 broken bolts that hold the front plastic splash shield in the front from when I did the oil pan gasket(3yrs ago). Gave up and just ground the weld nut off, drilled and installed RIVNUTS.

[Salty B.]

Originally Posted by X5only

I bought it. It's high quality and really small. It has many uses only left to your imagination. A little bit pricy ($40) but worth every penny.

This little bitty Wera ratchet has saved my butt numerous times, both on cars and the machinery I work on.

https://www.amazon.com/Wera-05073645...UY/ref=sr_1_10

I've bought more bits for it, any ¼" hex base bits will work. The flip case is small and goes in this little canvas bag I throw in my carry-on for traveling.

[Clavurion]

Originally Posted by Salty B.

This little bitty Wera ratchet has saved my butt numerous times, both on cars and the machinery I work on.

I've bought more bits for it, any ¼" hex base bits will work.

There are several other similar mini ratchets for bits. They are very handy in tight spaces.

[andrewwynn]

GEARWRENCH 35 Pc. Microdriver Set - 85035 https://a.co/d/2jTHdgL

My go-to mini ratchet set

[Bdc101]

Originally Posted by sandbagger

Pulled the headliner out to rebuild the sunroof( NON PANO) due to broken plastic parts.
with the cassette out was able to replace all the broken parts, clean everything up and lube it.
Only problem is I cannot for the life of me get the sunshade to actually close like it should. I have a feeling that the end of a cable that has plastic on it is broken? Anyone have a good link to the E53 rood that might show it as I cant seem to find one and most lead to the pano and that does me no good.

Also finally drilled out the 3 broken bolts that hold the front plastic splash shield in the front from when I did the oil pan gasket(3yrs ago). Gave up and just ground the weld nut off, drilled and installed RIVNUTS.

Did you use the BMW rebuild kit?