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

[Themoog]

The new heater blower fan arrived in the post today. Not looking forward to removing the dash but I have no heat or cooling so it’s got to be done..

[Henn28]

Originally Posted by Themoog

The new heater blower fan arrived in the post today. Not looking forward to removing the dash but I have no heat or cooling so it’s got to be done..

Pics and lessons learned please, if able. My fan is squealing when it’s cold out, and during left hand turns. Strangely.

I had a couple days off so I scheduled the lift at the club I belong to and knocked out the left front outer cv boot, and an oil change. I broke down and bought the tool to pull the axle back thru the hob…some of the best money I have spent on the x5. I hate specialty tools, but this one saves a lot of time and PTSD.

The axles are only 2 years old and the outer boots are failing, but it was a pretty easy job, by X5 standards. I knocked the axle out of the hub assembly with a drift, and the reassembly tool really helped speed that part up. The CV joint was fine so I didn’t have to disassemble it. Just knocked it off the shaft, cleaned out the grease, repacked it and put it back together. The axle popped right back into the diff with just a bit of pressure….happy day. I think I can reassemble and torque the front end suspension and brakes in my sleep now. The right side outer boot is cracking at the small clamp too now, so I’ll tape that up and see how long I can push it.

My X5 takes about 9.5 quarts with the oil cooler. I drain the cooler too just to make sure I get as much old oil out as possible. This oil had about 5k on it, which is about 1k more than I like to go, but it looked fine and the filter hadn’t trapped anything shiny or chunky. I sent a sample off to Blackstone for analyzing. Mostly because I think it’s cool to read the report. The motor has about 14k on it, and I did a sample last at around 4k. Just after my overheat adventures.

[Factory6speed]

Originally Posted by Henn28

Pics and lessons learned please, if able. My fan is squealing when it’s cold out, and during left hand turns. Strangely.

I had a couple days off so I scheduled the lift at the club I belong to and knocked out the left front outer cv boot, and an oil change. I broke down and bought the tool to pull the axle back thru the hob…some of the best money I have spent on the x5. I hate specialty tools, but this one saves a lot of time and PTSD.

The axles are only 2 years old and the outer boots are failing, but it was a pretty easy job, by X5 standards. I knocked the axle out of the hub assembly with a drift, and the reassembly tool really helped speed that part up. The CV joint was fine so I didn’t have to disassemble it. Just knocked it off the shaft, cleaned out the grease, repacked it and put it back together. The axle popped right back into the diff with just a bit of pressure….happy day. I think I can reassemble and torque the front end suspension and brakes in my sleep now. The right side outer boot is cracking at the small clamp too now, so I’ll tape that up and see how long I can push it.

My X5 takes about 9.5 quarts with the oil cooler. I drain the cooler too just to make sure I get as much old oil out as possible. This oil had about 5k on it, which is about 1k more than I like to go, but it looked fine and the filter hadn’t trapped anything shiny or chunky. I sent a sample off to Blackstone for analyzing. Mostly because I think it’s cool to read the report. The motor has about 14k on it, and I did a sample last at around 4k. Just after my overheat adventures.

Can you link me to this tool? The last time, I hammered a block of wood on the ring of the hub. It worked but took forever. It was very loud and destroyed two of my good wood blocks.

The air hammer with tapered punch is amazing to get them out of the hub. Would recommend.

Myself .. I have everything apart. The front subframe is ready to come down. I'm just not sure about this strange front bar under the front bumper with these two pipes sticking out into the subframe. It looks like it's going to be a problem.

I'm currently multitasking between hammering the lower ball joints out of the steering knuckles and degreasing the engine with the accessories and oil filter housing off. That engine degreaser stuff works really well. I've been sleeping on that just using brake clean the entire time. The stuff is awesome.

It's been a tennis match between the smell of the degreaser and the noise of the hammering,. These ball joints are an absolute nightmare. Fortunately, all the bolts came out fairly easily they're just super seized in the knuckle. Worst part of the car to work on. I have the ears all pried out and folded down but I can't get the middle thing to even move yet, day 2.

[Henn28]

Originally Posted by Factory6speed

Can you link me to this tool? The last time, I hammered a block of wood on the ring of the hub. It worked but took forever. It was very loud and destroyed two of my good wood blocks.

The air hammer with tapered punch is amazing to get them out of the hub. Would recommend.

Myself .. I have everything apart. The front subframe is ready to come down. I'm just not sure about this strange front bar under the front bumper with these two pipes sticking out into the subframe. It looks like it's going to be a problem.

I'm currently multitasking between hammering the lower ball joints out of the steering knuckles and degreasing the engine with the accessories and oil filter housing off. That engine degreaser stuff works really well. I've been sleeping on that just using brake clean the entire time. The stuff is awesome.

It's been a tennis match between the smell of the degreaser and the noise of the hammering,. These ball joints are an absolute nightmare. Fortunately, all the bolts came out fairly easily they're just super seized in the knuckle. Worst part of the car to work on. I have the ears all pried out and folded down but I can't get the middle thing to even move yet, day 2.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082LW28DK...roduct_details

I think a few different makes came up in Amazon, but this one worked great for me and didn’t break the bank. I also bought a universal 3 leg puller that could spread to fit over thr e53 hub and press the axle out, and can’t find it now. Hence the drift and hammer method. I would like to find that tool tho as it would have saved 15 min or so of time and the other side boot isn’t in great shape.

Is the thing you are referring to this? 51717007787, referred to as Underride Protection in RealOEM? If so I think it’s only job is to be the think the plastic splash guard screws into at the front of the car. I’m down to using zip ties to hold my splash guard on as the threads on the bar have mostly rusted out.

Is it attached to the subframe? I thought it was bolted to the frame rails and stayed with the car when I dropped the subframe a bit to get the diff in.

Those ball joints can suck. I ended up taking both front hubs to a local suspension shop and having them pressed out. Dropped them off, got lunch and they were done before I finished chow. Might be worth a look. I’m sure there is a BMW tool for the job.

[X5chemist]

Installed an eBay front left door seal. Broke some skin under a fingernail. It hurts. I'm surprised how well the seal fit. It's identical to the OEM seal. High quality. It was a single length unlike OEM seals. I hid the split under the door pinch seam cover. The dash and pinch seam are so tight, it took me an hour to install it.

Edit: I'll take side by side pics of both seals to post. Plus a link to the seller. I'll inspect the other three door seals. I'm sure the driver side was the worst.

[Henn28]

Originally Posted by X5chemist

Installed an eBay front left door seal. Broke some skin under a fingernail. It hurts. I'm surprised how well the seal fit. It's identical to the OEM seal. High quality. It was a single length unlike OEM seals. I hid the split under the door pinch seam cover. The dash and pinch seam are so tight, it took me an hour to install it.

Nice. That sounds promising. I’ve got several gears and splits in various places on my seals.

[Bdc101]

I did the front tension struts and ball joints last year... I feel your pain Factory6speed... one of the worst jobs I have had to do on my X. Mine were shot though and it made a huge improvement in ride.

[Salty B.]

Replaced the power steering reservoir... did not know there's a filter in that thing which after 23 years and almost 200,000mi was probably a little clogged. PS pump started making growly noises awhile back so we'll see if this helps.

[Factory6speed]

Got the front subframe out and pan off. A little carbon-y in there. A tiny bit of sludge in the bottom of the pan but fairly clean for 130k. Could be better. I'll probably try a can of that engine flush soon. I'll clean off what I can here. I rotated it around and the cylinder walls all look perfect.

Pretty large job, lots of cleaning ahead for reassembly. The gasket was changed previously it looks like. There was no RTV at all on the front and rear cover seams which is exactly where it was leaking from, like really bad. The flywheel is dry so it is not the rear main like I thought, just the pan everywhere.

I did elect to remove the front bumper and get that front pipe bar thing out of the way just to make dealing with the subframe easier. It's held on with 4 13mm nuts you can almost see and get to through the front grill, right above the brake ducts. I tried getting to them without removing the bumper but ultimately had to take it. I'm not sure how difficult it would be with that bar in. The guy said it's hard you have to twist the subframe into it.

To lower it, I used a floor jack on the front part (the piece you normally jack up), and a second floor jack in laterally under the passenger side, with a length of 4x4 wood block balanced on the pad and ratchet strapped down, to hold and lower the rear left right section. It worked well. Except then somehow the front two posts didn't lower at all when I released the jack. There's a little metal bushing in there that was of course rusted, and I can't believe it, but some rust was strong enough to hold all that up. Eventually I got a pry bar between those posts and the frame and it came down nicely. It was puzzling, like I missed some bolts. No, rust can hold 150lbs.

Friday I did get the passenger side ball joint out finally. The small pointy punch was the MVP. It allowed more swing with the hammer, more momentum. The driver's side one is in progress.

Also did / doing:
Oil filter housing gasket kit
Belts, tensioners, pulleys (minus crank pulley)
Water pump, thermostat
Fan clutch, fan, shroud
Radiator (replacing original 2004!)
Upper and lower rad hoses, coolant tank
Power steering lines and tank
Front axle seals
Front lower wishbones, tension struts, ball joints
Spark plugs. Found massive amount of oil on threads of #5 and a little on 4 and 6, ordered valve cover gasket.

Next Saturday morning I need to use it to haul some stuff. So I have 6 days to get this all done. Don't know if I'm going to make it.

Originally Posted by Henn28[[url

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082LW28DK...roduct_details[/url]

I think a few different makes came up in Amazon, but this one worked great for me and didn’t break the bank. I also bought a universal 3 leg puller that could spread to fit over thr e53 hub and press the axle out, and can’t find it now. Hence the drift and hammer method. I would like to find that tool tho as it would have saved 15 min or so of time and the other side boot isn’t in great shape.

Is the thing you are referring to this? 51717007787, referred to as Underride Protection in RealOEM? If so I think it’s only job is to be the think the plastic splash guard screws into at the front of the car. I’m down to using zip ties to hold my splash guard on as the threads on the bar have mostly rusted out.

Is it attached to the subframe? I thought it was bolted to the frame rails and stayed with the car when I dropped the subframe a bit to get the diff in.

Those ball joints can suck. I ended up taking both front hubs to a local suspension shop and having them pressed out. Dropped them off, got lunch and they were done before I finished chow. Might be worth a look. I’m sure there is a BMW tool for the job

Thanks for the link. I'm debating ordering it. I am totally sick of hammering so I probably will.

Yes that's the piece. It's not attached to the subframe, but pokes into it and looks like it would be in the way / possibly create a struggle out of it. Maybe not, but I didn't want to struggle with something heavy.

[Bdc101]

Well the good news is, I'm gonna be around for a while. The bad news is, now I have two problems: