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

[X5chemist]

Took advantage of a warm afternoon. The body line trim is now complete. 18 years of dirt wiped right off. The sequential light is so fast, I can't see it. The black lens looks great. The OEM clear cover was well overdue to be replaced. I can't wait to see them at night.

[andrewwynn]

That’s a nice upgrade. Those side markers get really aged.

my upgraded side markers came with my new model. I think your version was likely less expensive.

[Salty B.]

Originally Posted by Henn28

Today is my sunday and I didn’t feel like working on anything actually important, so I cleaned and lubed my window seals and tracks. The rag and credit card trick is fantastic, and the dry silicone spray seems to help a lot.

What is this fantastic trick?

[andrewwynn]

I think using a cc to get a spray soaked rag under the seal against the glass.


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[Factory6speed]

I first saw the credit card trick on m539 restorations here, he was using it to get the area between the rear window glass and the pillar. I guess you guys are sleeping on this channel.

This is a good watch it's pretty much how to paint correct. Especially if you have a black car.

https://youtu.be/ITgiFp_l01A?si=p58ifJi_z1Wokhdr

The x5's been really good. There's still a fuel trim code that comes and goes. I'm finally done with the m52 stuff. It's running fantastic but there's still a piston slap, as I suspected the entire time. Great. This weekend I'll be bringing the x in the garage for a little checkup. I got a smoke tester kit. Hopefully the intake manifold is not off tomorrow afternoon.

[Henn28]

I bought a smoke tester too recently. Great tool. Just moved it into the storage space yesterday after smoke checking the x5 vacuum plumbing a couple weeks ago. DME is showing that it’s correcting for a bit of a lean condition, and my brake pedal is firm initially, then sinks rapidly.

Smoke tester showing everything is tight, so now im thinking that maybe the 20+ year old injectors need to be changed. I saved some money when I put the motor in and bought the rail and injectors off of eBay. Had them cleaned and flow tested within spec though.

On the other hand, it could just be the N62 throttle body I’m using. It’s got a bigger bore than our OE. Sounds good, but not sure it adds power.

[X5only]

Replaced rear window regulator, the first time in the life of my 2005 4.4 to replace any window regulator. Followed this great DIY procedure https://youtu.be/9hWGIU6Z3rM?t=10

[workingonit]

I removed my rear wiper, and used a vacuum cap to cover the threaded post.

I've got a group of semi-feral cats that I keep around our semi-rural house, that have eliminated the snake and rodent population we formerly had. We've spayed and neutered them, so the cat population is now steady.

One drawback is that there are one or two that like to get atop my X5, and lay on the home-made roof rack up there, then slide down the rear window glass when vacating the roof. And the wiper arm gets relocated in the process.

Since I haven't used the wiper but once or twice a year, in the three years I've owned the X, and though I've used three different wiper assemblies (OEM E53, replacement E53, and replacement E70), none ever cleaned the glass that well, I figure that the long-handled squeegee I have in the trunk will do the job better anyway, so I removed the wiper at last.

After removing the wiper arm and lock nut (needed if I ever decide to reinstall), I used contact cement to glue a large vacuum cap over the threaded post, and called it good. I was thinking about removing the motor and using a wiper-delete kit to fill the hole in the glass, but for me, I'll always choose the quickest, cheapest solution, as long as it works.

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[powers1]

Originally Posted by X5chemist

Took advantage of a warm afternoon. The body line trim is now complete. 18 years of dirt wiped right off. The sequential light is so fast, I can't see it. The black lens looks great. The OEM clear cover was well overdue to be replaced. I can't wait to see them at night.

Nice side indicators! What model are they from?

[X5chemist]

Originally Posted by powers1

Nice side indicators! What model are they from?

powers1,
The LED lights fit any of these models: BMW E90 E91 E92 E93 E46 E53 E60 E61 X3 E83 X1 E84 E81 E82 E87 E88. Search for black LED turn signal lights to fit any model listed.

After reading the description on them, I didn't notice that they are not sequential. The lights all turn off and on at once. I may upgrade later to sequential ones. The LEDs are bright at night. The signal is very bright.