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

[SamW]

Was heading home and "Check coolant level" warning showed up for the first time in the current car. The engine temperature stayed at a constant level of around 95 C (200 F) and it was -20 C (-4 F) outside so I didn't bother to stop and see what's going on. Ended up adding maybe 0.3 liters of coolant to top up but it's been a while since the last I checked the coolant level so I'm not sure over what period of time it has been decreasing. At least I couldn't find any visible leak spots but I have to keep an eye for this.

Also the door handle carrier of the rear driver side door broke just recently. It had acted weirdly for some time now and now it was freezing and something just snapped when I tried to open the door. New DHC already on the way. Did the fix with metal cable ties as per @andrewwynn for the driver's door last year and will be doing the same for this one too so hopefully this will be the last time for this door.

[TriX5]

Last year around thanksgiving my passenger window stopped going up without some help. On Christmas eve my wife got home from a short two mile hop with the window refusing cooperate. I got some brackets for this repair off Ebay quite a long time ago and on Christmas morning I was up early and decided to have a quick go at it.

The bracket is probably not a long term fix but until I have time to take the door apart and install the new regulator that sits in my garage, it should hold. The driver's door has had this bracket in for two years now I believe. Still have to order the driver's side regulator. Probably living on borrowed time there....

The bracket hooks on to the regulator cable. It has a small tab that is meant to keep the cable in place but that makes it difficult to install and doesn't look very strong either. I just remove the tab and install a couple of zip ties. See pictures below.

[andrewwynn]

Originally Posted by X5chemist

My coolant system is set up for hot summers. Trying to warm up at idle does not work. The X5 needs to be moving. It was at half way between blue and mid gauge after 15 minutes. Once I was moving, within 1 mile, it was up to temp. I'll set the seat warmer to mid range this afternoon. I'll see if it turns off. The low range does not turn it off.

Interesting feedback on level of seat heat. It only has on/off but changes the duty cycle to get to a set temp but it should stay on and maintain the temp set.

It likely monitors current as mentioned to detect a short or open and will disable itself if out of spec.

Test passenger seat as a control. Turn both on high and see if psg stays on.

Originally Posted by X5chemist

Even with the 235, the X5 had no trouble with up 6" of snow drifts.

235s have WAY more traction in snow because they push through do to higher psi. When wife had 235 W Winter Sport same time i had 255s, it was crazy to compare. I already had tremendous grip, her's put me to shame.

On wet slush i could full throttle launch at over 3/8 G and brake at over 3/4 G. Under normal brake/acceleration i couldn't tell there was slush on the ground that wasn't plowed yet.

Funny moniker ID-10T reminds me of a famous F14 pilot "gripe".

A gripe sheet was a report of any issues with the aircraft for maintenance to address.

Occasionally the only gripe the pilot might have is: "replace the R10 unit"

He was referring to the back seater aka the Radio Intercept Officer.


–awr–

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[TriX5]

Two weeks ago installed new battery; 90Ah AGM. The old one was an 80Ah lead acid and was about six years old. It went into decline a few months ago and was terminal when I got back from a three week trip overseas and temps went below freezing.

Last weekend put in a fresh oil filter and a batch of Mobil1. Drained the transmission to check condition after the clutch cage replacement about 7k miles ago. Did not see anything untoward in the drain tray! :-) Then refilled with Ravenol 5/4HP. Sucked the power steering fluid out and refilled with generic Valvoline ATF. Also removed the brake fluid which was slightly cloudy and refilled it with Pentosin DOT4 brake fluid, then flushed the brake lines. A new rear badge and a puddle light completed the fixes.

Figured I'd drive it to the ski area last Sunday to give it a shakedown before the annual trip to Canada at the end of the month. When I got to Pennsylvania after driving just shy of 200 miles I got an SES light. Checked yesterday on return, INPA showed a fault relating to injector dwell being too high. Adaptation value additive showed about 3 and 5, not terrible but still. [The engine had been a bit lumpy at idle when cold for a while already and getting worse.] I took my clues from here <https://www.meeknet.co.uk/E38/Diagnostics.htm> and this: <https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/x5-e53-forum/109484-solved-calling-all-m62-gurus-3.html>, thanks Overboost!

Time to pull out my home made smoke generator! (Something like this: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tixozqgSwN0&t=271s> but I used a black rubber cap to close the top) Of course when I built it I didn't worry about getting hoses for it..... Ugh! Why is it that one never seems to have the exact bit of hose needed? Anyway....after enough searching in my box with hose scraps I found something workable.

Pulled the air filter housing out of the engine bay and put a small plastic bag over the MAF end using a zip tie. (Promptly dropped one of the clips into Narnia!) First tried injecting smoke through the larger connection on the inlet elbow but wasn't sure if the smoke was getting past the throttle plate. Next decided to connect to the TLDM vent pipe connection just behind the throttle body. BINGO! The seal between the throttle body plate and the intake manifold leaks like a sieve! No wonder the idle is lumpy. I left things cooking a bit longer but found no other leaks.

New seal inbound coming Wednesday, going to be spending a bit more quality time under the hood. I should probably install the new hood shocks as well, car has been trying to do a Marie Antoinette on me.....




Below my version of Mr Fusion :-)

[andrewwynn]

Prettiest DIY smoker I've seen! Nice job and so nice your found a major fault right away.


–awr–

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[Factory6speed]

Originally Posted by Salty B.

Ugh. Did it get sucked into the crank seal?

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It doesn't really look like that happened. I got the crank pulley off and don't really see any disturbance to the seal. I'm not sure what I'm seeing in the oil filter. But either way there was a lot of copper, it needs a rod bearing. I'm looking forward to pulling the oil pan to really see.

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

I'm not aware of m54 having an issue with swallow serpentine through FMS but I've experienced it happen with the N55.

If you can examine the rod bearings with the engine in place, and especially if you never heard knock, there's a good chance you didn't cause crank damage.

I just did the initial autopsy on wife's n55 that spun 2-3 rod bearings and it looks like the crank survived. Likely needs to be polished and 50% honed just a bit but that can use thicker bearing shells and be restored.

One bearing was worn down to polished copper, but the crazy one: the bearing shells turned enough to overlap and stuck to the crank and spun inside the big end until about 1.3mm wore off the outside of the bearing shells!

The rubber bits kill the engine when they get into the oil galleys and stop the flow. Odds seem good you can clean and change rod bearings.

Where are you located?


–awr–

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I'm near Pittsburgh. I fixed it in the profile thing

Yeah, I debated hard on just doing the rod bearings in situ, but decided not to. This engine has 140,000 miles on it and really is a bit of a mess from the prior owner. If I did that, knowing my luck, next year I'd have to do the head gasket or something. I haven't driven the car in almost 6 months so I figured let's just pull it out and do this now.

It came out pretty easy. Getting the connectors out of that DME cage was not fun. And the subframe again stuck on the two bushings on the front bolts, and ruined what otherwise would have been a nice graceful pull. I didn't think they would stick as I did the oil pan less than 2 years ago, but they did, I guess i forgot to grease them. The usual coolant everywhere.

Tonight I will tear this apart and try to get it on the stand and maybe down to the crankshaft. I would love to film it all like that guy does, but that's a ton of effort and I don't have a good microphone, sorry. If the bores are looking good and round I hope to avoid the machine shop possibly.

[TriX5]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

Prettiest DIY smoker I've seen! Nice job and so nice you found a major fault right away.

Thanks Andrew. Right away might be optimistic.... I procrastinated a couple of months on figuring out the lumpy idle. The SES light finally made me check the error codes and then I rummaged about on the internet for a few hours trying to understand the error messages as well as the role of the CCV and all the vacuum lines. Thought for some time about where to connect the smoke generator and finding the hoses for the smoker. The cold temps in my garage kept me from pressing on under the hood right away.

After finding the issue I was too excited and forgot to connect the TLDM vent hose back to the manifold.........resulting in an idle that really was pathetic. Fortunately, it only required taking the beauty cover off to stick the hose back on. Took me the better part of an afternoon to get this squared away.