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

[Brandon002]

Mother nature is currently washing the salt off my X with a ton of ice cold rain. Thanks mother nature.

[gdlbmw]

Does $290 for auto transmission fluid, gasket and filter change sound about right? I have a 05 4.4i with 95k

[Brandon002]

Originally Posted by gdlbmw

Does $290 for auto transmission fluid, gasket and filter change sound about right? I have a 05 4.4i with 95k

That actually sounds very low.

I paid 420 bucks for my trans service at an indy. Make sure when they service it, they are flushing the torque converter as well.

[Brandon002]

Today I found out that my X5 can handle very deep water.

Driving home from eating dinner, hit a flooded street that came up without warning at about 45mph. The water engulfed the X5, I kept the pedal to the floor and barreled through.

After we were out I went back and looked. Water had to be at least 2-3' deep.

[e30cabrio]

Originally Posted by gdlbmw

Does $290 for auto transmission fluid, gasket and filter change sound about right? I have a 05 4.4i with 95k

I paid 90 for the filter kit and 140 for the Lifeguard 5, getting it from the cheapest places I could find. I'd say you got a great deal.

[gdlbmw]

thanks! my buddy is a BMW Master Tech at a stealership. I will ask about the torque converter as well.

[Junkycosmos]

Suspension 90K mile refresh
new air struts
control arms
sway bar end links
rear shocks
rear air bags
got stuck on the ball joints for front thrust arms (new arms and ball joints in the box here still)
reset ride height in GT1 after having moved sensors to new control arms; (wow 1/2 too high in front makes for a hard ride)

Ride is amazingly better now yet it still is a 5300lb vehicle on 19" snowtires on bumpy roads.

Found a local indy shop who quoted me $300 labor to swap the front trust arms and ball joints. Or is that pretty reasonable ?

[Brandon002]

Why did you get stuck on the thrust arms? Thats the easiest part of the whole suspension.

[Junkycosmos]

Thanks for asking ..

I got stuck trying to drop the ball joints out of the steering knuckle.

The T50 bolts came out of the ball joints reasonably well but the ball joints were solidly stuck in the knuckle. Tried a few techniques and failed.

Stuck part is #15 stuck in steering knuckles after removal of #16
RealOEM.com * BMW E53 X5 4.8is Frnt axle support,wishbone/tension strut

The control arms came right out with mild tapping of hammer (those were the easiest joints I've ever done #10)

I'm all ears if anyone has ideas?

thx!
J




>Why did you get stuck on the thrust arms? Thats the easiest part of the whole suspension

[Brandon002]

You need a pickle fork or a ball joint and tie rod separator. Either will pull the ball joint with ease.