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

[slatanik]

Originally Posted by 1BADM6

It's the little things right? Today I tried to figure out why my voice command and bluetooth don't work. Well, you have to have it installed in order for it to work don't ya? Another seller lied, what a surprise. I muddled with my vertical steering adjuster and found that operating the motor while the replacement part isn't fully seated was the wrong thing to do. $50 down the drain. I ordered a new but not before figuring out the right way to install it. It will not happen again. It's only $50 but it still hurts. Especially when you know you screwed up. The cable frayed because it wasn't seated correctly. I replaced my wipers and rear tail lights so the day was not lost.

I priced out the cost of a bluetooth module and voice activation module and yikes! I either need to find a wrecked truck or just buy an android head unit. The trouble is, my factory unit works great and no screen issues but somebody might want it. Time to look at new head units and speakers...again. Tomorrow I might pull the drivers door apart and see why the handle has trouble engaging.

A proper after market head unit is approx $400
I've done my homework already about it.
I ended up buying a $30 Bluetooth/fm plug in gadget which transforms the bluetooth signal to fm frequency that plays in my speakers.
Does the same job like the purpose made "bluetooth" hands free units.
My i pod is plugged in and i have cd quality sound coming from my speakers for cheap money.

Be careful,after tinkering with the door mechanism, don't forget to re-seal the "sound proofing/water proofing"spongy lining that is behind the inner panel on your door.
I just fixed those,rain water flooded my passenger foot well...

[andrewwynn]

I used wife's X5 to pull a guy out of a ditch who went off on a tangent of a curve on a frictionless road.



The road: fun scenic drive between tower road and Willow roads about a mile East of Edens in Chicagoland.



Close up


Bird's eye view of the path the car took



North up view of the path of the disabled car (red) and the path I took to help the family out (4 large adults and a baby in a car seat)

By large I mean 1100-1200# between the four of them.

The field was about 2.5 meters below the level of the road but the bigger problem other than 5-6" deep slushy snow (above freezing temps for two days) was that he tried to use momentum to drive back up onto the road where it was twice as steep as where he went in..

He dug some serious ruts into the snowbank down to grass.

I didn't have my car (with tow hooks tow chain tow ball etc) I had wife's car with almost nothing didn't even have her tow hook I have to track that down.

I did have a crappy jumper cable so I peeled the two sides apart, tied them into my front control arm and his rear axle and tugged him backwards until he was pointing back the way he came in.

Then I used a folded up sun screen to protect our bumpers and gave him a shove.

Before I pushed him I drove up and down the track to give him a packed snow trail.

It worked like a charm other than the make shift tow cable breaking a few times as the clamps popped off or the knot came undone.

I've got to get a tow strap for wife's car and find her tow hook.

The car performed amazingly on the slushy 6" deep snow in the rough of a golf course. The only wheel spin was when I was trying to gently tug on the car. (So as to not snap the cable)

Before I hooked on I drove back n forth in the arc I planned to pull him about 4 times to pack down the snow. That was very helpful I didn't spin the wheels after that.

A cop saw the action early on and stopped thinking with two cars down in the ditch it was an accident.

I explained the other guy didn't mean to be in the ditch but I drove down in purpose to pull the guy out. Another guy stopped to help he had a collapsible shovel which came in very handy he also had a tow rope but we didn't end up needing it.

The family got on their way, about an hour later than planned but $150-200 left in their pockets so they didn't end up spending their entire going out for Chicago supper budget on a tow truck.

I got to drive my wife's X5 down into a ditch on a golf course rough so that was better then a day at an amusement park to me!

[andrewwynn]

When I first stopped I walked down to the car (whoes headlights are pointing up into the sky) that is almost perpendicular to the road, and after confirming no injuries, said "I'm assuming you didn't drive down here on purpose".

I said "I'll be right back if I can find something to tow you with I should be able to pull you out"

Had I not had the jumper cables I did have a roll of duct tape and 10-12 layers would have worked I'd just have had to figure out how to attach the ends.


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[semcoinc]

Finished a 600 mile round trip with the air suspension compressor piston ring replacement and all continues to be well with the air suspension. No SLSI code the whole trip. Even had to raise up to high level on the switch to clear a snow covered driveway and all worked as designed.

Also ran this trip with Berryman's B12 fuel additive at start of each tank on start of trip and at fill up for return trip. No codes thrown.

Came through that rain last night that was in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin and upon reaching FonDuLac the temp went to freezing and the rain began to freeze on the windshield. Made it to destination OK just before the streets & highways totally froze up. The X5 with relatively new all season rubber was sure footed in the rain.

Mike

[itsbrokeagain]

New front pads and rotors. Akebonos/Zimmerman combo. Practically dustless but definitely less initial bite over the Jurid/Pagid pads.

M56 valvecover is on it's way from Cali. Noticed some idle hunting the other day and gas mileage is in the tank so time to rip out the (prolly original) CCV and delete it all for the much simpler M56 version

[andrewwynn]

Bought a new pressure washer and had a chance finally to give BMWЯ a bath (horribly overdue). I used a soft head spin mop for the post soap scrub

➀ high pressure rinse from a distance to remove the gross layer
➁ low pressure soap
➂ light scrub with mop head (it flexes 90° at the end making it very easy to scrub the roof, hood, windshield.
➃ high pressure spray to rinse.

Very quick I should be able to do regular washing now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF1nBYVmVvA

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[Ryoken]

not on the actual car, but I stripped the "new" upper tailgate down , removed loom ,spoiler, handle and wiper .then checked "new" passenger front door down , awaiting the big job of changing new panels in a few weeks
just got to find a good front door now

[Musashi28]

New Redline differential fluid both front and rear. Piece of cake except for which German engineer thought a front skid plate with bolts you can barely access needs to be smacked.

[andrewwynn]

I flipped my skid plate bolts but down. Seemed pretty dumb making them so hard to access. Flex socket to hold the top is good


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[Fifty150hs]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

I flipped my skid plate bolts but down. Seemed pretty dumb making them so hard to access. Flex socket to hold the top is good


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How much further down does the bolt stick out that the head of the bolt?