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

[Bdc101]

Always nice to see someone taking proper care of an X, thanks for sharing!

[andrewwynn]

The sideways (as opposed to forward) control arms do affect steering. It's not the when you tightened. Alignment required after changing that part. You can do a string alignment to at least not shred your tires before getting a pro alignment.

[X5chemist]

Well dang it.
I may source out some used struts to grab springs and parts. Order new struts and have a shop assemble them. Having a full set read to go will save time when new shafts go on. A string and tape measurement will be done to check how bad the shift moved.

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by X5chemist

Installed new front rearward control arms. Wow, the ride height is higher. Steering shake under heavy braking is gone. Full weight was on before tightening. However, I did once side then the other. The steering is off by a fraction. I'm not sure if I caused by tightening one side at a time. Tomorrow, I'll loosen both sides under full weight, then tighten them down again. One at time might have caused the shift. Remaining items: outer tie rods, struts, shafts, and anti sway bar links. Only the struts remain to be ordered.

Out of curiosity, I filled up for the trip out of town. 40 miles one way. It was the only the second out of town trip for it. I've owned it over a year now. MPG maxed out 23.7 and it was still climbing. The range was over 523 miles. I had not seen it above 500 miles until after installing new plugs and coils.

After completing front and rear suspension fixes, full four axle shaft swap, front shaft spacer install, oil pan gasket replacement, and coolant hose replacement it will be long road trip worthy. Goal, make a1000 mile trip as soon as it's ready!

Nice work. A fresh suspension makes these things feel so good. A 500 mile range is good with gas prices doing what they are doing.

How is your battery drain/no sleep situ going? Does that dash camera run while parked? Ours on the F15 does and if we don't remember to unplug it after 2 days of being parked we'll get a battery discharge warning.

Originally Posted by wpoll

I simply remembered that it was a recent thread from a fellow antipodean... !

For the last couple of years I also have had the iDrive launcher installed on my smartphone (Samsung Galaxy S7) for S&Gs - works well although I don't actually use it as the main launcher (it's a bit fiddly on a 4" screen!).

I have some questions as I try to get the thing set up to my liking. Will post a new thread on it at some point. Currently it doesn't boot up exactly the way I would want with the iBus and some controls aren't functioning. New toys always require a learning curve.

[workingonit]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

...Does that dash camera run while parked? Ours on the F15 does and if we don't remember to unplug it after 2 days of being parked we'll get a battery discharge warning....

I installed a device that was originally designed for limiting the time a dashcam will operate after key-off, either working on a timer or by reaching a set minimum battery voltage (or both). https://xoutpost.com/1218267-post86.html



I'm using it to limit my electric fan to run only for a short time after key-off, to keep the battery from draining. I anticipate that I'll need the fan to keep cooling the radiator for awhile during 100+ degree days, coming soon.

[zener]

X has been sitting in the garage past couple of weeks... Think I'm gonna take it out and drive for next week.


I did rear brakes on F10 and today E65 gave me some trouble since this happened:

I installed these lowtec springs about 3years/50 000km ago.

I had E38 -25mm KAW springs in the garage so I changed it for now. Think I'm gonna order eibach springs for the rear.

[X5chemist]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

How is your battery drain/no sleep situ going? Does that dash camera run while parked? Ours on the F15 does and if we don't remember to unplug it after 2 days of being parked we'll get a battery discharge warning.

A new DME is here. An E46 post sent me to https://racehuggins.com/pinkiesout/
An EWS delete DME is ready for install. Before I replace the OEM one, I want to learn from it. I'll test each EWS wire before and after sleep command. I want to know which wire has an amp draw. Knowing and learning is something I can pass on. Costs was minimal too. I'll install a hidden switch to disable cranking when I want it to disable it. The new DME delete should take care of F11 500 mA draw. F60 has three switches labeled as pressed by Fowell when they are not. Two will be unplugged and replaced if necessary. If the "pressed" scan is cleared to "not pressed". Two errors are fixed. The rear license plate light/latch combo assembly will be unplugged. If it also clears "not pressed" a replacement will be ordered. After all that, F60 should be fixed. Then sleep mode should be 11 mA!! Or at least 18 mA to spec.

The camera is active key on. It has a capacitor/battery for active shock monitoring when key is off. A 32 GB card records in 3 min loop mode. No sound is recorded for max file storage. A rear camera can be connected. I'll install a seperate one back there. The rear camera will get power from an unused rear relay port.

[X5chemist]

Originally Posted by Bdc101

Always nice to see someone taking proper care of an X, thanks for sharing!

Thanks Bdc101. Trying to fix it up for super daily driving duties. Plus long trip road worthy too. It's hard to catch up on 150k mile maintenance. About 95% of parts are OEM. I'm a third or fourth owner. Here are a few more maintenance pics from today.

The shroud has some self inflicted damage. The lower clips were not in place. The shroud hit the A/C and tensioner at high speeds. A new thermostat was installed. The Motorad thermostat looks fairly new. It failed open or stuck open according to codes. A Mahle thermostat is now installed. After bleeding air out, I let it cool for an hour. I then went for a short drive. Within two miles, it was at normal operating temp. The needle was straight up and down. The older thermostat would not let it warm up properly. The hoses are replacements. As preventative maintenance, the o rings were replaced. An o ring kit has all the o rings necessary to replace them. One thing not noted on replacement info, there is an ear the big bolt goes through. I fought the thermostat for several minutes. It was not until I looked under vanos assembly that I saw the bolt hole ear.

[BigBody]

My rear diff went out. <90k 4.4i X5. I dont understand why or how... in either case, yesterday i removed it and today i installed the new (to me) one. Got lucky and picked a relatively low mileage unit for $150. All in $200. X5 has been really getting on my nerves lately... damn car is starting to fall apart.

[andrewwynn]

Usually a seal goes and you lose lubrication and it will fail quite quickly.