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

[Happy]

Originally Posted by X5chemist

Are you on the coast or Houston? I didn't open the box when purchased. My brother opened it and covered the X5. I hope it lasts 1-2 months so I can catch up on some home projects. It's probably better suited for shade or indoor covering. I'll probably upgrade to a more durable cover. The X5 will be in driving duty rotation with three other vehicles. The vehicles not in use for a few days will be covered from sun rays.

I have one that’s close to the coast in California, and one on Lake Houston.

If it is brand new it will last years! Used, depends on how much degradation has already begun.

Between my two homes, the climate, and weather is brutal. California was marine fog, abundant sun, and east wind. Houston, the weather is extreme! Abundant sun, extremely high humidity, torrential downpours, hurricanes, and tornadoes.

Trust when we say, it’s a high quality cover!

[PropellerHead]

Originally Posted by Happy

That will definitely cure any unwanted vibrations.

My 1st run out last night and I will say.. Oh, holy sh!t. It's tight. Like.. NOT a luxo SAV kinda tight. Let's be clear, I have sorta the perfect storm of rough riders.. Eibach sways on both ends, adjustable bits here and there, and ab 1" lower on the air suspension. It's never been what most would consider.. supple.

But after 170k miles of rubber bits and the same driveline wearables, the thing is just angry. Ya know how you can kinda maybe sneeze and catch an E53 before you change lanes? Yeah.. solid core bits will have you two lanes over before your eyes re open. The best I can offer is that it's a lot more... work.. than it used to be. It wants to tramline. It wants to wiggle with the manhole. It wants YOU to know what it takes to keep it on the road... and that you'd better damn well do it.

Finally, I will offer this. Solid core TA's and CA's make your front end do exactly what you tell them to but in like milliseconds. There is no chassis flex.. there is only.. "Who? Physics?" With my 6 pot StopTechs up front, I could feel the chassis wanna go more on a solid brake, but then it just rested against the tires, brakes, and road surface. It's an odd feeling ins omething like an E53 for sure.

It's no E39, don't get me wrong. But the numbness that came along from my 3.0 to the over boosted 4.8is is no longer there. In truth, I still prefer the 3.0. I can't IMAGINE one of those with these bits.. (Hellooo E46?) But it is fun to feel the road again. And it's even more fun to have old man over boosted steering to make up for it.

[X5chemist]

Originally Posted by Happy

Trust when we say, it’s a high quality cover!

Great! It's brand new! It was all wrapped in a box! I'll check it once I'm able to get the suspension work done.

[LA02MAX]

Originally Posted by LA02MAX

Thanks for all the suggestions. It’s actually the hub side I’m talking about. It didn’t take me but a few tries to get both axles into the differential.

I’ve taken a wire brush, brake cleaner, PB blaster, and a file to the splines but no luck. I can actually see how far the splines reach within the hub from the wear marks on the ID of the hub (the innermost surface of the splines). Seems to me the tolerance is just very tight and it’s possible I’m just not able to get it to go in 100% straight. I considered taking some sand paper to the inner portion of the hub, but decided to just get the right tool and save myself the same headache for the future. I never would have guessed they were like this, though. The oem axles slide into the hubs just like any other car I’ve done this on.

Wooooow, this puller tool is a must when removing or installing CV axles. I just took 30 seconds and minimal effort to completely pull the splines into the hub. Would purchase again in a heartbeat

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Fifty150hs]

Originally Posted by LA02MAX

Wooooow, this puller tool is a must when removing or installing CV axles. I just took 30 seconds and minimal effort to completely pull the splines into the hub. Would purchase again in a heartbeat

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's the one I have. Absolutely need it for pulling in BMW brand axles and some other. Some of the cheaper stuff just slides right in.

[Henn28]

Originally Posted by LA02MAX

Wooooow, this puller tool is a must when removing or installing CV axles. I just took 30 seconds and minimal effort to completely pull the splines into the hub. Would purchase again in a heartbeat

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Damn. I just put what will possibly be the last 4 axles into my X and wish I had found that tool. Bentley made it sound so easy. Should have done more research! At least I know where to find that tool in the greater NOLA area now!

First oil change on the new motor after about 1800 miles on the “break in” oil. Wasn’t really break in oil, but rather Mobil 1 5w30 because I couldn’t find anything authoritative on breaking in the M62 family/Alusil BMW motors beyond the owners manual, which just says to drive it normally. Oil and filter looked clean and with no signs of coolant or or other crap that would make me change my mind that I dodged a huge bullet with the belt issues/overheat. I did send a sample off to Blackstone, because why not. It’s cheap and I’m curious to see what happens to the motor over time.

Latest issue that has developed is a “ping” from the tranny when selecting drive or reverse, and occasionally when initially pulling away after shifting to drive. Sounds like hitting a metal driver. I know I’ve seen something about this on one of the boards but can’t seem to find it now. I think the consensus was/is a solenoid, but no consensus on if it was a big deal or not.

[andrewwynn]

I would have bought for sure was already in my cart but after cleaning the hub spline with my tool I made the axle shoots through so I dodnt need.

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by LA02MAX

Wooooow, this puller tool is a must when removing or installing CV axles. I just took 30 seconds and minimal effort to completely pull the splines into the hub. Would purchase again in a heartbeat

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Added to my Amazon automotive "wish list." AKA, my wife's first stop when shopping for Xmas/bday/etc gifts for me.

[LA02MAX]

Cleaned up the heads and valley pan today under the IM. A little before/after goodness attached. I obviously had a pretty substantial IM gasket leak with all that gunk under there. Valley pan doesn't appear to be leaking, but I'll replace that and do the AGA expandable pipe if it ever does. I also removed the injectors and I bought a cheap little injector cleaner tool set that I'll use to check the spray pattern and clean up the injectors.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I might be dragging my feet on the valve cover removal (doing the valve stem seals), but I want to limit the amount of time the VC isn't on the engine. One step closer to getting this thing back on the road! It's been a minute!

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by LA02MAX

Cleaned up the heads and valley pan today under the IM. A little before/after goodness attached. I obviously had a pretty substantial IM gasket leak with all that gunk under there. Valley pan doesn't appear to be leaking, but I'll replace that and do the AGA expandable pipe if it ever does. I also removed the injectors and I bought a cheap little injector cleaner tool set that I'll use to check the spray pattern and clean up the injectors...

Nice work. What's your cleaning method? I am doing a similar rehab of my N52 5er wagon that broke the front 4 aluminum head bolts (non-compression/cooling system) that caused a hell of an oil leak and dirtied everything everywhere.

Good luck on the VSS. Something that's been on my to do list since I bought the X5 6 years/30k miles ago. You think you're dragging your feet.