Greetings fellow BMW enthusiasts!

[740ilDuke]

I'm a longtime fan of BMW's. My other ride is a 2001 740il @117k. I've been driving E38's for 6 years and really enjoy them. My brother and dad also joined the E38 madness after driving my car, so we have micro meets often.

I drove a 2004 4.6is this year and it was a blast. Long story short, a friend of mine bought my current 2001 X5 4.4i new. He has always kept up with oil changes and maintained the car mechanically otherwise. Last year I think he spent around 5k on it. He grew tired of it and decided to go with an FJ Cruiser. More power to him.

The X5 was what he raised his kids in, so it was really nasty on the inside, and he gave up washing it after it was keyed 2 years ago & he never claimed it on insurance. I can always see past that stuff, because Simple Green and elbow grease go a long way! Yesterday, I got the inside up to about 85%. It does need speaker grills in the doors, as they are brittle. The poplar has a few cracks here and there, but it doesn't bother me to be honest.

The Good: I bought it for a cool grand. Yes, $1k. Aside from the following, everything works perfect.

The Bad: SES light is on - boasting a P0443 aka "Evap purge valve circuit" - Im guessing near/on the charcoal canister. Ive never seen this in the E38. (same engine) So this is new territory for me. I'll use the search feature and see what turns up.

And of course the !STOP!ENGINE OIL PRESSURE! message. I've ordered the sensor and look to replace that tomorrow. I guess worse case the engine is bad, but a used 4.4 with 100k or so seems to sell for around $1500 on craigs/ebay. It doesn't smoke, rattle, burn oil, lose power, over heat etc. It runs great and is actually quieter than my E38's 4.4 with 117k miles! I know these engines can run for 250-300k+ if maintained, so I'm hoping the sensor is my culprit, of course.

Anyway, I look forward to contributing to the forum and reading all of your posts. Much of the knowledge I've gained over the past 6 years in the E38 will carry over to the E53. I've been on Bimmerboard for 5-6 years, if any of you guys are there as well, fee free to say hello.

Best,

Scott
2001 X5 177k
Bone Stock.