Hi new here 4.4i SportPKG

[TheStig]

hi.

This past week I swapped out from my 03 325i to a 2002 4.4i Sports package
this X5 drives awesome! Shifts Flawlessly, and looks great.
I live in Pensacola. And have had quite a few BMWs before.
so the stupid little BMW issues are not new to me. -.-

it has 173,000 miles
Suspension is tight and responsive and its all up to date.

things wrong with it: ( maybe someone can help me)

1. Small Coolant leak: from "transmission thermostat" the medusa looking like thing, that has like 5 hoses hooked up to it.

I will be fixing it tomorrow. if anyone has a diy this would be most helpful

2. there is a rattle from the engine bay. it only happens when i start it for like a second then its fine. seems like a start up thing.

3. there seems to be wind noise coming in from the rear driver corner window.
- the exact location is the bar in between the main window and corner window.
- i've redone all the seals. and it doesn't go away. the only thing i can think of is, it's missing a screw that goes behind the plastic covering the rear corner shade. on the bottom right above the door panel.
maybe thats it?

4. this is the worst. the driver door handle broke off, and its the door handle carrier.

is there a diy for this?

5. a light engine knocking. mechanic says nothing serious yet but keep and eye on it .

is a little knocking normal on the 4.4i? i know some other V8s do this naturally or at least it sounds normal.

other than those things and a missing rear cup holder its great!

i love it and wont go back no matter what!
I have already fixed a few minor issues and am getting ready to tackle the big ones.

pictures will be posted soon.

[alecu]

Welcome. The only 2 things I have some info on:

2- Could be your tensioner pulley - Does it rattle more time if you let the car sit for more than 1 or 2 days?
5 - My previous 4.4 did not really have any knocking sounds but it is a little louder at idle than the 6 cylinder.

Did you have the car scanned with any BMW software yet? That will show any potential stored codes in the engine.

Save this link for future reference also.
Xoutpost.com - Xoutpost.com x5tips.htm

[AquilaBMW]

Originally Posted by TheStig

1. Small Coolant leak: from "transmission thermostat" the medusa looking like thing, that has like 5 hoses hooked up to it.

2. there is a rattle from the engine bay. it only happens when i start it for like a second then its fine. seems like a start up thing.

3. there seems to be wind noise coming in from the rear driver corner window.
- the exact location is the bar in between the main window and corner window.
- i've redone all the seals. and it doesn't go away. the only thing i can think of is, it's missing a screw that goes behind the plastic covering the rear corner shade. on the bottom right above the door panel.
maybe thats it?

5. a light engine knocking. mechanic says nothing serious yet but keep and eye on it .

is a little knocking normal on the 4.4i? i know some other V8s do this naturally or at least it sounds normal.

Hi there and welcome to X5 ownership and the board. I edited your post to answer some of your questions with what little knowledge or experience I have.

1/. Do you have a picture of the "medusa" looking thing you mention? I have never heard of a transmission Thermostat. Only things I can think of that have hoses attached would be Overflow tank, Auxiliary water pump, etc.

2/. Your car has the well known M62TU V8 engine. One of it's weak points is the plastic timing chain guides that fail over time. The rattle you hear in the morning might be indicating a weakening Timing Chain Tensioner which sits on the passenger side in front of the engine. Right beside that bank of cylinder heads. It's a 30 minutes or less job to fix / replace it. It's worth replacing it as it will extend the life of your timing guides.

It might also indicate the type of oil that has been used in the car. Some people put heavier oils in high mileage cars in the hope of extending the life. However, I have learned that this does not really help - especially with this engine. You are better off with something like a full synthetic 5W/30 or even a full synthetic like 0W/40 which flows better especially during start up.

3/. There are indeed screws behind the trim piece you mention. If the screw is missing, it would indicate someone has either worked in that area before or tried to fix a similar issue. I would say recheck all the seals first - both on the inside and outside. They have been know to warp and cause such noise at times.

5/. The light knocking you mention sounds indicative of the infamous VANOS knock. The engine has the VANOS system and over time, the seals wear out and cause that dull knocking you might be hearing. It won't kill the engine, but as your mechanic rightfully said - keep your eye and ears on it.

[tmv]

AquilaBMW had good answer for most of your questions.
Here's for your question #4, DIY in the "How-to's" section
http://www.xoutpost.com/articles/x5/...andle-fix.html

[Qsilver7]

3. there seems to be wind noise coming in from the rear driver corner window.

:welcome:
You may also want to look below the rocker panel and see if the left rear jack pad is still in place. They sometimes can fall out (disappear) and if they do, they can make odd sounds that may sound like they are coming from places not associated with the jack pad:

The TIS bulletin below was printed out before the e53 hit the market...but since the e53 uses the same jack pad as the e38 & e39 (9/98-up build date)...the suggestion to check them would apply to the e53 as well.

{disregard the part nbrs listed for the e38 - they are for the ROUND jack pads used from 1995-1998...and the e39 part nbr for the rectangular jack pads has been succeeded by a new part #}



(see #9 in the diagram below...there's a total of 4 of them...one at each corner of the rocker panels)

[imbvl]

A light 'knock' that is continuous, with 173k miles, might be a hydraulic lifter that doesn't hold pressure. A mechanic can determine if that's it, and which side it's on, with a stethoscope. You can do it yourself with a long screwdriver - put the big end in your ear, and the small end to the left cam cover, and then the right one. If that's it, it's not too serious, and isn't too hard to fix.

[mb-X5]

1. Small Coolant leak: from "transmission thermostat" the medusa looking like thing, that has like 5 hoses hooked up to it.

I don't have a link to a DIY for this part, but I have just fixed a small leak from the transmission thermostat on my 2005 X5 w/ 4.4i engine. My leak appeared on the plastic part that the transmission thermostat is attached too, but I went ahead and replaced both just to be sure that it was fixed.

If you have a basic understanding of cars and some mechanical skills you should be able to complete this repair yourself, no problem.

Here are the basic steps:

1) Raise the front of the car on jack stands or ramps.

2) Remove the bottom plastic splash shield from the front of your X. There are about 10-12 bolts holding it to the front bumper and undercarriage of the X. With this out of the way you should be able to see the plate holding the transmission thermostat. The metal box looking thing below the thermostat is the transmission fluid cooler.

3) drain the coolant from the bottom of the radiator (blue drain plug on bottom of radiator). Replace the drain plug with a new one. (BMW part no: 17117571988)

4) Check to make sure that the leak is coming from the transmission thermostat and not from something else in this area. On mine, the leak was from a small crack on the mounting plate that holds the trans thermostat and cooler. If you aren't sure, replace both.

5) Remove the hoses attached to the transmission thermostat. There should be a top and bottom hose, and two side hoses, if I remember correctly. You may know how to work with BMW hose connections...use a small screw driver to pull the metal clip up fromt the hose end, and pull the hose off of the connector.

6) The transmission thermostat is mounted to the plastic housing by a single bolt (torx head, I think). Once the hoses are off it should be easy to see the screw holding it on. Remove the fastener and the transmission thermostat should pull right off. Replace the rubber xrings on the mounting plate before installing the thermostat back on.

Transmission thermostat: BMW part no: 17107559966
Trans. thermostat xring: BMW part no: 17101439139 (2 needed)

(The only thing that may need to be replaced to fix your leak may just be the Xrings. You may want to just replace them and see if that fixes your leak. The Thermostat may still be good, unless you see the plastic cracking or something.)

While you are in there, I would suggest replacing the Xrings sealing the transmission cooler (BMW part no: 17101439140 (2 needed)). That way both potential leaks are fixed.

7) Reinstall the transmission thermostat to the plastic housing. Screw in the anchoring screw, and re-attach the hoses connected to the thing.

8) Fill and bleed the cooling system with BMW coolant. See other threads on this site for the exact procedures for filling and bleeding this system on your ride.

Or you could do the full cooling system replacement, all hoses, expansion tank, water pump, and thermostat. You will save yourself a lot of headaches down the road by replacing all of these things now instead of piece by piece.

Your best friends: realoem.com and ecstuning.com

Good luck and hope this helps.