New X5 4.8is Owner!

[kconner5]

Hi everyone!

We just bought a 2005 4.8is with just about 100,000 miles! Very exciting time as this is one of those special cars that has been on my "bucket list to own" for a while now. We will pick up the car sometime in the next week or so, but I'll post up a photo or two that the current owner sent to us. Once we get the car, I'll compound and polish where needed and detail the rest of it. We are going to replace the resonator with an X pipe (or is an H pipe better? Not sure where to buy a H pipe for the 4.8is?), upgrade the angel eyes to a bright white color, add the towing hitch and wiring harness, and preform some maintenance.

For the maintenance, do you all think this is a good approach?...

Change engine oil as we won't know exactly when it was changed last (and then keep changing every 5k miles after... That's what I do with my MINI and my mom's 3er)

Transmission fluid flush

Coolant flush

Brake fluid flush

How hard and how often is it to change the fluid in the differentials and transfer case?

Any suggestions are welcome!

Some questions for you owners:
We made sure that the car doesn't blow any blue smoke at idle, the air suspension was replaced (the airbags presumably) last year, the car shifts smoothly, and there aren't any CEL codes.

What do you recommend on letting the car warm up in the mornings? Usually I start a car up, let it idle for 30 seconds to a minute and am very easy on the car until it gets to operating temp. I know that the 4.8is isn't your average vehicle though so is it best to wait for one of the yellow lights to go off on the tach before driving? Or just continue with the method I've always used?

Do these engines generally have a lot of carbon build up at high milages? Not sure if it is worth taking it to get walnut shell blasted or anything. Taking my MINI in for carbon cleaning soon (only 40k miles on the odometer but it can't hurt)

Any suggestions for other mods, tips, or advice would be more than appreciated!

Thanks and glad to be here!
Kyle

P.S. is there any place to look up the exact service history of our beast?

[Ricky Bobby]

Gorgeous. I love the matching darker tint all around look (mine is 15%).

Carbon cleaning is a direct injection thing, these engines don't have it from what I can tell. if you have no blue smoke that is good, and the airbags replaced, awesome! enjoy the hell out of that beast!

[tmv]

Congrats. Kinda look familiar
Do NOT flush your transmission. Do a search on everything else.

[kconner5]

Thanks for the welcome!

Why wouldn't I want to flush the tranny tmv?

Kyle

[tmv]

Originally Posted by kconner5

Thanks for the welcome!

Why wouldn't I want to flush the tranny tmv?

Kyle

Google it. You would do more harm than good if you flush it.
If you want to change the ATF, do a drain and refill twice with filter change each time, about 1k miles apart. You can do more than twice but it'd be pretty much waste of money after that. Since there would be some ATF in the Torque Converter, you can only replace about 75% of the old fluid the 1st time. The second change will bring it to about 90%. Remember the Lifeguard ATF is not cheap. GL.

[electricalserv x5]

Clean X5, I love the silver, good luck with her, be careful who You let work on it.....................use Castrol syntech.

[TerminatorX5]

no tranny flush... use castrol for oil or splurge for liqui-moly, 5-30, or 5-40, which is a tad heavier... of course, full synthetic...

no blue smoke is good, still check the PCV (CCV) membranes, easy check, easy replacement, easy on wallet, about $20 a side, you need two...

think about using liqui-moly jetron (not sure about the spelling) for the injector cleaning, it is mild enough and potent at the same time...

do some basic programming, for the windows up on remote perhaps, or highbeams with the bi-xenons... there are many posts about it...


WELCOME TO THE FORUM

[Brandon002]

If you do have the transmission serviced, find an independent mechanic that specializes in European cars. There is a specific process for the BMW/ZF trans that requires having the transmission pan 100% level, filling and heating up etc... I paid a local indy 400 and change to do the service and that included all parts, labor and fluid. Made a world of difference in the way my trans shifted.

People on here will tell you not to service the trans, other people will tell you it's ok. The BMW owner's manual I have specifies transmission service every 100K miles. So I choose to follow that.

[Brandon002]

The indy mechanic that did mine flushed out the torque converter when doing the pan drop/filter change. No need to change fluid twice.

[kconner5]

Good info guys, thanks for the tips!

Kyle