Overheating then this

[pshovest]

Originally Posted by Quatro40

.......The picture is of the oil fill hole and the oil fill cap on the engine.

I understood the photo was the oil filler cap. My point was there are several ways for coolant and oil to mix. Head gasket is obvious, particularly with overheat, but oil cooler gasket is another possibility that's not so obvious.

Originally Posted by Quatro40

Update - Oil is black no white or soapy deposit at oil pan. Water pump might be good, what he found was that my alternator was toasted and was over charging the system. The Water Pump was getting 19V and shutting down to protect itself. He tells me that a new alternator is needed and programming it to the car. Can I get a used one from a junk yard since a new oem one is upwards of $850 while one from previous x5's run around $150. [/IMG]

Good news on the oil. If you had extensive water/coolant in the oil everything under the oil fill cap would be milky white. The drip on the torx screw at 12 o'clock and elsewhere looks like normal engine oil.

This is the first I've heard that alternators need to be programmed/coded. I'm almost positive my E60 and E70 alternators don't need it. A salvage yard unit should be fine. 19+ volts has probably cooked the battery also.
You'll have to keep an eye on the coolant level. Time will tell if the oil filler emulsion is coolant from leakage or simply condensation. Does X5 see lots of short trips?