Time to Cut Bait? (E70 4.8i Issues) - Page 8

Pushrod · #71 02-26-2018, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BGM

Don't give up now--you are on the downward slide of the cost curve ha.

"ha" is right! I've been thinking I was on the downward side of the cost curve since I spent $3400 on it back in November.

With the heater control valve repair, I'll be up to $6600 in repairs and maintenance since 11/17 at an indy. Can't imagine what BMW would have charged. Would have made for a nice down payment on something with a warranty. If I would have had a crystal ball, I would have dumped it when the first major repair hit. I did that with my MINI and it was definitely the right call.

Totally amazing that this thing is completely falling apart with less than 80k miles. Even my 1987 Plymouth Sundance made it to 115k before it blew a head gasket. What a disaster, BMW.

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BGM · #72 02-26-2018, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pushrod

"ha" is right! I've been thinking I was on the downward side of the cost curve since I spent $3400 on it back in November.

With the heater control valve repair, I'll be up to $6600 in repairs and maintenance since 11/17 at an indy. Can't imagine what BMW would have charged. Would have made for a nice down payment on something with a warranty. If I would have had a crystal ball, I would have dumped it when the first major repair hit. I did that with my MINI and it was definitely the right call.

Totally amazing that this thing is completely falling apart with less than 80k miles. Even my 1987 Plymouth Sundance made it to 115k before it blew a head gasket. What a disaster, BMW.

I'm at about the same amount in repairs in Oct/Nov but in a different situation. Mine is parked all week (walk to work), take public trans of course like most people in Chicago, don't want to have a car payment just to sit in a garage all month (which I pay $250/month for parking). I think I drive about 4 miles per week. I had $6K Oct/Nov (mostly leaks):

Oct: Crank Case Valve leak, Vacuum Pump and seal, Timing Cover Gasket and Timing Belt, Valley Pan leak with Coolant Flush and Brake Fluid service.

Nov: Cylinder 7 misfired so complete tune-up and also transmission service (had a leak and lines).

I only have 95K miles on it but it's more age than anything.

Pushrod · #73 02-27-2018, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BGM

I'm at about the same amount in repairs in Oct/Nov but in a different situation. Mine is parked all week (walk to work), take public trans of course like most people in Chicago, don't want to have a car payment just to sit in a garage all month (which I pay $250/month for parking). I think I drive about 4 miles per week. I had $6K Oct/Nov (mostly leaks):

Oct: Crank Case Valve leak, Vacuum Pump and seal, Timing Cover Gasket and Timing Belt, Valley Pan leak with Coolant Flush and Brake Fluid service.

Nov: Cylinder 7 misfired so complete tune-up and also transmission service (had a leak and lines).

I only have 95K miles on it but it's more age than anything.

Sounds like we share a similar pain with our 4.8s. Bummer. Mine is at 79k miles.

What happened when the #7 cylinder misfired? Coil go bad?

If I was paying $250 a month to park this thing, I'd be very seriously consider going without a car in Chicago. One advantage of living in Logan is that I have a garage that costs me no additional $. I've seriously been considering going carless in my current situation. I can rent a car for the weekends I need to drive to Milwaukee to pick up my daughter for $100/weekend, and use the Metra / L / Lyft / Uber / Zipcar / Bicycle and come out way ahead financially over my current $1500+ a month in repair bills on the X5, in addition to the car insurance / city stickers / registration / etc savings. Plus I'm already paying for public transit to get to work and around town, so the increased costs for public transit would be minimal.

I typically drive 800 miles a month picking up my daughter from Milwaukee, and then maybe 200 additional miles above that around Chicago. I've been considering having my daughter take the train to Chicago when she comes here for at least one part of the trip, which would negate some of the miles driving to Milwaukee.

Agree that it makes little financial sense to get something newer and take on a payment just to have it sit in the garage for extended periods and depreciate like crazy.

I may put my X5 up for sale once I get it back from this latest trip to the shop and see if I get any nibbles.

BGM · #74 02-28-2018, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pushrod

Sounds like we share a similar pain with our 4.8s. Bummer. Mine is at 79k miles.

What happened when the #7 cylinder misfired? Coil go bad?

If I was paying $250 a month to park this thing, I'd be very seriously consider going without a car in Chicago. One advantage of living in Logan is that I have a garage that costs me no additional $. I've seriously been considering going carless in my current situation. I can rent a car for the weekends I need to drive to Milwaukee to pick up my daughter for $100/weekend, and use the Metra / L / Lyft / Uber / Zipcar / Bicycle and come out way ahead financially over my current $1500+ a month in repair bills on the X5, in addition to the car insurance / city stickers / registration / etc savings. Plus I'm already paying for public transit to get to work and around town, so the increased costs for public transit would be minimal.

I typically drive 800 miles a month picking up my daughter from Milwaukee, and then maybe 200 additional miles above that around Chicago. I've been considering having my daughter take the train to Chicago when she comes here for at least one part of the trip, which would negate some of the miles driving to Milwaukee.

Agree that it makes little financial sense to get something newer and take on a payment just to have it sit in the garage for extended periods and depreciate like crazy.

I may put my X5 up for sale once I get it back from this latest trip to the shop and see if I get any nibbles.

Yeah not sure if it was the coil or not. It's always a tough call when to cut bait. I need to have a car to be able to pick up my niece and nephew (they are too young to take the L) in Bridgeport on the South Side at any last minute (like taking them to a soccer game etc) so a rental is a lot more difficult in that case. I'd rather have a variable cost than a depreciating fixed cost (car payment) since I'm not using it that much.

I've had a lot of work put into mine under CPO and so many new major parts it's basically brand new (literally like $12K in repairs my SA made the tech find before the CPO ended): replaced the Evaporator which is $3K (you have to pull the dash out) new DME unit ($4K) as well as new transmission ($12K covered under CPO) on top of that. I bought mine as a lease return from Beverly Hills BMW the lady only put 14K miles on it in 2 years. I just moved back home to Chicago from Dallas (where I've had it the entire time) so haven't converted any registration, still have my Texas plates, etc and am holding off until I'm forced to do so ha.

Aquamania · #75 03-02-2018, 11:48 AM

Man I read all this and I have to ask, why don't you and many others have an after market warranty? I have one that covers my X5 until 220,000 miles! Same with my XC90. Any thing breaks with any of the major systems and I am out $100.00. That's it.

Pushrod · #76 03-02-2018, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BGM

Yeah not sure if it was the coil or not. It's always a tough call when to cut bait. I need to have a car to be able to pick up my niece and nephew (they are too young to take the L) in Bridgeport on the South Side at any last minute (like taking them to a soccer game etc) so a rental is a lot more difficult in that case. I'd rather have a variable cost than a depreciating fixed cost (car payment) since I'm not using it that much.

I've had a lot of work put into mine under CPO and so many new major parts it's basically brand new (literally like $12K in repairs my SA made the tech find before the CPO ended): replaced the Evaporator which is $3K (you have to pull the dash out) new DME unit ($4K) as well as new transmission ($12K covered under CPO) on top of that. I bought mine as a lease return from Beverly Hills BMW the lady only put 14K miles on it in 2 years. I just moved back home to Chicago from Dallas (where I've had it the entire time) so haven't converted any registration, still have my Texas plates, etc and am holding off until I'm forced to do so ha.

Buying CPO is definitely the way to go. I purchased my E92 CPO and had it for over 40k miles and never took it in once for repairs, just normal maintenance. Still wish I had that car, honestly. Mine had the turbo, brakes, and fuel pump replaced as well as a bunch of other stuff done prior to me picking it up. It was probably the most reliable car I've ever owned. I would have preferred a CPO when I bought my X5, but this particular vehicle was too old for CPO when I purchased it. With only 47k miles at purchase, I was anticipating it wouldn't kill me in repairs before 100k. I've been proven wrong lol

Be prepared for a fun filled day at the Illinois DMV! Took me 3 trips before I finally was able to get everything transferred to Illinois.

I'm planning to list my X5 for a highish amount and see if I get any nibbles. If it sells, I'll try life without a vehicle for a few months and see how it goes. I did some calculations, and this X5 has cost me well over $300/mth in repairs and maintenance for my 33 months of ownership, including the $6600 spent in the last 4 months. I could finance a CPO for not a whole lot more money and not have to worry about any of it, and still have a BMW loaner vehicle if it does need to go to the shop.

The good news: I picked it up from the heater control valve repair and I've driven it to work for a whole 2 consecutive days without it breaking! Probably best to not test my luck any further.

Pushrod · #77 03-02-2018, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aquamania

Man I read all this and I have to ask, why don't you and many others have an after market warranty? I have one that covers my X5 until 220,000 miles! Same with my XC90. Any thing breaks with any of the major systems and I am out $100.00. That's it.

Good point. I've seriously been regretting not having a warranty at the moment.

I looked into a warranty when I purchased my X5 and most were in the $5k neighborhood for comprehensive coverage. Drive train only ones were ~$3k. Evidently the warranty companies know about the 4.8i X5 issues!

It would be a tough call if I'd be ahead at this point with a warranty. When I had the dreaded alternator bracket oil leak back in November, I had the shop replace a bunch of other seals that were known leak problems, even if they weren't leaking, in order to save the labor when they eventually would leak. I was told the valve cover gaskets were leaking and had them replaced, so they may have been covered since they were already leaking. Also, I knew the vacuum pump was leaking oil, too, so perhaps that would have been covered. I'm not sure where a warranty company might draw the line on small oil leaks. Hard to say if the rest of the replaced seals would have been covered by a warranty. So most likely the $3400 bill for that repair would have been covered at about $2500 at most.

When I had this most recent issue with the coolant pipe failure in February, I also had the water pump and thermostat replaced since the mechanic would be working in the same area, neither of which had failed at that point, so unlikely they would have been covered by a warranty either. I'm thinking that $2800 bill would have been covered at about $1800 as I also had them install new front pads and rotors (non-warranty item), plus the shop gave me a ~$200 discount for being "such a good customer (and putting their kids through college - not mentioned)", something unlikely to happen if a warranty claim was involved.

Other items I've repaired that probably would have been covered by a warranty are the sway bar links, the oil level sensor, the heater control valve, coolant expansion tank and the rear suspension air bags.

All told, it's hard to say if I'd be ahead or behind at this point if I had purchased a $5k warranty. Throw in a time value of money calculation for 3 years and I'd probably still be ahead without a warranty, but not by much.

Also, a warranty doesn't mitigate the inconvenience of having it sit in the shop for major repairs for weeks at a time, having to rent a car, having it towed, etc. An unreliable car with a warranty is still an unreliable car.

Toothbrush · #78 03-07-2018, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pushrod

The good news: I picked it up from the heater control valve repair and I've driven it to work for a whole 2 consecutive days without it breaking! Probably best to not test my luck any further.

This is the funniest thing I've read this week. Keep in mind I'm still working out a misfire on mine (on hold at the moment) and am too stuborn to not keep it after it's 'fixed'.

As for the warranty, I paid well under the car's value from a private dealer, but I'm inching towards that mark the longer I own it, so maybe the exception cost wise (one can hope).