For me it wasn't bad at all. I opted to pull the manifold off the back of the engine instead of pulling the WP. The hardest part for me was getting the manifold back on the back of the engine, but really it wasn't that bad. You can use a lil dab of super glue to hold the gasket in place......

I feel a VPG "kit" is a waste of money. You don't need to buy a new pan. Simply scrape of the old gasket and lay down a new bead of black rtv sealant. The orings are a few bucks at the dealer. I believe I paid 7 or 9 bucks for the manifold gaskets on the back of the engine at the dealer. I amazoned the ccv and intake manifold gaskets.

The ccv..... Ya forgot about that:). I actually broke off one of the nipples during disassembly so I was forced to replace it.

I would not attempt to do the VCG while the intake manifold was off. Safety first!:)

@Heli - OK, I guess it makes sense not to do both at the same time. Don't want crud or coolant going where it shouldn't. I found your posts talking about removing the accumulator and going in from the back instead of taking off the WP. If I only need some black rtv, I'm perfectly ok with that instead of the kit. It also means I can do it sooner and don't need to wait for parts.

Do you have a DIY or anything that you followed? I searched briefly, and will find an actual DIY to do this since that hose needs to be replaced.

Update...nevermind, found both a PDF on XOutpost and a thorough DIY on e38.org.

Coolant leak fixed! The hose was the engine inlet to the water valve hose. It was kind of a pain to get at, but a small 6MM wrench, some patience, and it was out and replaced. It had a hole about 1/4" near the end on the engine side.

All told, less than an hour to remove the cabin air filter housing, R&R the hose, and get everything put back together. I will still be doing a larger R&R on the entire cooling system later, but for now I have my X back!

Hi there this may sound silly but we went through this same issue with our 01 x5 4.4L recently. We were putting in almost a gallon of coolant every 3 days. Turned out to be out coolant reserve tank. Cost us $231. For part and labor.

Yes, I think the coolant reserve tank is a common point of failure. Mine looks almost new, as do the hoses on it, but the float is destroyed. :( I'll be replacing it going forward, once I get my garage back and it's above 0* F outside.

Haha. Feeling the weather pain. Good luck. I'm currently locked out with a dead battery. ��

I just bought my X5 with that hose blown, the seller thought the engine was shot, turns out it was just the hose. Lol. I ended up replacing all the heater hoses, dirt cheap and takes about 20 minutes. Glad you got it figured out.

Do to this minor repair (but major leak) got me my X5 for dirt cheap;)