Let the restoration begin!

Good Luck with it all Danny!

Sounds like the car is in the perfect set of hands for the work that's coming.

Yeah, I had the pixel issue in my dash display and fixed it myself with help from a guy with components over in the UK. It was a little like brain surgery (or what brain surgery must be like :dunno: ) but I went slowly and followed the You Tube guide and all came out very well.

Here are his details:

Pixel Fix Kit

AK speedo

Keith James
[email protected]
+44 843 289 3701

Here are some other resources for that job:

Pixel Fix Pictures

PIXEL FIX DIY write up, about a 2 hour job and some patience (Long pic warning)

https://www.apsense.com/article/how-...ble-issue.html

Cluster Removal

BMW Cluster Pixel Repair short guide from Best Pixel Repair INC

Mike

Yeah, I've read the DIYs for fixing the pixels, but I'd rather just get a professional to do it, I'm pretty rubbish with delicate electronics. In any case I may just live with it for a little while since it's not missing too many pixels at the moment— everything is still quite legible otherwise.

Anyways, onto the X5 updates!

Yesterday I gave the X5 a nice bath, which got about 90% of the dirt off. It's not perfect but it'll do for now.

Before:

https://c7.staticflickr.com/1/723/31...2e80c568_b.jpg

https://c3.staticflickr.com/1/178/31...cf924cc6_b.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/557/30...c687a959_b.jpg

https://c7.staticflickr.com/1/738/30...a85bbfe7_b.jpg

After:

https://c7.staticflickr.com/1/649/31...417dfd65_b.jpg

https://c7.staticflickr.com/1/389/30...b2869a2b_b.jpg

https://c3.staticflickr.com/1/596/31...98b351e6_b.jpg

https://c6.staticflickr.com/1/187/31...daf22c76_b.jpg

https://c5.staticflickr.com/1/555/30...b87b2731_b.jpg

I initially rinsed it down with water, used a foam gun attached to my hose to get most of the dirt off, rinsed again with water, washed with a soapy wash mitt, rinsed, washed with a mitt again, rinsed, and then towel dried to avoid water spots (Arizona has very hard water). It was extremely satisfying to see the X5 all clean and shiny, I can't wait to do a full paint correction on it!

The interior is pretty clean already, and I took some pictures:

https://c5.staticflickr.com/1/544/31...030ab308_b.jpg

https://c3.staticflickr.com/6/5574/3...5f2e714a_b.jpg

https://c6.staticflickr.com/1/424/31...4c22fe25_b.jpg

https://c7.staticflickr.com/1/278/31...351c6273_b.jpg

For 213k miles, the driver's seat wear is pretty minimal— it's less worn than the seat in my (formerly owned) 160k mile 2004 Range Rover! Somebody took real good care of this X5. All of the rear window shades work perfectly too.

The only things that doesn't work inside the X5 are the steering wheel adjustments and the driver's seat memory. From doing some research, I see that the driver's seat memory module is known to fail which causes the wheel adjustments to stop working as well. I'll tackle that once I get the engine all sorted out.

Hi Danny,

Yes, it appears you've found a diamond in a goat's butt! LOL :thumbup:

I had to change out my driver seat module also, was No Big Deal (NBD). Easy Day!

Mike

Did you buy a used module or a new module? And did you need to do any coding? I've read conflicting reports on that.

I bought a new module off ebay and no coding was required on my 2003 4.4.

With the relatively low miles I have and my intent to keep the car long term, discounted pricing on a new module worked for me.

IIRC, I watched a YouTube video for the R&R. I also remember some caution was required not to break the attaching tabs of the module cover piece.

Mike

Oh and if any of you care, I made a an intro video about my new-to-me X5: https://youtu.be/seq33eoA61E



Skip to 4:28 if you want to hear how the engine sounds, and at 7:23 I have a nice little sped-up timelapse of me washing the X5. It's pretty satisfying to watch.

I've wanted to start vlogging for a while now, so I'll be documenting my X5 build in video form as well as via posts and pictures on here. Dunno if anybody here is into that, but I'm having fun with it :)

Gotcha, thanks for the tip! I'll likely go with a new module since it seems like the older memory modules have a tendency to fail.

Do yourself a favor. Get a new seat module. 95% of these vehicles experience this malfunction. As soon as you buy a used one you begin to just count the days when that one is gonna fail.

Is that a E38 740i MSport I see??