there is no substitute for good planning, if you are driving in the north (on any continent!) make sure you have supplies to either walk comfortably for a few hours (warm boots /socks / jackets etc) or enough supplies to camp out in your truck for a couple days. food/water etc. Have twice the supplies you think you might need.!! a small lithium battery booster pack is very useful to have as well. as for oil, 5W040 is sufficient, if you really are concerned about viscosity, you can go to 0W-40 but its not that critical, your engine warms up fairly quickly. when you get underway first thing in the morning, start off slowly, the tires may be frozen square! and the rest of the bushings and suspension will be cold and hard. if you have the air levelling suspension, be cautious in using it, as the rubber in the bags is prone to blow out in the cold! use your parking brake cautiously too, as it is prone to freezing up and staying locked on! (don't ask how I know!) If its at all possible, park in an underground parking lot or covered stall!
make certain that the CCV system is in good repair (as stated earlier) it tends to fail catastrophically in winter!! (the mayo freezes solid) other than that take time to enjoy the northern lights they can be spectacular !!!
best of luck with your trek!

X5 to the arctic circle
 

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Here is the weakest link on the door handle carrier. Most will break right here


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So here is the carrier I'm about to install. I've reenforced the weakest link with a nylon zip tie (don't have my stainless ones with me).

By placing the lock where I did it multiplies the strength it should hold if the pot metal breaks. I will try to do a test with the one I'm about to remove.

X5 to the arctic circle
 

"I haz success"!

I was able to confirm that the double lock disconnects the lock mechanism so there is no need for the blocking bar that prevents lifting the handle when the door is locked.

I cut the little tab off that has been causing so much grief.

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Red is the lock bar, blue is the tiny tab that actually blocks the handle when locked.

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Blue is the tab and yellow is the part of the handle that is blocked

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Blue arrow pointing to the empty space where the tab used to be.

So now it's as it should have been from the beginning and how BMW decided to change them to on the current cars.

The handle pulls up but the cable pulls on a deactivated lock. It "dry fires" and does nothing.

I'm sure you could still break something but the odds of breaking a handle carrier with my modifications will be reduced 90-95%.

I left the zip tie on figuring no reason to remove.

I was going to just remove the entire lock bar but I'm not sure if it has other functions (lock the key cylinder in) so I just cut off the offending part.

As for the CCV/PCV, As I don't know if and when it was replaced, I've got an OEM one to fit, It'll be less than a year old.

I do have the rear self leveling suspension but it doesn't leak and the bags seem in good condition.

Ideally I'd love to park in underground garages or something covered but I'm not sure its an option when runing around the country and sleeping in hotels. We'll have to see what we find.

You do bring up a good point, engine warm up time. My car as of today wil take about 10 minutes to get the water to the middle mark and the oil will usually take over 20 minutes from startup to get at its running temp (a bit below the middle mark 100°C). Is that normal or do I have an unknown issue?

I've tested the webasto heater with the timer. It ran for 30 minutes then stopped, when I got in the car as soon as it stopped, the coolant showed at about 1/3 of the temp gauge and got down to a quarter as soon as I turned the engine on. The outside temp was about 2°C+wind. So it works and will be quite nice during the trip. I just need to check on the remote module and either get a complete kit or just the remote.

This is great news for the door carriers, you've probably just created the greatest mod of all for X5s. I will be following in your footsteps shortly, I like the idea of not having to change the door carriers regularly. Thank you soo much for your efforts.

You should probably create a topic just for this mod as I'm sure other will enjoy it and maybe even erect a few statues in your name.

I plan on making a thread just for the carrier fix. I will be doing the retrofit on any door I need to open up


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I am from Scotland. Mum always said when "Southerners" start to grit the roads and buy up all the bread in Supermarkets, before fitting Snow Chains. "Put a bigger coat on Son"

Sound advice that has served me well over many winters. I can add no further practical help - sorry, other than to wish you and your family a great road trip and request that you maybe put up a blog with some pics somewhere that we can view and follow your antics.

Good luck.

I like your saying. We're not overly panicked but since we're taking a 12 year old and a 68 year old, my brother and I would rather be prepared.

Thanks for the wished, I will post the pictures someway but since its only a 10 day trip, I'm not sure I'll bother with "realtime" or simply post them all once I'm back in a gallery.

X5 to the arctic circle
 

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-8 today dropping to maybe -12 C add and inch or two total snowfall, I put the tarp on with a spray of ice melt under. In the morning I'll start the car. If the window has frost I'll leave the tarp on while I preheat then peel off the tarp and a spray or two with the wiper spray should take care of it.

The close up shows the magnet in the corner

Oh: one other nice thing for the trip I always have my trailer hitch rack for carrying inside unfriendly items (sloppy wet flat tire after a change). Awesome for overflow.

I use this, without spraying any window wash and it works great. So far it's prevented frosty windshield in -20°C. Costs about $5 in Norway which means it will cost max $2.5 anywhere else in the world :)

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The spray is for when the window is wet from driving in snow web I put it on.


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