After many BMWs, finally snagged my first X
 

TL/DR version: been through a bunch of cars. BMWs were always my favorite. Needed a winter vehicle and snagged an amazing 200,000 mile X5.

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Greetings all. So...I tend to go through cars like most people go through underwear. This means I've had the opportunity to drive quite a variety of vehicles, my favorites of which have been BMWs. My first car was a salvage title E32 735i and it kind of ruined me. I mean, never again would any auto manufacturer live up to the quality i experienced at the age of 16. So in the midst of all the Mazdas, Jeeps, Hondas, etc that I've owned, the BMWs have always been the shining stars. I've gone through a few E34s, E36s, one E46 and currently own a 1990 535i/5 and a 1997 Z3 2.8. I rarely hang onto them very long though which means as Fall approaches I usually find myself searching for a capable winter vehicle to handle the midwest weather. This year I ended up finding an amazing example of an E53 at our local auto auction and just couldn't turn it away. So now I've finally purchased my first X with a 2005 3.0i

As far as I can tell it was optioned with shadowline trim (windows only. was it not an option for the grille?), cold weather package, standard non DSP stereo which I've since replaced with a Sony, bixenon auto-level headlamps, and electric folding mirrors which of course are broken.

Overall for 196,000 miles though, I couldn't be happier.

https://preview.ibb.co/iqztOU/IMG_20180829_081011.jpg

https://preview.ibb.co/kZL03U/IMG_20180829_081039.jpg

https://preview.ibb.co/eA4SiU/IMG_20180829_081058.jpg

https://preview.ibb.co/fT0NHp/IMG_20180829_081131.jpg

https://preview.ibb.co/iL94V9/IMG_20180829_081203.jpg

https://preview.ibb.co/bRoyq9/IMG_20180829_081220.jpg

https://preview.ibb.co/ipDbcp/IMG_20180829_080936.jpg

So far I'm in love. The purchase was an absolute steal because the front brakes were grinding and the SES light was on. Brakes/rotors have already been replaced and the SES light is on due to a Lean condition code followed by a system wide misfire. I already found the vacuum leaks and am replacing intake boots. Surprisingly, the DISA valve doesn't appear to be leaking. I also replaced the aux fan and the a/c works flawlessly now.

Things to be fixed still:
Left headlamp has a bad ballast and bad halo bulb. Also foggy and needs to be restored
Right Rear door doesn't open from outside
Flush mount the head unit USB plug into the Metra dash kit
Find the right exhaust bumper surround
Driver mirror doesn't fold in
Possibly install a hitch receiver
Drivers door window regulator
Trans fluid and filter
Possibly replace the oil pressure sending unit. Oil light flickers at idle, but that could be due to the lower idle from the vacuum leaks.

The list seems long, but its all pretty minor stuff. I'm still amazed at how clean it is considering the mileage. Happy to finally have my first X5 and looking forward to fixing the few things wrong and making a few modifications along the way.

Looks like a very nice find!


I'd add differential and transfer case fluid changes, as well as cooling system inspection/overhaul based on mileage. Serpentine belt, as well as repairing any oil leaks.

Thanks.

Yeah i'll basically be doing all the fluids. I already know there's a coolant issue because I can smell it and after about 400 miles the coolant level comes on. Our 330i had the same issue and I think it was a small crack in the reservoir. Zero oil leaks though, amazingly enough. Not even a valve cover gasket lol. And the no belt cracks or anything like that. The good news is i'm familiar enough with BMWs of these generations to be comfortable with whatever might happen.

Zero oil leaks. Yet. 😂😂. But yeah great find. Welcome to the club. But yeah as mentioned cooling system overhaul is paramount. I also have a 2005 3.0. Same color with gray interior. Love the thing.

Good luck man.

sweet car and welcome....

Great find and welcome to the club.

Got the refurb ballast in and now I have both headlights!

Next on the list is to change the oil and other fluids. That'll let the motor cool down enough pressurize the cooling system and see where the slight coolant scent is coming from, and see if i have enough silicone couplers and bends to replace the leaky intake.

Also while digging around installing my stereo, I found a Viper remote start box under the dash. It has all the components there, including the DEI bypass unit with a key inside. While i'm usually all about doing my own work, I don't feel like messing with the programming on this unit so I made an appointment at a local installer to see if they can program a remote for me. If they can, that'll be the icing on the top of this pretty delicious cake.

Edit: Oh, and I just wanted to say this site has been a great help with some of the more X5 specific stuff I've been dealing with.

Loving that Kalahari beige metallic, looks just like mine :D

My wife says its an old man color lol

She said awesome all wrong

That's what I told her haha.

Of course since its been raining for 2 days now, I'm getting random tail/brake light warnings on my dash. Seems like a good excuse to disable the hot/cold monitoring and force braking and pick up some LED tails. Had the same warning in the rain on our E46 and replacing the tails was the solution there as well.

Good luck finding LED tails that are designed for the facelift X5.... most are for the earlier car, which has very different wiring. You'll have to hack something up...

Why not just use some led bulbs?

The whole point of changing the tails lights to LED is to ditch the unreliable bulb sockets and holders on the OEM fittings. Just changing to LED bulbs gives you all the grief of LED without eliminating the crappy sockets. :(

I've "fixed" the OEM sockets and fittings, which is one way to eliminate the near-constant tail/brake bulb warnings. Others have fitted aftermarket LED tail light assemblies to the facelift cars; depending on the exact LED chosen, the wiring and programming changes are not too bad. But it's not plug-and-play. :cool:

Welcome. Sounds like you are having fun getting it in shape

I took mine out, used some scotchbrite to clean up the corroded areas on the taillight and bought some new bulb holders. Everything works as new now.

Why not go that route? The ebay LED lights look like garbage on them.

Your "fix" won't last. You need to add a dab of solder under where the tabs for the bulb holders rest. I think the tabs on the bulb holder get soft from heat and then the contact becomes loose. When the contact gets loose it starts to arc. When it arcs it gradually burns away the tab on the bulb holder. The dab of solder keeps the tabs solidly in contact with the metal of the tail light. Well known defect and well known fix.

I always fit bulbs with a smear of ''Vaseline'' around the metal pieces and contact areas, will stop any corrosion.
Always works for me.

Lez

I'll have to try some of these suggestions. The LED tails i found (dont have the bookmark on this computer) indicate they are for 2004 - 2006 only.

The LED tails can be used on pre-facelift and facelift X5's - you may need to swap some pins in the wiring harness (I had to on my 2003) -

Yep - that's what I meant by "hack something up..." . :thumbup:

Looking at the wiring diagrams etc. there are at least three variations in tail lights and tail light wiring in the e53 production run from 1999-2006. :confused:

How can something so simple be so complicated... :rolleyes:

I see. I prefer the oem lights imo. I thought the issue with the sockets was heat from the conventional bulbs, which I would assume wouldn't be a problem with leds. I like the pop the leds give when they go on and off. Im not necessarily after the cluster array look, so its something ive always considered doing. No issues atm, but if I upgrade, ill likely go that route.

Not heat from the conventional bulbs. Crappy contacts causing shorting which causes erosion of the pins.

After-market LED tails and replacement bulbs are illegal in NZ anyway, so moot point for me. :rolleyes:

I can’t remember hacking anything up...:whew:
But I did have to change some values with NCS expert, to stop the flickering..

https://xoutpost.com/945903-post15.html


https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...ght-diy-3.html

Never had a problem with a taillight socket in 121,000 miles. Since they have lasted this long, if one ever does fail, I will replace it with same socket.

LED or high intensity bulbs I have installed are those that don't cause a dash light or flicker. Never had to do any coding. Would seem some of the aftermarket LED taillight assemblies would have the same feature.

When I replace a bulb I always add a little Dielectric (bulb) grease. Eliminates the risk that it will run off in higher heat conditions.

I may do the dielectric grease as a preventative measure. It gets over 100C in the summer consistently for months at a time. Everything plastic turns to glass. It I guess that’s better than salt and corrosion from the eastern states.

Um...my conversions may be off but...isn't 100C the equivalent of 212F? As in boiling?

yeah brain fart. 100F.

One step forward, two steps back.

Replaced the right ball joint (Huge PITA to do btw) and took care of the loose front end issues I was having so that's nice. Also changed the oil and filter. I'd been smelling coolant and seem to need about 20oz of fluid every fill up or so. Unfortunately pressurizing the system to almost 20psi yielded not a single leak so I'm not sure what's going on there. Bubbles in the system would explain the need to put some water in the system, but it doesn't explain why I smell it sometimes after parking.

Now the oil drain plug is leaking. New one and washer should be here tomorrow, along with a pair of fresh halo blubs.

Looked over the tail light and there's some decent scorch marks on the circuit board and the sockets. If i wiggle the socket around it makes a connection, so I may try cleaning it up instead of messing with LEDs.

FM reception is trash so i'm pretty sure i'm going to have to mess with the diversity box or whatever its called and see what's happening there. Still getting the following codes when driving:
P0134 - O2 Sensor Circuit No Activity Detected (Bank 1 Sensor 1)
P0300 - Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected
P0301 - Cyl 1 Misfire
P0302 - Cyl 2 Misfire
P0303 - Cyl 3 Misfire

Makes me think the O2 sensor just needs to be replaced. I hope that's all it needs.

Using an O ring around the DISA valve seemed to get rid of the lean condition code I was getting and brought my idle up about 100rpm.

Also found the intake boot wasn't sealing (even with the hose clamp cranked) around the MAF so I wrapped some tape around the maf to better mach the diameter of the boot. That brought my RPM up even more at idle and fixed the weird hesitation i was having. Problem is i'm still dropping idle after I've been driving for a bit, but i'm thinking its related to the O2 code.

Oh. Confirmed it needs rear pads now too.

The diversity reception unit needs power and has some connections related to the OEM radio. Since you have replaced the OEM radio, these connection may have been altered. Common complaint when the OEM radio is removed....

There's a ton of wiring variations; you can see them all on the newTIS.info web site...

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...eo-navigation/

I'll have to check that out, thanks.

Today was almost successful. Replaced the front upstream O2 sensor, oil drain plug, and rear pads. Car runs much smoother with the new O2 sensor, but i'm still getting codes for all 6 misfires. I never feel any hesitation though so I'm not sure why the codes are getting thrown.

But in recovering the fresh oil while changing the drain plug, it gave me an excuse to use this guy. I 3D printed it last year when I picked up my Z3.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/3H...w1666-h1249-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/mG...w1666-h1249-no

Don't worry. I swear I know what I'm doing...
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pK...w1666-h1249-no

Cool idea mate on the oil funnel!

:bustingup on that liquid substance and MIGHT "clean and de-ice" that gunk inside that valve cover.:p: