Overboost 2004 E53 Build Thread
 

Bought my 2004 X5 back in 2008 as a ZSP sport package from Hendrick BMW in Charlotte as a CPO with 30,000 miles. Currently 220,100 miles and enjoyed every mile.

I will be updating this thread as I get the pictures and documentation.

Exterior

• 4.8is Rear Bumper
• 4.8is Front Bumper
• 4.8is Front Fender Flares
• 4.8is Rear Fender Flares
• Staggered 20" Style 87 Wheels
• Factory Adaptive Xenon Headlights
• Weisslicht LED Angel Eye Bulbs
• LED license plate lights
• LED reverse light bulbs
• Retrofit Rear Fog Lights
• Matte Black Kidney Grills
• Retrofit Factory Park Distance Control
• Retrofit Factory Power Folding Mirrors

Interior

• Front Electric Leather Heated Sports Seats
• Retrofitted Factory Heated Sport Steering Wheel
• European Fire Extinguisher
• European First Aid Kit
• European Warning Triangle
• LED Lighting
• EC LED Compass rear view mirror

Engine and Transmission

• M54B30 3.0 Liter
• GM A5S390R (GM 5L40-E)
• Yonaka Dual Walled Angled Stainless Steel Quad Exhaust Tips

Audio

• Factory DSP
• AVIN Avant-4 Infotainment System

• External Microphone
• iGo offline navigation maps in microSD card
• iBus adapter in USB1
• DDVR-CAM2 dual front and rear camera recording with lane departure and collision avoidance warnings in USB2
• WCPAA Wireless CarPlay / Android Auto - USB Adapter in USB3
• USB AUX 3RCA accessory input extension cable connected to the CarPlay Box ending up at cigarette lighter so the USB is easy to get to. The 3.5mm jack to RCA (video/audio left and right) on the same cigarette lighter plug goes to AV IN

Electronics and Coding

• Retrofit European LCM switch with rear fog button
• Programmed halos as DRL
• Programmed triple blink turn signals
• Programmed front fog lights as cornering lights
• Modified temperature gauge buffer
• Modified engine over temp alarm
• Dual rear fog lights
• Front fog lights with high beams
• Comfort open/closing windows and sunroof
• Hazard impulse speed
• Crash hazard impulse speed

* following build reserve spot *

Very nice! :thumbup::thumbup:

Very clean bay, two thumbs up!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Nice build! Loving the clean engine bay. Looking to swap out my heating steering wheel for a sport heated steering wheel down the line. Where would one source one from?

eBay - but get your wallet out...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-Brand-E...sG7:rk:28:pf:0

I bought one for $300 or so last year off ebay from some company I cant remember and they refunded my money since they couldn't produce one.

Seems they are getting rare.

OB. What year did you do your rear fog retrofit ?
Only asking same mod on my end, I don't have the *led* light to the left of ~auto~ on your light switch. Unless, you say it was not OE and it was a mod in itself ?

I did my retrofit last year.

LED indicator is for adaptive headlights which my X5 has. I ordered the switch with the rear fog button from Latvia fleaBay seller that had the LED indicator but you can get them both ways (with or without). This is the thread I used when retrofitting the rear fog lights. It is missing some pictures on the first page but it is 25 pages so you will find more toward the end.

A special shout-out to avonside, mrtm2008, TerminatorX5 and Ricky Bobby for paving this trail.

https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...-complete.html

Ah. I see. I did the rears back circa 2006

Yeah, I guess I was a little late to the party. I didn't start modding my X until 2016. :dunno:

LOL. Ur catching up quick :D

Don't forget the roundel valve stem caps.

Not sure I follow. Valve stem caps are the least of interest to me...

Heh. It was a OG joke
Just poking the bear :stickpoke

just beautiful man, always great to see an E53 owner taking car of his beast!

Hi OP, how are those Yonaka exhaust tips?
I have seen them on ebay and was wondering how their quality is.

Did they bolt on right up without any major adjustments?
(Of course after taking off the original drool tips)

The quality is great, actually heavy when you hold them. You will need to have them welded on. If you try to use the clamping method, they will stick out the back too far. Here's the way I cut both sides to get the correct length out the back.

https://xoutpost.com/attachments/x5-...107_095425.jpg

Thanks for the pic!

Gives me a good idea of what needs to be done.
Looks like yours is welded on really nicely.

if you guys need parts try northside imports my brother in law works there prices are great and affordable

WHERE DID U GET YOUR LCM MINE JUST WENT LOONY FRONT TURN SIGNAL STAYS ON AFTER KEY IS OUT OF IGNITION AND THE BACK RIGHT REAR BRAKE LIGHT DOES NOT WORK REPLACED EVERYTHING AND ASSEMBLY AND BULBS STILL SAME PROBLEM... DID U HAVE XEONON FRONT HEADLIGHTS WHERE DID U GET YOUR FRONT HEADLIGHTS?

THANK YOU

My LCM is original. I changed out the faceplate for the rear fog capability. Headlights are also original adaptive Bixenon.

DIDNT KNOW THEY MADE THEM JET BLACK
 

i though it was only Black Schwartz colour.
Is that Fire extinguisher OEM BMW or youve added it yourself?

Hey Boost! I miss you brotha! Keep that E53 shining!

BMW was colorblind back in the days, where there were 2 blacks, about 5 shades of gray/silver, white, and a silverish blue (toledo).

Yes but the JET BLACK Was only in the older models isn't it?

Nope - Jet Black and Sapphire Black were the 2 blacks offered for the entire 1999 to 2006 model years (at least here in the North America market). Most people (included myself) chose Sapphire because it's a bit easier to maintain.

FTFY (apologies to the jet black owners :D)

The sparkling sapphire flakes does look mesmerizing in the sun ;)

Also Olivine Green

Just crossed the 190K mile mark this week. Still runs like a top :thumbup:

Congrats on hitting 190k! Our have been pretty much stalled at 148k since our X had been relegated to being our spare 3rd car duty.

I do love that Olivine Green.

Nice looking e53!
What does the 'modified temp gauge buffer' do for you?
Are you able to set the temp for the over temp alarm or is it a predetermined bit?

The modified temp gauge is simply taking out the ridiculous 40C (104F) buffer in our coolant temp gauges. The gauge will read in the straight up position anywhere from 75C to 115C. Not acceptable in my opinion so I just change the hex code of the gauge EEPROM with PA Soft 1.4 to have a more suitable buffer of 10C from 85C to 95C. You will find and have to change the code in 2 places as listed below. This is coding for the M54B30 engine and is spot on. The 8 cylinder version of engines temperatures seem to want a little more buffering and maybe take those to a 20C buffer

The addresses for the code string are:

0x0F0 rolling into 0x100
0x290 rolling into 0x02A0

My original hex code starting at:
0F 62 32 CB 4B CB 73 38 78 6A 7D FF
Changed to:
0F 62 3C CB 55 CB 5F 38 6E 6A 73 FF

This brought my buffer to 10C (85C-95C) instead of the ridiculous 40C (75C-115C) and lowered my red zone from 125C to 115C so I have some early warning to shut it down without killing the engine. It also brought my blue zone from 50C to 60C so I would have been alerted about my soft fail thermostat easier.

I programmed the EEPROM and took it for a ride with Torque Pro running and it is right on the money. I can not test the red zone but it can only be spot on as well.

For anyone wanting to change the buffer on the stock X5 E53 you need PA Soft 1.4 software. Here are step-by-step instructions with PA Soft 1.4
1) Click on IKE.
2) Click "Read EEPROM"
3) Hex editor functions are in the lower left hand corner. Click the floppy disk icon to save the factory loaded file onto your desktop as backup.
4) Make revisions from "factory" values to "revised" values shown above: Find the corresponding offset and move the cursor over the bytes to be revised. You can use arrow keys to move the cursor as well.
5) Click "Write EEPROM." Your cluster will flash and beep several times after completion -- and like magic, your gauge will now reflect more accurately what's happening under the hood.
6) You will need to reset you time and date after the cluster EEPROM has been flashed

https://xoutpost.com/attachments/x5-...g-x5-gauge.jpghttps://xoutpost.com/attachments/x5-...g-gauge-x5.jpg

To change the over temp gong alert you just need NCS Expert and NCS Dummy to make a new parameter to select from the LCM trace file. This should work on all high clusters. I have never verified as I have never got to 115C but it should all be straight forward.

I looked at my trace file for my C22 LCM and found the following.

KUEHLMITTELTEMP = melden (reported)
(CHECK CONTROL FOR COOLANT TEMPERATURE)

KUEHLMITTELUEBERTEMP_CAN = activ
(CAN-BUS COOLANT OVERHEATING)

MOTOR_UEBERTEMP = 125_grad_celsius - 125 ºc (257 ºf)
with an option of 130_grad_celsius - 130 ºC (266 ºf)
(ENGINE OVERHEATING [TEMPERATURE_ºC=DATA])

So if MOTOR_UEBERTEMP are the alarm thresholds:

I will add another parameter to MOTOR_UEBERTEMP:

115_grad_celsius - 115 ºc (239 ºf)

Open up the LCM.Cxx file with NCS Dummy without loading any FSW_PSW files, go down to MOTOR_UEBERTEMP, right click it, and click "add parameter". Name it whatever you want, and under data put the hex value of the temp alarm you want. Then click on module -> update module.

You will be able to select that new parameter when coding the LCM now.

https://xoutpost.com/attachments/x5-...-alarm-mod.jpg

Nice work Boost! I would definitely like to have this mod!

Awesome!. Thanks for that info Overboost. Well done.

Overboost, where did you find the options you wanted or had the option to code for the e53? I found this list here for e46, and I know some of those will be cross compatible but wondered if you had found a complete e53 list.

Nice info! Very detailed :thumbup:

Watching Daytona and your car running this am. Looking good

We actually never finalized our driver line up to run the 24 Hours of Daytona in the LMP3 class. We bought 2 cars in November, 1 to run in WeatherTech in the 24 and 1 to run in IMSA Prototype Challenge (IPC).

We did run Daytona last week at the ROAR before the 24 as that was the first race of our IPC season. All the WeatherTech competitors were there for practice for this weeks 24 hour race.

Unfortunately, our race was over in 6 laps when our driver got collected in the melee in turn 2 when one of the cars spun on the first restart. There were 19 cars all coming 3 wide and nowhere for our driver to avoid contact. We hit him and then ass packed by 2 more cars behind us. Day done. Somewhere around $70K in damages to a brand new car. Our race was actually the 10 minutes of Daytona. :banghead:

Other than that little issue, how was the play Mrs Lincoln? :)
I watch most of the racing along with 23 other people in the US. Racing was good, the play by play sound to racing background engine sound was pitiful. You could only understand every other word. I wish they would add vehicle/engine type to every graphic on driver race positions.

My wife's tolerance to zoom, zoom, zip, bratttt! is VERY limited. I personally thought it sounded GREAT.

Here is our IPC race last week. Not the NBC coverage we wanted. Oh well, get it back together and head to Sebring. Still up in the air on the 12 Hour but for sure running IPC again.

https://youtu.be/mRm1n8DySVs

This thread already had good content. Now with LMP3 cars? Subscribed!

Thanks but this thread is mostly about my journey with my X5 build. If you want to follow along with my racing adventures in all my series, subscribe to BMW Road Trips.
https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...oad-trips.html

Hey Overboost,
Love the build! I just acquired an 06 3.0i that's in fantastic shape, I'm installing my advin 4 tomorrow but had a question about the exhaust tips. What was the piping size for the single inlet to match up to the stock muffler? I see you did dual 3.5 outlet tips.

Thank you!

2.5" to 3.5" tips. If you go with the Yonaka universal tips you will need to cut and weld them on so they don't stick out too far.

https://www.amazon.com/Yonaka-Outlet...motive&sr=1-38

https://xoutpost.com/attachments/x5-...107_095425.jpg

Appreciate it!

X5 (e53) - with MANUAL Trans [2 on Facebook Marketplace]
 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...al&exact=false

Facebook Marketplace -- on 1/4/2022, see 2 X5's (e53) - with ** MANUAL Trans ** [1 in Charlotte, 1 in Savannah]

above link, may not work; how it pulled up for me.

PS: I'm Auburn '82 Finance grad, own / DD = 02 e53 X5 3.0i w/ 288k, all Maint & Records, runs great

Me: looking for e53 w/ Rear Air suspension (I kno, many/most, delete it out, for Springs) -- I want more Comfort, than my non-Air. I don't know if 3.0i e53's even offered < Adaptive Suspension > ... maybe in 'Sport Option'.

Likely: hunt for "high-Hwy Mileage" used X7 ... wish were more Used 7's around.

G'Day Overboost,

New X5 owner here having just purchased a4.8is in Le mans blue. Somebody has royally borked up the whole DSP system in my car (Nav works, speakers have some crackle, no audio from the cd changer yet I can control it all just fine, TV module appears and disappears, no reception, tape deck throws an error when inserting a tape, front screen sometimes flickers) so I'm wondering if you have a build thread or any informatrion on how you upgraded your sound system?

Beautiful example you have there BTW, I hope I can get mine running and looking as nicely as yours.

Cheers from Australia,

https://i.vgy.me/EqQEMm.jpg

https://i.vgy.me/A643kR.jpg

G'day Mate. Thank you for the compliment.

I removed the factory radio and CD and replaced with the AVIN Avant-4 head unit. The problem you are experiencing may be water intrusion in the rear, check all your connections for corrosive contacts.

You also may be at end of life on your current system, I recommend the AVIN Android conversion. I have had mine for years with little complaints. :thumbup:

Thanks for the info,

Do you mean water in the rear section where the CD changer etc is or in the wheel well? I know at one stage all of the factory Audio was removed and aftermarket put in, then another owner restored it.

Do you have a link to the Android unit you installed? Was it a PITA?

Cheers :thumbup:

Yes in the rear spare tire area. Look for water intrusion. Here is a link to the unit I used. The install is a little full with reverse cam and navigation but only a couple of wiring runs to the rear from the front.

https://avinusa.com/avant-4-multimed...mw-x5-e53.html

Thanks Overboost,

Wow, those Avin units are not cheap especially when you add in all the required modules :wow:

Only expensive for those of us down-under that have to wear the foreign exchange rate, GST on import and high freight costs. :rolleyes:

I'd have one in a heartbeat if it weren't for those factors... ;)