never thought about voltage regulation Andrew. all the warning lights are yellow there's no red ones , I needs to buy another one of the little plastic boxes the connectors all go into. as mine looks like is broken and someone has used silicone to seal it.
the battery is about 4 months old, 90% of the rest of the car is 155k miles and 14 years :)
just like a porn actress, her boobs are 4 months old but the rest is 25 :)

stoves tip for the sledgehammer, place an axel stand about 6 inch from wheel same height as nut then use a long extension bar (1/2) inch place foot on axel stand holding bar in, then beat the crap out of it :)

Sounds like you had a tough time of it - and I guess I was lucky! :confused:

I too watched a lot of YouTube "guides" before tackling mine but I decided that taking the suspension apart wasn't worth the pain. Once I got the splined axle out of the hub (yes, it was tough but only took about 10 mins using a bolt-on bearing puller - the one from the slide hammer kit) and removed the axle by undoing all six drive flange bolts back near the diff (after dropping the entire exhaust system out!), removing the bearing from the carrier was pretty simple.

If I ever do one again I *would* remove the spring first, as this gives you more latitude to raise/lower the carrier (knuckle) to the ideal height/position for operations such as removing the drive shaft or undoing the bearing carrier bolts etc. It was a PITA fighting the spring pressure all the time.

Looking forward to hearing of the successful conclusion to this... :thumbup:

Great feedback. I had decided to use the suspension drop method mostly because my impact wrench can turn 1100 ft·lb so big bolts don't scare me.

I'm thinking of using a spring compression tool like for installing front struts to remove the spring pressure.


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Installed the European warning triangle. Not sure if I will ever use it but I get a kick out of adding cheap little European features we never got in the US models.

We got a blue triangle case in Australia...

Funny story, I bought this red one for my E46 but it did not fit the factory cut out in the rear trunk panel so I replaced it with the blue one that is a bit larger. I bought the mounting brackets for the X5 but they are also larger than the red one so I will eventually buy another blue one for the X5. This smaller red one is for another model, maybe the 5 series that fits in the tool kit...

impact gun :) haha 1/2 inch ratchet and a big sledgehammer, there the only specialised tools you need :)
seriously though one would have been nice. it was more of a botched job than a carefully thought out operation
tbh putting it back together I'm not worried about really , as I know what I'm doing (HAHA) its the limping it over to the garage (20 miles away) and getting her codes read. as to why the gearbox is doing what its doing , :( I'm hoping the not running for a week might reset some stuff?.

Cleaned up!
Tyre foam for engine perfect cleaning! Strawberry spray for dashboard perfect :D
Stick on M small logo!

Agreed to purchase '06 E53 4.8iS with 72000 miles.

Very exciting!
Attachment 71503


Garage:
E53 X5 4.4i M62 born 2003-03-04
E90 325i N52 born 2006-03-28
F30 328i N20 born 2012-09-06

Added a coolant leak, a secondary air injection system that is being temperamental, and my driver's door handle decided to break this morning in the ice/snowstorm we got yesterday and today. Shoulda pushed it open from the inside since I was already in the passenger seat.

Pulled slowly and rapped the door a few times to break the ice and a satisfying crunch followed by a few choice words is a great way to start the morning.

I seriously hate this 0 degree weather. Everything likes to break or stop working...