Holy Crap that thing is spotless. What's your secret?

Rolled over 215,000 miles the other day on my X5 4.6is. Who ever said only 3.0's can get to that kind of mileage?

Love hearing these stories.. what was your maintenance/breakdown journey like?

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Oil Change
Trans Fluid Flush/Filter change.

Will probably do a fluid only flush later this summer to help purge all the old fluid out

I was thinking the same thing. I thought I had a clean engine bay. That looks like it just rolled off the assembly line! Great job...

Thanks itsbrokeagain and JAXX5! My secret is very easy and simple.

The secret is Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner. Just spray the entire aerosol can on everything under the hood. Let it foam away for 3 to 5 minutes and rinse off with a low pressure garden hose. With low pressure you have little chance of any water getting past any electrical connection seals and wreaking havoc on the electrical system. Once it dries, spray on Aerospace 303 protectant and wipe it off. The Aerospace 303 doesn't leave a greasy shine like Armor All and leaves a clean matte finish. Just avoid getting the Scrubbing Bubbles on the plastic headlight lenses. It did stain mine but a quick rubbing compound made them new again :thumbup:

You will be amazed at the results for around $10 and an hour of time.

https://target.scene7.com/is/image/T...=520&fmt=pjpeg

https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/86c...0&odnBg=FFFFFF

I bought it with 213k miles with bad chain guides. The previous owner had just spent a small fortune getting the transmission rebuilt so when the guides went he just gave up and sold it for $3500. I bought it, shipped it from Seattle to Phoenix, and fixed the guides. After that I daily drove it for about a month, but then the front driveshaft stripped out and messed up the output spline in the transfer case, so the X5 sat for a while in my backyard while I found a new (used) transfer case and a new extended length driveshaft. I recently got it all back together and have been driving it since then. I also replaced two ignition coils and the secondary heater valve, as well as a few minor cosmetic things like the kidney grilles and window sunshade hooks.

Holy cow, there's a ton of scrubbing bubbles stored in my garage by the missus. Gonna steal a can and get busy ;) SA at dealership mentioned they use 409 cleaner and it did work so-so when I tried it out. Sounds like that following up with 303 protectant may be the one keeping results excellent?

The X is my daily driver so it does get dusty under the hood after a month or so. So once a month i simply wipe the top with a damp towel when I am drying the car after a bath and once a year I give it the Scrubbing bubbles treatment. Yeah, Aerospace 303 is a great product, I only apply it when it gets the full treatment. :thumbup:

Here's a peek of my 3 series, w/200,000 miles, same treatment...

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/attachm...1&d=1492465503

Wow, thanks a lot for your post. I'm totally convinced.