2002 X5 virgin.
 

Hi everyone!
I just joined a few days ago when I foundout I will be the happy new owner of a family friends 2002 X5. To make sure I treat this vehicle properly I wanted to ask what you all do for maintenance?

The information I know about the vehicle is:

Year: 2002
Model: X5, it used to have an 4.1 engine but that was replaced by a 3.0 (the family friend did this, he is a licensed engine mechanic in Toronto and has had his own specialist shop for the past 10 years).

As my dad is conducting the deal while I'm away on business (moving back home due to a new job) I know very little about the car except that its also black... and needs a ball-joint replaced. This will be done before I get the car and it has new tires.

I was thinking once I get it I would get it properly shampooed and washed and then get it desalted and undercoated.

Last but not least, I was hoping what upgrades and modifications you recommend?

My question to you would be... are you getting this car at a deep discount to the normal price of a 3.0? If not, I would not bother with a car that has been modified so drastically when you could just get a car that came from the factory with a 3.0 fairly easily.

Well first off, welcome to the club.

FYI, the V8 is a 4.4. The sport is a 4.6. I'm sure you will find tons and tons of info here detailing just what you need. And for a helpful tip, when you search for answers, I found the google search gets me better results.

Enjoy!

good luck with this car. i hope that your mechanic did not tell you that the original motor was a 4.1 litre. something isn't adding up with the engine swap. what happened to the original motor? how many miles were on the car before the motor swap and how many now? make sure you investigate everything because this X could cost you big $$$.

Echo the comments above re this sounding like a project car.

There was no 4.1, there was a 4.4. Changing the engine to a 3.0 would be complicated by the fact that they use different transmissions, and some coding may be required so that you don't get continual error lights on the dash. The software has to know what engine and options the vehicle has.

Washing it is a good idea, but skip the undercoating. All it does at this point is hold the salt in. Rust isn't an issue on these vehicles.

Thanks for all the replies guys! I will look into all of that. I am getting the car for around 8000.00 canadian. I also consider the engine swap a major change in this vehicle but I trust this person a lot, he has always been there for me and helped me out in the past for free whenever I needed. The primary reason for the swap was to get better milage. I will ask him the full details and get back to you.

P.S. The 4.1 was mentioned by my dad, so I'm pretty sure it was a 4.4 as it usually ends up being like a broken telephone conversation.

Primary reason was to achieve better mileage? Fuel mileage I am assuming? What is the cost of an engine/transmision swap? 6-8 K at a minimum? Something just doesn't smell right.

The 4.4 and 3.0 have a 1mpg average difference, so they did a complete engine, trans and computer swap? Sounds like a lot work and money for a measily gain. I don't know if I would trust buying a basterdized car unless it was my own personal project that I KNOW was done right vs someone trying to sell it off and potentially make it my problem.

For $2K more you can gave a factory 2000 X5 that wasn't swapped. I would say "thanks but no thanks". Look around before you lay down the cash for this car.

Ok so after listening to you guys I talked to him on the phone personally and foundout the REAL story. It actually is an 2002 X5 3.0.

The mileage on the vehicle was high 234,000. So when this family friend bought the vehicle, he took it to his shop and rebuilt the engine. I'm not sure what else he has changed. Any suggestions into what I should look for when I talk to him on a vehicle with such high milage?

He has reciptes to all of the work he has done, including replacing the ball joint, bushings, etc. Also he said if anything goes wrong to just bring it back to his shop and he will fix it for free.

What do you guys think?