Man what Next!
 

Yesterday I finished the oil canister housing gasket. Took the 3.0 out for a test ride and on my way back I saw steam coming from my grill. Resevoir split. I limped over to my friends garage and decided to leave it with him to fix. $250 damn does it ever end?

Yes......... sorry I mean No :(

Ahhhhh...the joy of owning an X5, the older they get they worse it's gonna be.

Replacing the entire cooling system is preventative maintenance on these ;)

Thanks for making me laugh... I needed that. :bustingup

Back when I had a 540 I knew some E38 owners who kept spare radiators in their garages. lucky for me the M5 seems have an over-built coolant system.

This Friday will mark 1 year of ownership for my 2002 4.4. Bought it with 134k and it now has 153k. In that year, I've had to replace:

Front axle
Tie rod
Radiator
Radiator hoses
Valve cover gaskets
Timing cover gaskets
Window regulator
A few climate control buttons
Torque converter
Serp belt tensioner pulley
And probably more stuff I'm forgetting


And I still need to replace:

Aux fan (not working)
Starter (making noise)
Front driveshaft guibo (cracked)


This has been the least reliable vehicle I've ever owned. Luckily I'm able to do all the work myself, and without paying dealer parts prices. If I took it to a dealer for all of that work, that's over $5k in maintenance for one year.

My Explorer, with 150k miles, required just a radiator in 3 years of ownership, that's it. My 300k mile e30's are both way more reliable then this X5. I will never recommend an e53 X5 to anyone, unless they want a dated luxury vehicle with modern luxury vehicle maintenance costs. It's nice to drive, but it's not THAT nice...

^^ about the same as I did on mine. good that labor prices are dead cheap for me )

You know, it's sad but true. I own an indi repair facility so repairs are really of no consequence for me, but on the other hand, the first time my (new to me) 02 E53 3.0i manual trans leaves me stranded, it will be the last time. I've had 2 super reliable Z3s and currently summer travel in a 98 M Roadster and have never had any problems in a combined 50K miles of road trips. I can't for the life of me understand why rear window regulators, seldom used, axles/boots, cooling systems, etc, etc, etc, fail on these cars when the so called garbage domestic equivalent vehicles do not have these problems on higher mileage cars. Like I said, first time will be last time.

Wow, my sentments exactly. Every time you turn around it's $700 for this $2300 for that. I am able to do about half of the needed repairs so far. In the last 2 years I could have bought an entry level lift and all the specialty tools needed to fix this beast for what I have handed over to my indy mechanic and my dealer... and I'm doing everything I can myself.

So far, I've not had any window regulators go bad. Knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, avoiding sidewalk cracks, mirrors and black cats.

BTW the above resevoir repair was $560 when he told me $250 that was just for the parts not labor and shop supplies.

I'm going to run this car as long as I can. Sad to say but, If I buy another BMW it will only be a weekend car. People I know with Lexuses say they are very reliable. Maybe try that next... maybe not. I do like the BMW