I am SO SICK of my X5!
 

Is there anyone that is actually enjoying their x5??? Or is it just impossible to do so?

I have had this car for about 5 years and i probably drove it 20% and it was parked the other 70%!

Any ways i had/have issues with the self level suspension. The dealer couldn't help me. Took it to a German shop that is supposed to be good they "fixed" the self level suspension inactive problem lasted about a week. Now i have 4x4, brake light and abs light on. Sometimes it goes into limp mode if i actually drive it like that.

I got a recall letter about the ecu and the tcu but have not had a chance to take it to the dealer yet.

Could that be causing my problems?

I am so tired of dealing with these problems and it almost seems like not even money can solve these problems short of buying every single component brand new or something.

Does anyone have any suggestions.

My wife and I love ours. Its 10 years old and seems to be in great shape so far. Of course we dont have some of the fancier stuff that the 4.4's have like the self leveling suspension and what not.

I would highly recommend taking it in to the dealer to have any recall items fixed before trying to fix anything or even think that something is overtly wrong outside the items that are under recall. The more I learn about my X5, the more I am finding out how much is electronically controlled. If you have a bad ECU then that may be the source of your issues right there.

Parked 70% of its life and only driven 20%, maybe its a typo, but what about the other 10% of its life. Parked 70% of its life sounds a bit extreme in my mind. My jeep has been parked for months on end but that was because it was wrecked and I beat the heck out of my Jeep.

the trifeca lights (ABS, 4x4, BRAKE) is the ABS module - search on the ebay for the repair services, they range from $100 to $300 with lifetime warranty.

enjoying the X5?... well, I must agree, she is like a supermodel girlfriend comparasion, that I've heard on this forum - very high maintenance, but man oh man - does she turn heads... lol... of course, there is nothing wrong with a chubby housewife with an apron that watches Oprah all day long - a Ford Taurus Station Wagon, or a Buick RoadMaster (look at her BEHIND!!!), as a matter of fact, there is more utility in that... but... as a man in a midlife crisis, i need something... a corvette... or mustang GT... or.. an X5!!! Can you picture a long-legged, long-haired Victoria Secret model that is your GF... nice... but useless in a kitchen, can't even make an omelet... hahahaha... and always wants new lingerie, perfume, jewelry... ABS module, new bushings, self-leveling suspension...
:)

What are you talking bout man lol...

OP, here is a link from another post: http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...-resolved.html

We like it. I keep them all in good shape myself.

it can be multiple of thing....
-first can be your voltage meter .....
-actuator gear...
-alternator ....
-Battery
.have these checked out...
i brought mine to M-spec performance in Brooklyn...they figured out whats wrong...actualy when this happen i would stop the car turn it off....wait like 5mins..turn it on and censor goes off.....

We love our '01, too: 86k+ miles, less than a handful of repairs over 11 years, runs like a top, still looks great...may keep it until it, or I croak.

Find a better Indie, imo. Or, if yours is the dawg it sounds like, toss it; life is short.
GL, mD

I love mine. And I have really put it through it's paces the last week. I had it for a year. Put about $3k into it, but absolutely acceptable considering I got running boards and new tires all around. Also fixed all the little issues, I'm happy.

I posted this on another part of this site yesterday - I love my X5. No major problems except the following. Total cost of repair and parts was under $400. Not bad for a 7 year old car.


My 2 cents. I have a 2005 4.4 with approx. 85k. I had similar problems (ABS, Trans fail, DSC . . . ) lights on when driving with traffic and no traffic - tranmission seemed like it totally shut down. It happened a couple of time last year then went away . . . until a few weeks ago. It happened everyweek no matter what I did.

Initially I thought it could be a tranmission problem and then search this forum and got tons of great information (possible causes - alternator/batery, ABS module or transfer case module). Checked the battery (was good), checked the alternator/votage (was good - 14.+ range - no spikes). Very frustrated at this point. It finally got to a point where it happend everytime I tried driving.

I found an Indy in my area that was a BWM specialist and had them check and clear the error codes - we wanted to create a baseline. Once cleared, drove the X5 off and headed home - BAM! - same crap again. Headed back to the Indy the next day (this time no issues - maybe the error codes cleared themselves) and had them check and clear the code again. We compared the inital read with the second and notice "votage" issues listed in a couple of areas on both reads. They decided to hook up a votage reader to the X and drove it around for the day. Some issues appeared and they noticed a spike (17+ - this is not as much as I have read others received when they had similar issues but it was a spike nontheless).

I had them clear the codes again and took the car home - no errors during the drive home. Next day I purchased a new alternator and replaced the old unit. I haven't had this issue since. This has been 4 weeks now and the Indy and I are confident it was the alternator.

Unfortunately today my battery died (7 years old) so off to O'reilly auto parts.

Best of luck.

Ditto. Although, mine is only about 8.5 years young...I'm only about 1k miles behind you :D As much I've been enjoying the X, it's getting parked a bit more recently, but only because I'm enjoying the "Moupe" more ;)