After 1 Year living with the X
 

So after 1 year of living with the X this is what I have done.

replaced both front outer CV boots
replaced Auxiliary fan
replaced front driver side wheel sensor
replaced DISA Valve
replaced one coil pack
replaced 6 spark plugs
replaced rear driver side wheel sensor
oil and filter change
replaced air filter
replaced wipers
replaced windshield pump and rubber grommet
replaced oil seal between oil filter housing and engine block.
replaced power steering reservoir, and hoses
replaced the missing airbag emblems on the driver side and passenger side doors.
Installed a CD Changer
Installed a Grom Audio system

How many miles when acquired and how many added since then?

2002 X5 3.0 236,000 miles
2004 325i 105,000 miles

wow, I've owned my '02 for 17 months and have replaced the battery, one seized brake caliper and installed new windsheild wipers...

Lucky, this is my list (Some preventative maintenance, some necessary) I AM NOT COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS LIST, besides the air suspension and wheel bearings, the problems I had I believe most of this is standard maintenance for the age and mileage, preventatively

- 2 New Front Arnott Air Struts (both blown and leaking when I purchased car)
- 1 Used OEM air compressor (for air susp) - (broke after being worn out from driving too long with leaking air struts)
- 6 New Spark plugs (necessary - misfire codes - original plugs)
- Assorted Weatherstrip clips (broken)
- Passenger front door handle carrier (broke)
- Replaced all drivetrain fluids with fresh (front and rear diffs, transfer case, and manual transmission - preventative)
- DISA valve gasket (preventative)
- Intake elbow tube (preventative)
- Brake fluid and clutch flush (necessary as I did not know it if it was ever done)
- Had Speedo cluster LCD repaired (dead pixels) - not necessary but was annoying
- Replaced fan clutch (was bad and making horrible noise), AC and hydraulic belt tensioners, and AC and accessory belts (preventative since doing fan clutch)
- Replaced front end suspension completely
1) Tension struts (bushings were shot)
2) Wishbone control arms (also replaced linkage for height sensors while apart)
3) Small ball joint at other end of tension struts
4) Front sway bar bushings, replaced rear sway bar links and bushings
5) Both front wheel bearings, dust covers, re-used hubs
6) Tie Rods (rods were good but seized adjustment points so I could not align car)

- Replaced factory 18" wheels with dry rotted tires with OEM 168 Replicas with Staggered Toyo Tires (not necessary to upgrade wheels but was necessary to get new rubber - a couple extra bucks for new wheels too didn't hurt)
- Replaced tail light assemblies with aftermarket LED units (necessary due to broken circuit boards and lack of motivation to fix existing dated tail lights)

That's basically all my maintenance for the most part, I knew going in though that the first 2 years of ownership would be the worst, catching up for some time of neglect as the previous owner also had a 4.8is and I am assuming my X was not paid attention to as well as the 4.8is while he was trying to sell it.

However, at least I know most all is caught up on now, and its done right and the way I wanted it to be.


EDIT: To clarify to the below post, all the above is what I have done since purchasing the car in December 2011

You guys make it sound as if the X is a high maintenance vehicle. If I would list every single thing that I've done to the X for the 9+ years of ownership, it would looked pretty bad too. But all in all, I have not really done anything that's out of the ordinary other than your "normal" maintenance items and it had never left me stranded after 89k+ of enjoyments.

Yes, I should clarify. The new battery and brake caliper for mine was due to the X sitting without much use for the better part of a year. I put less then 1k kms (about 620 miles) in that time period. No car likes sitting around that much. So excluding that, all I've done is windshield wipers. I've owned BMWs for about 10 years now and would say that everything I done to each of them is just regular stuff, nothing that I would single out as a BMW fault etc..just regular vehicle maintenance, nothing lasts forever.

upallnight, where did you get the air bag emblems?

I'm missing the one on the driver's side door and my local dealer wants $26!

In the last 6 months I've done the ignition switch, Aux fan, fuel pump/fuel filter, DISA valve. I had the intake air boot changed even though the old one was OK but the mechanic was in the area. Over the total 9 years of ownership the list is much longer.
I had a 1996 V8 Explorer Limited for 15 years and apart from the usual oil/filters/tires I only had to change the plenum because the air flap failed and the accumulator/dryer due to a leak.

So yes the X5 tends to be a higher maintenance vehicle. I put it down to being on the leading edge/bleeding edge of vehicle technology. A lot of the vehicle system "types" used by BMW have been copied by other makes and are just as unreliable.

Toyota now use window regulators very similar to those in the BMW and they fail from what I have read on the boards. Airbag suspensions in any vehicle I read about are unreliable and prone to give problems. The pano-sunroofs are in a lot of newer vehicles and they jam in those vehicles also. Electronic everything is now the norm and driving people crazy in every make of vehicle. Software glitches in the on-board vehicle control computers are common failures. The list goes on and as vehicles become ever more complex the list of possible failure points grows.

There are times I wish I had my old BMW 2002 with the upgraded twin choke carb I fitted but then I think of how it would be driving without the AC in a Missouri summer!

A good share of your list is, or could be considered,normal maintenance on any vehicle.

Is it correct to interpret your post as a matter of fact of what you have done in the last year, rather than an endorsement for high maintenance?

I had a stack of records for my old 3.0, but I refuse to tally them. It would make me feel bad about my X.