A ex co-worker who knew the price of everything and value of nothing bought an early model KIA mini-SUV. While rebuilding the brakes he found parts that needed replacement RIVETED to the assembly. He had to drill the rivets out and replace them with proper hardware. You get exactly what you pay for!

Don't forget VW's. Same as Toyota's except VW loves to use special 12 point fasteners plus a variety of special tools for normal maintenance jobs.

racingbmwm3 and slowlanemcvane, those are exactly the replies i was hoping for, thank you very much!

i will also be making the move from a 4 cylinder, sohc 2 valve engine to a 32 valve V8, so just that alone is going to be a learning curve for me as far as the sheer number of parts and size of things :yikes:

i hope to get a longggggg running start because apparently the engine is in good condition now, so i can spend the next year studying and prepping for when the noises start someday

im definitely going to take my time and try to find procedures as close as possible, and when i do tackle this, ill be posting lots of pics and info so others can see how i fu... i mean did a great job on the first try

i used to know someone who worked on beemers all the time and i always admired how the engine and other parts were put together..it always seemed like there was "a master plan" wheres for instance the chrysler i worked on always seemed more like "were going to try and make the best of what weve got here"

thanks again!! :thumbup:

If you love your parents tell them no, if you hate them tell them to buy it...lol! Here is a DIY thread link, it's very time consuming, I think the guy who wrote it said the official BMW number is 25 man hours of labor. If I were you I would tell your parents too pass, they would be buying an 11 year old vehicle, in other words buying somebody else's trouble. These things are maintenance pigs, which they will soon find out if they buy it. They will end up replacing window regulators two or three times, the same for door handles, front end components are probably due for replacement also. Then there's the dreaded 2-1 transmission downshift slam, the cooling system is prone to failure due to so many plastic parts that get brittle with age. The SES light (Check Engine light) will come on if you fart in the car, which means take me to the dealer and bring your credit cards and checkbook...lol! The oil and power steering leaks will drive you crazy, these things leak like the Exxon Valdez, I could go on and on, but you get my point. I suggest you take a few days and read through some of the threads here on the site, that way you'll see what they'd be getting themselves into, I suggest they buy Japanese.

DIY: Timing Chain Guide & Timing Chain Replacement

:thumbup:

An 11 years old BMW that's not a CPO car and the owners are not DIYer, then a BM Trouble U is not the car for them.

Valve cover gasket for instance.

On an old 4 cylinder it would take under an hour. Remove plug wires, unbolt valve cover, replace gasket...

On a BMW V8 you'll spend 2 hours just getting stuff out of the way before you can begin to unbolt the valve cover. Engine covers, sensors, wiring looms etc..

Trust me, everything on these cars is ten times more technical. You want details of repair procedures? Head on over to youtube and start searching for valve cover DIY, timing cover DIY, CCV DIY. You'll get a very good idea when it comes to the difference.

thanks for the warnings!

i think they bought it yesterday, and i dont think i could have dissuaded them from it, they really like it..as you all do haha

if they can put another 50k on it to bring it from 106k to 156k, i think they'd be happy.

they arent DIY but im going to try and DIY for them

if it took 36 hours to replace the timing guides but there was a accurate procedure to follow, id by happy with that. ive had to do piston swaps after i cracked them from boost controller failures in my daytona and it only took about 12 hours round trip because i had already written a detailed procedure with every bolt and tool needed, it almost becomes a fun way to spend a couple days at that point.

the thing about the X5 is that if you get one in reasonable condition they are such nice vehicles that if you can somehow manage the service yourself it can really become a great experience..we shall see

btw i had seen that procedure above, i wish it was an x5, but it does seem to be the closest so far.

maybe i can "make it" an x5 version by finding other procedures which show radiator removal and all the other missing parts of the procedure and then come up with a huge 100% detailed one lol

If you don't have the software to code a BMW, then a use BMW is not the car for you. On some BM Trouble U even something as simple as replacing the battery requires it to be coded. So your local Walmart or Sears is not going to be able to install a new battery. So that $150.00 battery at Walmart or Sears is going to cost you $400 plus installation at the local BMW dealer.

So what does coding have to do with a car??? It is another way to prevent DIYer from working on a car. Shade tree mechanics may be able to replace parts but do they know anything about technology???

Parts??? Check out what it's going to cost just for a rebuilt water cooled alternator, yep water cooled!!! Who the hell would go and design a water cooled alternator, someone must have slept though electrical engineering when they were teaching the effect of mixing water and electricity. LOL

The water cooled alternator isn't as dumbfounding as the alternator bracket gasket.

Whoever "engineered" that part should be fired and blacklisted from ever working in the auto industry again.

wow looks pretty easy..this youtube video shows a little kid doing it!

disconnect battery ground on cover
spark plug cover bolts
move a hose to get to one of the bolts
move HVAC filter housing
valve cover nuts

tada!

whats the big deal?