Will the repair bills ever stop on this thing...
 

I've found this forum, and it's members, incredibly valuably in diagnosing and repairing my vehicle. But I think it might be time to tap out and sell my beloved X5.

Bought my '08 3.0si at 45k miles, and on the way to my now 89k miles, it's had practically the entire cooling system replaced, valve cover gasket, valve cover, and misc electrical components done. As it sits it needs a new oil pan gasket (10hrs labor), and has a leaky active sway bar.

All of that I could live with and repair, but it's also been in the shop for the past month, on and off, with power and rpm issues related to vanos faults. My mechanic has cleaned the solenoids, but the check engine light and fault code comes back within 300 miles. So we replaced the solenoids. Still came back with a 2A82/P0012 code after 2 weeks. So he ran all the procedures to test the vanos and flush the system, swapped the solenoids, and updated the software. Codes still came back after a day along with power loss and rpm issues.

After reading and talking to my mechanic, seems the likely culprit is the camshaft bearing ledge issue on this motor. And apparently when it's the intake side, as in this case, it's a whole new cylinder head to the tune of 24 hrs labor and a new head.

Even if my independent gives me a deal, still roughly a $4.5k repair on a car worth $12-$14k. And then I need to address the oil pan gasket, sway bar, and whatever else might creep up.

I love my x5, but does it even seem logical to keep it at this point?

Ive not heard of a car with 89k needing 'the entire' cooling system replaced. expansion tank and pump, sure....what else?

You sure your indy isnt a $tealer in disguise? Gotta ask.

Your post took me to a large body of issue with 'not X5s' having these issues... I cannot recall seeing this issue every posted in the E70 forums.

Find a new indy that can do a head in under 24 hrs. or an indy that camn do it without a new head!

Sry, not much help....

Maybe time to trade it.

No, I certainly appreciate the response nevertheless. And it's certainly worthwhile asking if a mechanic is bs'ing me.

Before 75k miles, I had most all the major cooling components....radiator, water pump, thermostat, expansion tank.

The mechanic i've been going to is incredibly knowledgable and honest. I'm the one that brought up the camshaft bearings after doing some research. He said very unlikely, but with the codes still coming back after trying everything, now he agrees it's the likely culprit. And his advice....get rid of the car.

And you're right. I did search the forum for this issue, and not one mention of it. It does seem to be a known issue with the N52 though.
Tech Tip: BMW’s Power Reduction and Vanos Faults Are Stored In DME
BMW N52/N54 Camshaft Bearing Ledges

And for some reason the intake camshaft bearing ledges are built into the head! So only way to fix the issue is a new head. Brilliant bit of design there.

I have a head from 2009 3.0si with 40k miles. As ARD, i never heard for such a problem(worn bearings that lead to a CEL in ~300 miles), but 2009 has a completely upgraded head to address the ticking valve lifters and so on.

You mean you have an '09 head laying around, or you had yours changed out to the newer design?

Yes, I think it might be something that was addressed with the changes in the head design to fix the ticking lifters, which I also have occasionally. To my understanding the bearing and hook ring seal at the front of the camshaft are what is responsible for supplying the oil to the solenoid. And once it gets a deep groove in the bearing, oil supply to the solenoid is restricted and will trigger a solenoid fault.

Thank you for the explanation. It is good to learn something new every day. I have the said head laying around and will give you a good price if you are interested.

Your call but to answer the titled question,
"NO". The repair bills will keep coming.:(

I'm trying to weed out every possible cause before concluding it's the cam bearing ledge. But yes, if that's what it ends up being, I'll likely just trade it in.

Only other thing I saw in the service bulletin for this issue was to check the oil filter housing cap to make sure the insert/screen was still attached, as that could cause oil pressure problems. Just checked and it was intact. But, the previous independent I had been to prior to finding my current one did the last oil change. They put in a crap Fram filter that looks to have been slightly crushed and brittle after only 2k miles. Seem unlikely it could cause that big an issue with oil pressure to cause faults, but I just swapped it with a Mann as a last ditch effort and cleared the code. I'll drive it for a bit and see if it comes back.

If the filter was crushed this means it cannot take the oil flow required by the engine and there is a pressure drop starting at the oil filter. In a band new engine that probably wont make much of a difference, but with the small wear here and there leading to a minuscule pressure drop each the critical limit is reached. As we can imagine wearing of the cam ledge will result in a slight drop in the oil pressure in the head and not a significant one. The vanos problem occurs from time to time and not every time the engine gets hot. This makes me think that higher grade (high quality) oil may help too.

Clear the codes, give it a nice polish, stop by your dealer and trade in the sucker. In the long run, you'll eventually lose more than the car is worth plus a ton of headaches.
I understand people 'love' their cars (whatever humans-metal love is) but it's not worth it.
First day my CPO expires (Jan 1st, 2018) my X5 is gone. I'd rather drive a Chevy than dealing again BMW problems. I remember years ago I had a 325. Boy, what a headache. Months of trying to figure out all problems, tons of money spent on parts and I ended up trading it. It was so frustrating.