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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

BMW X5 2005 3.0L Diesel


shaz2010
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Lads has anyone had any experience on these looking for a 4x4 to use when not in the supra or works car. Just a bit of advise on what common problems are and any major issues to look out for. Going to have a look at one tomorrow and probably have a little test drive!

 

Cheers Shareef :thumbs:

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I had one of these briefly, 05 plate

 

 

Watch out for gearbox failure, any juddering or groaning

LCD display pixels

Corroded brake pipes

 

Quite a nice car to drive, and suspension felt as good as new after 120k miles, engine was sound too, but was quite poor on fuel tbh compared to my TDV8 Range Rover

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As above, I currently have 2 of these, both manual a 5sp and 6sp, both diesel. Long story how I ended up with 2...the 5 spd which I have done so much work on is being exported at the end of the month.

 

As much as these cars are briliant with a good autobox and manuals are nowhere near as nice to drive, the autobox is a disaster waiting to happen. Just scan the ads and see how many there are for sale with duff or dosdgy auto boxes. Apparently, to provide the silky smooth gearshifts there is a lot of plate slip programmed in and this leads to the plates wearing and blocking the fluid paths. Secondhand trannies are expensive and a gamble and I have read so much about rebuilds not lasting long.

 

Look out for messy oil leaks under high boost from cold, this is the gasket inside the rockerbox that sits under the injectors and inlet runners going brittle. When cold and under high boost they leak boost into the rocker case and it gets messy as well as ingesting it's own enging oil and running on uncrontrollably. If you have ever seen a diesel enging run on you will know exactly what I mean. Turbos on the older ones are getting tired (speaking M57 diesel enging here) are easy to rebuild and not too desperate to swap, albeit done from underneath. the M57 suffers from oil breathing problems but its a simple fix and worth fitting the newer vortex pcv that BMW produced, the original "loo roll" assy blocks and can cause serious problems, the vortex is supposedly fit and forget.

 

As mentioned both the lcd displays suffer missing pixels but both are pretty easy to fix. If the orignal ICE has been taken out and replaced with a aftermarket head unit then you will not be able to use ALL the functions on the computer from the stalk unless you retrofit one of the obc units from an e53 or e39 either on extended cables and tuck it in the glove box or lose the ashtray and relocate it in the dash. I have seen there is now a head unit that runs a interface and ap to allow on screen use of the obc functions that are normally lost, but cant say what its like.

 

EGR delete is easy and non permanent as well as being worthwhile.

 

Software is a bit tricky to install but works good and is comprehensive and readily available with a interface.

 

You can bin the rear self levelling system, loads of people do but I dont see the point when the original system can be fixed relatively easy.

 

Shares a lot in comon with Range Rovers from the same era, they shared the same platform.

 

Superb cars but lots to go wrong should you get a dog. On the plus side , lots of aftermarket stuff available to fix them. Oh and buy a decent jack if you have to work on it, preferably two.

Edited by Shane (see edit history)
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Guys thanks for all the info :thumbs: I’ve test drove a few today and really like them! I’ve never had a suv before and the x5 was a really planted 4x4! I’ll keep my eyes out for the things you have said and thanks Shane some really good information there mate. This is one I drove today no knocks and gearbox and turbos pull well. No smoke. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-X5-3-0d-auto-2005-Sport/264368401920?hash=item3d8d95ae00:g:1hAAAOSwpppc7WmY

 

It also states its had a gearbox referb last year and to be fair it felt really sharp! Another one I drove and it was like the clutch was slipping !

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That looks nice and looks to be the exact same spec as my grey one which is also a D sport. If you do go for an auto see if you can negotiate a flush and fluid change on the box while it is still good and I would be steering well clear of the one with slip. I really wanted auto as the car cries out for it but just couldnt put myself in the position of potentially a load of hassle. I first bought the 5 speed and loved it despite having to do loads to it, turbo rebuild which incidentally is a easy job once out, the core cost £100, suspension, PCV, inlet/rocker gasket etc but had left my ebay search in place for a manual and a few popped up which were no better than the one I had. Then about a day after I got a new MOT on it following a load of MOT bullshit one popped up in my alerts that wasn't too far away, was a 6sp, much higher spec and in better condition and I paid only £2,225 for it, its on a 54 plate.

 

I hadn't planned on buying another but couldnt resist this one and its lovely. I had to replace the audio amp in the back but depsite what you will read on various forums the E39 amps and head units are the same thing electrically, just need to remove a small bracket on the case to make it fit. Also I had a drop link with loads of play in it. It did me a favour really as when I took it out on a test drive I thought it was the bottom ball joint clunking and as I had just gone through a load of crap changing them on my other one for the MOT I explained to the seller what a ballache they were to change and showed him the photos on my phone of what was involved and he took my offer on it. When I got under it I realised it was just the drop links clunking, less then half hour later it was done.

 

Also, if you do buy it, you can update the satnav software that one has for a few quid and also tap into the tuner (now defunct as its analogue) and convert it into a reverse camera, its quite a lot of fiddly work as you have to thread the cable through the inner and outer of the tailgate skins and I havent finished it yet, but I did wire it in loosely just to check the idea out and it worked good. Theres a great little number plate light conversion available that has a reverse camera built in.

 

They are lovely cars and the 6sp returns high 30s mpg on a run if you take it easy, however it soon drops if you drive it hard.

 

I was going to put the 5sp up on ebay with the new mot but then another deal came my way and I will be driving it out to Romania to flog later in the month, looking forward to the drive out as they really cruise well.

 

You can also programme the webasto heater to warm the car up on a winter morning before you get in, if thats been disabled in the software the software and guides are out there to sort that out, or you can simply wire in a simple remote fob receiver board and swith it on from the house on a cold morning so its defrosted when you get to it. Ace cars and wish I had bought one years ago.

Edited by Shane
typo and correction (see edit history)
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  • 1 month later...

Hi Shane mate I’ve ended up getting an X5 mate, really took my time and viewed about 10 before decideding that this was the best one I’ve seen. Nearly went for the mk2 a 2009 one but like the e53 better :) I’ll get some pictures up this weekend :thumbs:

Might pick your brain a bit on a few things if you wouldn’t mind. Bottom ball joins are gone so they are getting replaced on sat I ordered from my local parts place for £60 which I thought was a decent price. The stock stereo hasn’t got the tv function or blue tooth on their. I’ve read you have to reset or pull the fuses to get it to work again? Have you came across this ? Also how to update sat nav and does the Bluetooth just manage the phone calls or is it music as well? Ya mate

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Hi Shane mate I’ve ended up getting an X5 mate, really took my time and viewed about 10 before decideding that this was the best one I’ve seen. Nearly went for the mk2 a 2009 one but like the e53 better :) I’ll get some pictures up this weekend :thumbs:

Might pick your brain a bit on a few things if you wouldn’t mind. Bottom ball joins are gone so they are getting replaced on sat I ordered from my local parts place for £60 which I thought was a decent price. The stock stereo hasn’t got the tv function or blue tooth on their. I’ve read you have to reset or pull the fuses to get it to work again? Have you came across this ? Also how to update sat nav and does the Bluetooth just manage the phone calls or is it music as well? Ya mate

 

Sorry, I have been away on holls and then somehow missed this. The bottom balljopints on the e53 are bit of a killer to be honest without a ramp, suspect they are the same on the e70. I did it curbside and ended up removing the whole hub, once that was off they bashed out easily. I have since read that you can just unbolt the control arm and drive shaft nut and on full lock pull the driveshaft out of the hub by lulling the whole strut out. This would then give you access to bang the old joints out, but not really sure it would save that much time. The book method is to use a big slide hammer and pull them out from the underside, but you really need some clearance to do that.

 

Whch stereo have you got? The satnav is updated using the dvd drive on mine, I bought the discs from ebay for a tenner. My first x5 had an android after market thing in and that was straight forward but this second one I have has the OEM "proffesional" head unit fitted and works ok but not quite as straightforward to operate, I found the bluetooth passkey written on the module in the rear boot quarter on the passenger side.

 

Hope that helps and that you are enjoying it. I love this one, I thought the first one I had was pretty good but this facelift 54 plate is much nicer still. Incidentally I drove the first 03 plate one over to Romania in July and it returned an average MPG of 36mpg which I thought was pretty good for a car this size loaded to the hilt and driven hard.

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Hi mate no worry’s hope you had a good holiday :) I did the bottom arms on my father in laws garage on a ramp so was easy took 15 mins each side so that was a relief. The brake pipes were a little scabby so replaced all 4 corners while I had the ramp so there all done. Free of charge off him which I helped. The rear ones just joint under the plastic trim on the passenger side as all were fine under there but the fronts from the pump.

Yeah I’ve got the dvd cd changer Bluetooth module in the boot and just found a aux lead online which works with the sat nav professional (business) head unit. Got it off amazon as bmw wanted £66 for it and I paid 8 delivered. :)

They truly are a nice 4x4 to drive like put the supra away in the garage but sad but will be doing a engine rebuild on her for next spring time. The Bluetooth device I’ve bought is a mpow and it connects to the aux lead which then connects to iPhone so happy days. I’ll look for the up to date sat nav dvd on eBay.

Yes they seem to pull well and this one is straight as a dart, just clay bared it at the weekend and used some ultimate fast finish and it’s came up mint. Head lights all wet and dry then polish and they have came up mint. As well I did the full interior and it’s like brand new!

Credit to the previous owners for keeping it in good nick.

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Nice one, sorry I hadn't read your post properly and for some reason thought you had bought a E70, but in fact you said you nearly did. OK well that looks lovely and is same model as the one I have now by the looks of it and same colour also. I have the maps and softare DVDs from ebay too and they seem ok eh. I have the same wheels as you (19s) and a set of 18 M+S General Grabber AT2s for winter also. Mines pretty much mint inside too, but there are a few minor dings in the body, but nothing major and the overall condition is good. Look forward to hearing how you get on with it.

 

When you next have the engine covers off I would recommend you replace the PCV, the originals are still available and there is a fit and forget vortex type available too. Seems to be the biggest cause of engine/turbo issues on the M57.

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