Bad Luck Comes in Threes? (535D)

[C0ffin D0dger]

Probably should have heeded my own warnings and got rid of my 535D tourer by now (Sept '08 registered, E61), planned to keep for three years max but it's now approaching 3 1/2...

So the weekend before last whilst at the in-laws the remote locking / unlocking stopped working. I'd wondered if my key had got wet as we'd been caught in the rain but on getting home the spare wouldn't work it either. Google suggested water ingress into the antenna diversity module under the 3rd brake light on the rear screen and/or broken wires in the boot hinges, both common faults. Looks DIYable but haven't got round to looking at it yet. The broken wires bit certainly seem plausible as the heated rear screen also stopped working a while back.

So this morning on the way to work got out of the roadworks on the motorway and started to accelerate, feels a bit flat, further shove of the accelerator and not a lot happening. Seems like the big turbo is not boosting. No smoke, noises, rattles or anything else. Google suggest a split or broken vacuum hose somewhere on the turbo or an actuator.

Finally took it out at lunchtime to see if the turbo issue may have corrected itself (it hadn't) and on starting I get a warning about a failed brake pad sensor! After stopping and starting again I didn't get the warning. Hoping it's just an electrical glitch but who knows.

Not having much luck with it at the moment. Think I'll get everything fixed and sell it which I should have done several months ago!

[C0ffin D0dger]

Welshbeef said:

Friday 13th! It struck me as well/lady reversed into the rear of my 535d despite my horn sounding constantly for 5 seconds before impact.

Provided you are happy with the car performance space spec then once these jiggly things are fixed why not keep running it? I say this as I'm assuming it's the daily commuter and dump duty trips and family outings. As such it's tool for the job so get replacement which is newer you'll get a bit more mpg a bit more power warranty but at the big expense of depreciation. Run yours now for another 3 years is wager the depreciation from its today value would be very small.

It certainly is the daily commuter and does all the other stuff well as you say such as transporting the kids bikes to wherever, tip run, holidays, camping etc.

Spent most of Sunday stripping off the boot spoiler and the wire guides in the hinges only to find a perfectly dry antenna module and no severed wires in the hinges. There was one wire that looked crushed / could have been broken inside so I chopped a little bit of that out and soldered in a new piece but it made no difference Very frustrating.

It's now booked into my mechanic's on Thursday to look at the loss of boost and this issue.

Problem is I bought it when we were a dual income family but now the wife isn't working for childcare reasons we don't have much wiggle room in our finances so if anything went badly wrong with it then I could end up with no car. Plan was to flog it, clear the small bit of debt I've got left against it, and then get something simpler but without borrowing any more money. Have to see what they say on Thursday.

[C0ffin D0dger]

So nearly £900 lighter of pocket I had a new antenna diversity amplifier thingy fitted which sorted out the remote locking issue and after much head scratching around the turbo issue two new actuators + all the pipework replaced and we're back to full boost.

Not a good month