BMW X5 E70 - Being anti-PistonHeads

BMW X5 E70 - Being anti-PistonHeads

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rayyan171

Original Poster:

1,294 posts

93 months

Saturday 1st June 2019
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The saga continues!

We used BMW for the last MOT as there was an oil leak that we wanted investigating, but the state of the suspension put the oil leak on the backburner. With major work done there (took the independent garage about a day to do the work) we sent it back to BMW to solve the oil leak, as even our trusted Indy wasn't too confident on tackling it as it is rather complicated to do so.

They did a lot of diagnosing and it came down to the crankcase breather, so they repaired that alongside a few inlet manifold gaskets and I believe they did the crankcase gasket as well. Cost much more than it should however they were good with diagnosing. Disappointing that they wanted £60 to reset the brake indicator however, someone seems to have forgotten to reset it as the health check at MOT showed 80% of pad material left.

There is no doubt now that this is a well kept example of an older X5, the majority of these do like to get neglect when owned by people who can't afford the mass of repairs these throw at you sometimes. A specialist could have done many of the repairs, but they aren't exactly cheap in our area and ultimately the difference is marginal.

Interesting to note that this is a year older than the A6, and about 50K miles more in mileage too, but the folder for the service history for the X5 is bursting, whereas the Audi has had nothing other than a Thermostat. Considering the Audi is just as complicated, with a high performance petrol engine and Quattro etc, there has been no real issues at all with that, touchwood.

rayyan171

Original Poster:

1,294 posts

93 months

Saturday 21st December 2019
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Saga continues yet again. Had a handbrake motor failure, the car decided to scream and not move. 2 RAC guys later and the cables were cut. Did decide to fix the box, was reconditioned and now we just don't use the button anymore. It did have a bargain price oil change from the main dealer, really was very cheap at £129. Need tyres too, the rears are around 1 year old but they are actually very good for tread right now. No new Bridgestone duelers around right now so ended up going with Pirelli P-Zero's on the front. I hope we haven't upset the tyre gods, but so far the car still drives like a train.

MedwayMonaro

1,896 posts

138 months

Saturday 21st December 2019
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An interesting thread as we'll be seeing our S max very soon and wife has decided she likes these, although we'd want one with 7 seats. As soon as it stops raining for more than 10 minutes the S Max will be for sale and I'll start looking at E70s. I hadn't realised the tyres were so wide and therefore expensive!

Teepot

110 posts

70 months

Sunday 22nd December 2019
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MedwayMonaro said:
An interesting thread as we'll be seeing our S max very soon and wife has decided she likes these, although we'd want one with 7 seats. As soon as it stops raining for more than 10 minutes the S Max will be for sale and I'll start looking at E70s. I hadn't realised the tyres were so wide and therefore expensive!
So wide that the majority of potholes go unnoticed as the tyres tend to encompass 99% of road holes!

I had a 48i for a while which was an epic vehicle. The rear seats are particularly low and therefore only really suitable for small children though.

1Toomanycars

85 posts

207 months

Sunday 22nd December 2019
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I've bought a 30sd Se this week after travelling to London from Somerset to view it.

M25, M3 and A303 home, 137 miles and averaged an easy 29.7mpg of mixed driving and since getting home it's still sitting at nearly 28mpg locally.

I initially thought the ride was awful......mine has the Dynamic Handling Pack and 20's, but then two of our other cars are a Lexus LS460 and a LS400, so very little would ride like them.

Overall though I'm really liking it and it's a much nicer vehicle than the E53 version we owned years ago, and that was only just over a year old when we bought it.

Jaguar steve

9,232 posts

210 months

Monday 23rd December 2019
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rayyan171 said:
Really do like the Black Sapphire, really adds to how menacing this can be to someone in the outside lane.
Wow, I'm really impressed. What a dominant driving god you must be... rolleyes

rayyan171

Original Poster:

1,294 posts

93 months

Tuesday 31st December 2019
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Jaguar steve said:
Wow, I'm really impressed. What a dominant driving god you must be... rolleyes
All that is left to do is stop using indicators now!

rayyan171

Original Poster:

1,294 posts

93 months

Tuesday 31st December 2019
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MedwayMonaro said:
An interesting thread as we'll be seeing our S max very soon and wife has decided she likes these, although we'd want one with 7 seats. As soon as it stops raining for more than 10 minutes the S Max will be for sale and I'll start looking at E70s. I hadn't realised the tyres were so wide and therefore expensive!
Pleasant cars, will certainly reward. Always remember that they are £60K cars from the beginning, once these are treated that way they are in much better condition.

rayyan171

Original Poster:

1,294 posts

93 months

Thursday 13th August 2020
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Reboot!

It's been running fine so far. A few tyres were needed, as they were pretty worn down. Rear fog lights keep on flashing up on the dash but they work fine, putting that down to age. Ticking close to 140k miles now, dangerous territory for large and slightly old SUV's. One of the driveshafts was leaking, so that was changed - maybe the driveshaft issues are present on the pre-LCI cars as well. Few recalls here and there, but nothing much otherwise. Starts and drives every day - as you would expect it to do. Needs a good detail though, will put pictures up when it's cleaned.

Luke.

10,997 posts

250 months

Thursday 13th August 2020
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rayyan171 said:
Rear fog lights keep on flashing up on the dash but they work fine.
I used to get that the whole time on my 2007 4.8i. Silly car.

scz4

2,503 posts

241 months

Thursday 13th August 2020
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Luke. said:
rayyan171 said:
Rear fog lights keep on flashing up on the dash but they work fine.
I used to get that the whole time on my 2007 4.8i. Silly car.
Had the same. Bulb holder was corroded, could be temporarily sorted with some sandpaper and bulb, but only lasted a month or so. Sorted by buying this bulb holder and changed out in 5 mins.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-GENUINE-BMW-X5-E70-...

rayyan171

Original Poster:

1,294 posts

93 months

Sunday 30th August 2020
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scz4 said:
Had the same. Bulb holder was corroded, could be temporarily sorted with some sandpaper and bulb, but only lasted a month or so. Sorted by buying this bulb holder and changed out in 5 mins.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-GENUINE-BMW-X5-E70-...
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