F11 520d. Unnecessary and Expensive
Discussion
Well not totally unnecessary but getting there. I have use of a company van/fuel card and access the missus f31 320d so this car isn’t really going to get used much!
Bit of a convoluted story that brings us to the beige on beige 520d but following on from
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
(spec of the car discussed on that thread)
The f11 is finally back form having the work done and is now getting a bit more fettling.
Quick back story, I got rid of a perfectly good and amazingly economical e91 20d for a miss-firing f11 530d. Misfire couldn’t be diagnosed so back to the dealer it went. Replaced it with this 520d with great service history, good cosmetic condition but a noisy timing chain.
My rationale for this one was pretty much any n47 in my price range could potentially have timing chain issues so buying one with a rattle at a lower price and replacing it would remove the fear of the rattle occurring in the future and incurring further cost on a ‘market value’ car. The BM went off to Dragon Autoworks for the timing chain replacement and look over.
well of course £1150 for the TC quickly increased when a few other issues were found. The clutch and flywheel were nearing the end of their lives, the turbo was knackered and the AGM battery was well past it’s prime. All this took the cost to a shade under 2.5k. Not ideal but getting those jobs done (apart from the battery) whilst the engine was out saved quite a bit of labour and further ensure the car is good for another xxxx miles.
With the car now back everything seems fine with it and the ‘little’ jobs can start. The car came with brand new Pirelli Sottozero winter run flats. Neither of those things do so want on the BM so so opted (after the big bill from DA) for some used Continental Contipremium Contact 5’s from eBay. These had done 4k miles and swapped out for some Michelins and cost the value of 1 Conti, quite pleased with that little bargain
Annoyingly the locking wheel key was nowhere to be found (sure it was in there when I bought it
) so £40 to swap the tyres over turned into £68 and i’ll need to pop down to Sytner in Cardiff at some point this week to get another locking key. The ride is much more comfortable, quiet and sure footed with the Conti’s on. I’ll keep the winters for … winter.
The f11 was surprisingly muddy in the rear I noticed yesterday when changing the tyres over so today got the jet washer out and cleaned the arches (and wheels as they were off) out
Quite enjoy doing jobs like this as not only does it make the car cleaner and more presentable but gives the opportunity to have a good look underneath and see what’s what (needs 4 discs is what’s what)
Bit of overspray here
Wheels came up ok
and a wash to finish
That brings us up to now. Stay tuned for more exciting instalments
Bit of a convoluted story that brings us to the beige on beige 520d but following on from
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
(spec of the car discussed on that thread)
The f11 is finally back form having the work done and is now getting a bit more fettling.
Quick back story, I got rid of a perfectly good and amazingly economical e91 20d for a miss-firing f11 530d. Misfire couldn’t be diagnosed so back to the dealer it went. Replaced it with this 520d with great service history, good cosmetic condition but a noisy timing chain.
My rationale for this one was pretty much any n47 in my price range could potentially have timing chain issues so buying one with a rattle at a lower price and replacing it would remove the fear of the rattle occurring in the future and incurring further cost on a ‘market value’ car. The BM went off to Dragon Autoworks for the timing chain replacement and look over.
well of course £1150 for the TC quickly increased when a few other issues were found. The clutch and flywheel were nearing the end of their lives, the turbo was knackered and the AGM battery was well past it’s prime. All this took the cost to a shade under 2.5k. Not ideal but getting those jobs done (apart from the battery) whilst the engine was out saved quite a bit of labour and further ensure the car is good for another xxxx miles.
With the car now back everything seems fine with it and the ‘little’ jobs can start. The car came with brand new Pirelli Sottozero winter run flats. Neither of those things do so want on the BM so so opted (after the big bill from DA) for some used Continental Contipremium Contact 5’s from eBay. These had done 4k miles and swapped out for some Michelins and cost the value of 1 Conti, quite pleased with that little bargain
Annoyingly the locking wheel key was nowhere to be found (sure it was in there when I bought it
) so £40 to swap the tyres over turned into £68 and i’ll need to pop down to Sytner in Cardiff at some point this week to get another locking key. The ride is much more comfortable, quiet and sure footed with the Conti’s on. I’ll keep the winters for … winter. The f11 was surprisingly muddy in the rear I noticed yesterday when changing the tyres over so today got the jet washer out and cleaned the arches (and wheels as they were off) out
Quite enjoy doing jobs like this as not only does it make the car cleaner and more presentable but gives the opportunity to have a good look underneath and see what’s what (needs 4 discs is what’s what)
Bit of overspray here
Wheels came up ok
and a wash to finish
That brings us up to now. Stay tuned for more exciting instalments
After having torn through cars at a rate of knots over recent years my plan is to JUST KEEP THIS ONE 
enjoy it, use it for what it's going to be used for (taking our small family over to France/Poland) and nothing more.
The future jobs inc' but are not limited to
No doubt more will crop up as it usually does. I think ah I won't start a thread on *insert car* as I've got no plans for it but I inevitably end up doing quite a bit on anything I own; regardless of how brown it is..
enjoy it, use it for what it's going to be used for (taking our small family over to France/Poland) and nothing more. The future jobs inc' but are not limited to
- Improved multimedia, Andream Carplay wide screen / MMI box fitted as some others have done on here with their BM's
- MSport / Eibach front springs and matching lowered rear via ISTA+ as it rides a little high for my taste
- Tints or removable window covers simply to provide more shade for the boy in the back for long trips
- New discs as mentioned, pads are good
No doubt more will crop up as it usually does. I think ah I won't start a thread on *insert car* as I've got no plans for it but I inevitably end up doing quite a bit on anything I own; regardless of how brown it is..
I have a ‘14 plate f11 bought 18months ago on 98k, just ticked over 115k and have zero complaints! it’s a big old bus, but drives really well for 2L diesel, and is brilliant for wafting the family and all our crap along without complaint!
I would say- budget for replacement airbags! it’s not ‘if’ they perish/ leak, just a matter of when! some people use ‘arbors’, but being honest I bought the cheap ones from ebay and have had zero issues!
I am also tempted by an update to the sat nav/ screen/ system (i have the bigger screen) but not sure why I’d bother, sat nav is out of date on mine (but i use my phone for nav) and it can stream all my audio via bluetooth anyway….. the upgrades i’ve seen are £5-600?!? It would be nice to have, but would rather put that budget towards maintenance/ servicing
I would say- budget for replacement airbags! it’s not ‘if’ they perish/ leak, just a matter of when! some people use ‘arbors’, but being honest I bought the cheap ones from ebay and have had zero issues!
I am also tempted by an update to the sat nav/ screen/ system (i have the bigger screen) but not sure why I’d bother, sat nav is out of date on mine (but i use my phone for nav) and it can stream all my audio via bluetooth anyway….. the upgrades i’ve seen are £5-600?!? It would be nice to have, but would rather put that budget towards maintenance/ servicing
malks222 said:
I am also tempted by an update to the sat nav/ screen/ system (i have the bigger screen) but not sure why I’d bother, sat nav is out of date on mine (but i use my phone for nav) and it can stream all my audio via bluetooth anyway….. the upgrades i’ve seen are £5-600?!? It would be nice to have, but would rather put that budget towards maintenance/ servicing
Andream screens are £250 or so. Gets CarPlay and Android Auto on the screen which means up to date nav and control over your music via idrive. 
Small update. Choosing between new tension struts and some kind of sun glare solution for my 19 month old I went with the latter to save the poor little blighter from being blinded every time he’s in his car seat.
I looked into tints but don’t think they’d suit the car particularly well and I've had mixed results in the past from ok to hairs in between the window and film. That being the case I opted for a set of removable shades as someone, or a few people on here have used with good results. £89.99 delivered and about 30 mins to fit. Overall very happy with them. They are largely press fit in with a few retaining clips that recess into the window surrounds to hold the shades in, work quite well but not perfect. The rear shades are slightly kinked as the ‘frames’ are straight and the window is a compound curve.
They come in a nice zip bag, have good if not overly detailed instructions and are generally of a good quality.
Nice to be able to put the windows down and still have the shades in place. Cheers to whoever on here posted about them!
I looked into tints but don’t think they’d suit the car particularly well and I've had mixed results in the past from ok to hairs in between the window and film. That being the case I opted for a set of removable shades as someone, or a few people on here have used with good results. £89.99 delivered and about 30 mins to fit. Overall very happy with them. They are largely press fit in with a few retaining clips that recess into the window surrounds to hold the shades in, work quite well but not perfect. The rear shades are slightly kinked as the ‘frames’ are straight and the window is a compound curve.
They come in a nice zip bag, have good if not overly detailed instructions and are generally of a good quality.
Nice to be able to put the windows down and still have the shades in place. Cheers to whoever on here posted about them!
Today I attempted to remove the superfluous tow bar from behind the rear bumper. It’s probably around 20kg of weight that really doesn’t need to be bolted to the car.
Being a little different to my E91 I started by fumbling around the side bins looking at the light clusters to see if they needed to come out and noticed this
and I knew .. that’s my
‘ing locking wheel nut in there isn’t it
ffs, that’s about £50 I didn’t need to spend when I swapped the tyres over then. Id looked in the rear bins about 4 times but never spotted the little red roll tucked away. ahh well
Moving on to getting the bumper off, all went easily in the main due to the number of missing fixings along the rear diffuser, new fixings are now on order.
This is where I fell down. With the E91 all went smoothly, 4 nuts undone, unbolt the electrics and in the skip it went. Here though it seems someone thought it a good idea to bolt to the exhaust to the tow bar
As a helpful PH’er mentioned in the BMW forum checking realoem and looking for a bracket with part number will likely remedy this but still a bit frustrating not to be able to do it one and done.
I’m gearing up to get the front lower arms done as a French trip is looming and I’d like to get that done beforehand.
That is all for now
oh averaging 42.8 mpg so far as no one asked
Being a little different to my E91 I started by fumbling around the side bins looking at the light clusters to see if they needed to come out and noticed this
and I knew .. that’s my
‘ing locking wheel nut in there isn’t it ffs, that’s about £50 I didn’t need to spend when I swapped the tyres over then. Id looked in the rear bins about 4 times but never spotted the little red roll tucked away. ahh well
Moving on to getting the bumper off, all went easily in the main due to the number of missing fixings along the rear diffuser, new fixings are now on order.
This is where I fell down. With the E91 all went smoothly, 4 nuts undone, unbolt the electrics and in the skip it went. Here though it seems someone thought it a good idea to bolt to the exhaust to the tow bar
As a helpful PH’er mentioned in the BMW forum checking realoem and looking for a bracket with part number will likely remedy this but still a bit frustrating not to be able to do it one and done.
I’m gearing up to get the front lower arms done as a French trip is looming and I’d like to get that done beforehand.
That is all for now
oh averaging 42.8 mpg so far as no one asked
Car’s been performing well over the last few weeks. Took a trip to Rochdale and got just over an indicated 50 mpg which i’m very please with.
Having had an intermittent side light notification come up I walked around the car yesterday and bumped the lights to see if I could spot a flickering bulb, I bumped the near side headlight and noticed it moved where the off side didn’t. Strange I thought. Curiosity getting the better of me today (and being off work due to the NR rail strike) I thought i’d whip the front bumper off and see what’s going on. Catastrophic front end accident damage? Thankfully not.
There’s no sign of any accident related damage, no broken clips/panels, no bent or rusty metal anywhere, it’s all straight which is a relief. Oddly though both bolts that secure the bottom of the headlight were missing
Why I wonder? Somethings happened to mean they were removed and not replaced, I’d like to know what. I’d also like to know how this little perisher got here
but doubt I ever will. Some thing are destined to remain a mystery.
So with both bolts replaced and the bumper de spider-webbed and cleaned all it went back together again easily enough and that’s that.
Applied some AG tyre gel and it’s looking (to my eyes) pretty good
It’s a slow burn this one as I’d love to get my to-do list done asap but that’s not possible. I have MOOG tension struts (front lower control arms) on the way to tighten up the front end pending a full alignment. I’m toying with new dampers and MSport springs on the front to drop it down a little as the arch gap is something I cannot un-see.
I’m really happy with the Car Shades blinds. The sticky backed clips weren’t doing well so I fired a message off to the manufacturer and they sent out 4 more and a load more clips, very good of them. With two clips holding the shades on to the rear screen now they’re secure and not going anywhere. I also realised i’d used the wrong spring clips on the side windows so changed those and they now sit much more securely and flush. Would recommend them.
I may be going Carplay from Andream or similar but this will probably all take a few months to achieve before my Polish trip in September. France to my mums next month so will enjoy a long jaunt in the F11 soon enough
Having had an intermittent side light notification come up I walked around the car yesterday and bumped the lights to see if I could spot a flickering bulb, I bumped the near side headlight and noticed it moved where the off side didn’t. Strange I thought. Curiosity getting the better of me today (and being off work due to the NR rail strike) I thought i’d whip the front bumper off and see what’s going on. Catastrophic front end accident damage? Thankfully not.
There’s no sign of any accident related damage, no broken clips/panels, no bent or rusty metal anywhere, it’s all straight which is a relief. Oddly though both bolts that secure the bottom of the headlight were missing
Why I wonder? Somethings happened to mean they were removed and not replaced, I’d like to know what. I’d also like to know how this little perisher got here
but doubt I ever will. Some thing are destined to remain a mystery.
So with both bolts replaced and the bumper de spider-webbed and cleaned all it went back together again easily enough and that’s that.
Applied some AG tyre gel and it’s looking (to my eyes) pretty good
It’s a slow burn this one as I’d love to get my to-do list done asap but that’s not possible. I have MOOG tension struts (front lower control arms) on the way to tighten up the front end pending a full alignment. I’m toying with new dampers and MSport springs on the front to drop it down a little as the arch gap is something I cannot un-see.
I’m really happy with the Car Shades blinds. The sticky backed clips weren’t doing well so I fired a message off to the manufacturer and they sent out 4 more and a load more clips, very good of them. With two clips holding the shades on to the rear screen now they’re secure and not going anywhere. I also realised i’d used the wrong spring clips on the side windows so changed those and they now sit much more securely and flush. Would recommend them.
I may be going Carplay from Andream or similar but this will probably all take a few months to achieve before my Polish trip in September. France to my mums next month so will enjoy a long jaunt in the F11 soon enough
I’ve found the 5’er a good step up in quality and comfort. the F30 is nice but is a relative sea of black plastic compared to the F11. The touch points and space (that’s a big one) is a genuine improvement. Re the sportiness, tbh I don’t find either the F 3 or 5 (in N47 guise at least) particularly sporty! so if that’s a factor IMO it’s not one worth considering. Yes the 3 series is a smaller / lighter car but in daily use and even spirited driving I find the 5 quite impressive.
On balance (and for what I’m using it for) I’m glad I opted for a 5 over another 3.
On balance (and for what I’m using it for) I’m glad I opted for a 5 over another 3.
squareflops said:
5 all day! 
100%!! it’s just a nicer, quieter place to sit. things like heated seats, sat nav, parking sensors and cruise (i think) all come as standard too20k a year motorway miles is what i’m doing in mine. 70l tank, generally £110-120 of diesel gets me 650-700 miles
parking sensors and cruise are very welcome though. Sat nav I just use my phone on a Yosh vent magnet at the mo. Getting some little bits needed for France on 20th July. I have the bulk of the euro travel kit already (not that i’ve ever needed to produce it) so the headlight diffusers and the (now UK not GB) stickers obtained. I’ve opted this time for a decal that sticks to the inside of the rear window as surprisingly i’ve found the magnetic option has scratched the paint work in the past by trapping grit underneath it
Also sorted an ipad mount for the boy to remain entertained; more so on the Poland trip as much longer but so far quite impressed with it
The posts for the headrest are slightly larger than the bracket fixings but not so much it effects operation
Very sturdy and feels well made
In other news i’m still waiting on the front arms from Autodoc, they don’t appear to have reached Amazon levels of postage as yet. Online tracker is vague but they don’t look very close still.
Also sorted an ipad mount for the boy to remain entertained; more so on the Poland trip as much longer but so far quite impressed with it
The posts for the headrest are slightly larger than the bracket fixings but not so much it effects operation
Very sturdy and feels well made
In other news i’m still waiting on the front arms from Autodoc, they don’t appear to have reached Amazon levels of postage as yet. Online tracker is vague but they don’t look very close still.
squareflops said:
Getting some little bits needed for France on 20th July. I have the bulk of the euro travel kit already (not that i’ve ever needed to produce it) so the headlight diffusers and the (now UK not GB) stickers obtained. I’ve opted this time for a decal that sticks to the inside of the rear window as surprisingly i’ve found the magnetic option has scratched the paint work in the past by trapping grit underneath it
Also sorted an ipad mount for the boy to remain entertained; more so on the Poland trip as much longer but so far quite impressed with it
The posts for the headrest are slightly larger than the bracket fixings but not so much it effects operation
Very sturdy and feels well made
In other news i’m still waiting on the front arms from Autodoc, they don’t appear to have reached Amazon levels of postage as yet. Online tracker is vague but they don’t look very close still.
Autodocs delivery standards ate sAlso sorted an ipad mount for the boy to remain entertained; more so on the Poland trip as much longer but so far quite impressed with it
The posts for the headrest are slightly larger than the bracket fixings but not so much it effects operation
Very sturdy and feels well made
In other news i’m still waiting on the front arms from Autodoc, they don’t appear to have reached Amazon levels of postage as yet. Online tracker is vague but they don’t look very close still.
te at best; so always allow 2-3 weeks. Any earlier and that's a huge plus...Everything I ordered recently took 2 weeks to be delivered
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