2008 BMW X5 3.0sd E70
Discussion
Jakg said:
So clearly it's in there very tight and has no intention of coming out - new caliper in the post..
New caliper fitted:
With the old caliper off the car I could get even more aggressive and got a larger easyout in the bleed nipple. Clamped the easy out in a vice and started turning the caliper and...
The arm of the vice cracked instead!
Good excuse to get something a little stronger - 1/2" ratchet for scale...
I've mentioned before the car has the "dynamic drive" option with active anti-roll bars - I realised these are hydraulic, using the power steering fluid.
I couldn't find a mention of the total system capacity, so using the turkey-baster method I swapped just over a litre of fluid out.
Left is new from the bottle (green), centre is what I pulled out after round 1 and right is after round 2 - it's definitely cleaning up but probably could do with another go.
Jakg said:
Last tank of fuel averaged 24.5 MPG which is... not great. Hence the drive to make sure the drivetrain is working properly.
Subsequent two tanks averaged 25.9 MPG so I'd like to think a slight improvement there.six wheels said:
How’s the X5 doing OP?
DPF warning flashed up on the dash, tried clearing the fault codes and it came back again.
I think it wasn't regenning due to the thermostats, hoping that a combo of DPF cleaner and clearing fault codes while on a long run will sort it.
One of the other fault codes was for the fuel pre-heater - some kind of heater attached to the fuel filter.
I don't know what problem it causes, it seems fine with it broken and nothing came up online but I found a second hand one - it'd been removed from the donor car by cutting the hoses, so when I tried to remove the hose from the unit itself, the barb on the unit just snapped off.
Annoying I've broken the new part, but it made me reconsider swapping the unit, as if I break the part on the car it's going to be very difficult to get it off the fuel line on the car!
Got a gearbox service kit to do at some point, I've done it on my 335d before, but I did it on the driveway in December and hated it. Even though I've got a garage, as it doesn't fit i'll have to do it with the door open and I don't fancy that in -5° C or whatever
Postman obliterated the mirror
Gave it a quick clean before it was swapped for a courtesy car
Cliched but both we both preferred the X5, which is good as a first generation XC60 D5 was on the original shortlist.
The new car is obviously quieter, more economical and the entertainment setup is several generations newer, but I just didn't gel with it. It was clearly a car designed for someone who doesn't really care about driving, which is fine if it does everything else really well - but if it doesn't it makes it way more obvious.
six wheels said:
Thank you for the update. I’m not sure if that’s swaying into, or out of considering on of these.
Yeah I did wonder if it might come across badly...So far we are really happy with the car.
Touch wood, no major faults and only some semi-preventative maintenance.
Fuel economy is pretty poor but we knew that going in.
I still think we made the right choice compared to the other choices on the market (i.e. mid or full size SUVs).
Jakg said:
DPF warning flashed up on the dash, tried clearing the fault codes and it came back again.
I think it wasn't regenning due to the thermostats, hoping that a combo of DPF cleaner and clearing fault codes while on a long run will sort it.
Seems to have sorted it out.I think it wasn't regenning due to the thermostats, hoping that a combo of DPF cleaner and clearing fault codes while on a long run will sort it.
Jakg said:
Got a gearbox service kit to do at some point, I've done it on my 335d before, but I did it on the driveway in December and hated it. Even though I've got a garage, as it doesn't fit i'll have to do it with the door open and I don't fancy that in -5° C or whatever
Got a chance to do this.The adaptations on the gearbox are fine (suggesting no wear issues), but it seemed hesitant to change up gears sometimes. My 335d has the same engine / gearbox and driving back to back it's immediately obvious. There's nothing in the service history to suggest it's been changed.
Plan was a service kit (i.e. oil, sump & mechatronic sleeve) + bridge & tube seals. Same as I did on my on my 335d - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I've measured my garage at 4.6m deep and Parkers has the length of an X5 at 4.85m, so i always thought it was too big.
I don't have a problem working on gravel, I did it for years, but this car is just too big to do that properly, you need to get the jack at basically full lift to get the wheels off the ground really at all.
I was nervous about doing it in the garage with the door open (or unable to be closed) because if something went wrong, I'd have an immobile 2 ton car stopping the garage door from being closed and secured with all my stuff on show.
So I did a lot of shunting around and somehow got it in...
It's tight - maybe 5cm at each end - but the door closes
I think my measurements were between the internal walls - but the door is flush with the external walls and much thinner than a brick wall, so you end up with a little more space on the inside.
Get to the sump to spot it's dated 2015 - so clearly it's already been changed. Wish I'd known that earlier, but I think it's the seals that are the problem anyway.
The rear sump bolts are obscured by a crossmember that the transfer case attaches to.
Using a cut down bit in a spanner I was able to get them out without removing anything.
Sump off
Mechatronic unit removed
Removed all the old seals from the transmission
The mechatronic sleeve was dated 2015 as well, so it's had a service before, but the bridge seal was dated 2007 so original. Tip on replacing the sleeve is to use a cable tie in a loop to "hook" around the top of the connectors' tab to help pull it down without damaging anything.
The tube seals were rock-solid, the new ones are squidgy and sit slightly proud to properly seal.
Bridge seal mating face had flattened off as well.
Really struggled to get the sump back on due to the crossmember - eventually found a trick where you can remove one bolt while supporting the transfer case with a jack and lift slightly to get more clearance and then it was a breeze. Would've saved hours if I'd done that from the start. The crossmember is only held on with a couple of bolts so in hindsight should've just removed it completely instead.
Put in about 3.5 litres of oil, then did the warm up process before final fill.
You can't monitor transmission temperature on the E70 using INPA for some reason, and the measurements from my IR thermometer were suspiciously low (like 25° C after nearly an hour), but luckily I'd kept a record from last time that from a similar ambient temperature, the gearbox was at 40° C when the coolant was at 65° C, so based it on that. Don't underestimate how long a car takes to warm up when it's just idling!
Another 3 litres of oil went in, so 6.5 litres total - last time I had a couple of litres spare, probably because I didn't swap the sump and it's integral oil filter. Hard work with the hand pump though.
Took it for a spin and it seems better. Changes are smooth (although not an issue before) and seems to hold the gears less. Still feels a bit slower to change up than my 335d though, but I'm guessing that's the gearbox managing an engine with the same torque, but with more weight and driveline losses to counteract.
Probably took me about 6 hours, which I know is very slow. But a lot of time spent trying to get the car jacked up properly, getting to the sump bolts and waiting for it to warm up to top up.
Overall - happy I've done it.
Edited by Jakg on Thursday 29th December 14:54
I've done ATF services before but on Mercedes 722.6 box and Volvl AW55 so pretty easy in comparison to what you've just documented!
Well done, 6hrs isnt bad really considering you were rolling around on the garage floor. It's always a bit more faff than you think when you set out. Like you say, good to know its done either way.
Well done, 6hrs isnt bad really considering you were rolling around on the garage floor. It's always a bit more faff than you think when you set out. Like you say, good to know its done either way.
t job doing it on axle stands having helped a mate so his.Jakg said:
Postman obliterated the mirror
Unbelievably a Transit tried to do the same thing to the mirror that's barely a month old. This time the X5 came off without a scratch!Had a *horrible* noise while driving, sounded like the exhaust had fallen off or something.
Checked underneath, nothing hanging off, springs all looked ok, but it sounded bad.
Got it in the garage
With the wheel off I could investigate properly
https://youtu.be/E2jP-_etEiI
Some poking around later and one small stone removed from between the disc and backplate and all fixed
New fuel filter - not terribly complicated but several large underbody panels to remove.
Finally got proper power in the garage to encourage me to use some decent task lighting.
Looks like that service existed on paper only...
Finally got proper power in the garage to encourage me to use some decent task lighting.
Jakg said:
The service book said it had last been serviced 3k miles / 3 years ago.
Something tells me this 2015-dated air filter has done more than 3k miles...
This was supposedly changed at the same time in (in 2019).Something tells me this 2015-dated air filter has done more than 3k miles...
Looks like that service existed on paper only...
Bought a second hand climbing frame - "buyer dismantles and collects".
No longer have access to a trailer so I took the passenger seat out etc to convert the car into a bit more of a van. It was quite big so I was worried I'd never be able to do it all in one trip.
Ended up easily fitting in the car, but only because taking the seat out had given me the length required
Home and reassembled (admittedly with some repairs) for a happy toddler
Unfortunately the car wasn't so lucky - when I put the passenger seat in, the whole seat was skewed such that you couldn't get the bolt holes lined up.
I tried moving the seats forwards backwards on the motor to see if it'd straighten up, but instead there was a grinding noise and this happened...
The seats have a motor on a cradle under the seat to move it forwards and backwards, and this connects to a mechanism in each seat rail via a pair of flexible driveshafts, which are stranded crimped into a square drive. The end on one had disintegrated.
The passenger electric seat has always been temperamental - it only moved a little very slowly before stopping, and then a few seconds later you could try again and slowly inch it back. I think someone had had it out before, misaligned the rails and then used brute force to bolt it back into the car - and the drive cables were the thing that broke first.
Unfortunately, the cables aren't available separately - BMW class them as part of the seat frame. Luckily I was able to find a second hand motor and cradle, which included the drive shaft I needed
With the cradle out, aligned the rails by eye, manually operating the mechanism on either side. Then fitted the new driveshaft, reassembled.
Not only did the seat bolt in fine, but it now moves backwards and forwards normally too - so overall another job off the list.
To celebrate, a wash. Step ladder unfortunately required to clean the roof!
No longer have access to a trailer so I took the passenger seat out etc to convert the car into a bit more of a van. It was quite big so I was worried I'd never be able to do it all in one trip.
Ended up easily fitting in the car, but only because taking the seat out had given me the length required
Home and reassembled (admittedly with some repairs) for a happy toddler
Unfortunately the car wasn't so lucky - when I put the passenger seat in, the whole seat was skewed such that you couldn't get the bolt holes lined up.
I tried moving the seats forwards backwards on the motor to see if it'd straighten up, but instead there was a grinding noise and this happened...
The seats have a motor on a cradle under the seat to move it forwards and backwards, and this connects to a mechanism in each seat rail via a pair of flexible driveshafts, which are stranded crimped into a square drive. The end on one had disintegrated.
The passenger electric seat has always been temperamental - it only moved a little very slowly before stopping, and then a few seconds later you could try again and slowly inch it back. I think someone had had it out before, misaligned the rails and then used brute force to bolt it back into the car - and the drive cables were the thing that broke first.
Unfortunately, the cables aren't available separately - BMW class them as part of the seat frame. Luckily I was able to find a second hand motor and cradle, which included the drive shaft I needed
With the cradle out, aligned the rails by eye, manually operating the mechanism on either side. Then fitted the new driveshaft, reassembled.
Not only did the seat bolt in fine, but it now moves backwards and forwards normally too - so overall another job off the list.
To celebrate, a wash. Step ladder unfortunately required to clean the roof!
It's possible, but highly not recommended, to fit 2x 2.7x0.6m boards in the car.
Got some time to take the inlet manifold off
Air filter housing out of the way
Fuel line looking a bit crusty...
Inlet manifold off
Luckily BMW got a new fuel line same day
New glow plugs (one was dead)
With the inlet manifold off, can see someones already removed the swirl flaps - personally I would've kept them.
Unfortunately you can see from the oil that they are leaking
Amazon got me a set of proper metal blanks for £9 - the old swirl flaps had been cut down and then a nut & bolt put through to blank off the spindle.
Cleaned, reassembled and new gaskets
With the inlet manifold off, swapped some of the inaccessible vacuum lines - condition wasn't great
Got some time to take the inlet manifold off
Air filter housing out of the way
Fuel line looking a bit crusty...
Inlet manifold off
Luckily BMW got a new fuel line same day
New glow plugs (one was dead)
With the inlet manifold off, can see someones already removed the swirl flaps - personally I would've kept them.
Unfortunately you can see from the oil that they are leaking
Amazon got me a set of proper metal blanks for £9 - the old swirl flaps had been cut down and then a nut & bolt put through to blank off the spindle.
Cleaned, reassembled and new gaskets
With the inlet manifold off, swapped some of the inaccessible vacuum lines - condition wasn't great
Jakg said:
With the inlet manifold off, can see someones already removed the swirl flaps - personally I would've kept them.
Unfortunately you can see from the oil that they are leaking
Amazon got me a set of proper metal blanks for £9 - the old swirl flaps had been cut down and then a nut & bolt put through to blank off the spindle.
Sheesh that looks a little bodgetastic when there are proper blanks for that sort of cost!!!Unfortunately you can see from the oil that they are leaking
Amazon got me a set of proper metal blanks for £9 - the old swirl flaps had been cut down and then a nut & bolt put through to blank off the spindle.
Nice work and well documented
Bobupndown said:
Jakg said:
Bobupndown said:
What was the original car with the snapped rear suspension?
Kia C'eed
Edited by Jakg on Tuesday 8th August 09:40
Original bonnet badge delaminated
Replaced with a cheap one off eBay
Poor personal planning means it needs an oil change, but the immobile X6 is still hogging the garage, so it was back to working on the gravel, in the rain, in the dark. Not as bad as I thought it'd be.
Replaced with a cheap one off eBay
Poor personal planning means it needs an oil change, but the immobile X6 is still hogging the garage, so it was back to working on the gravel, in the rain, in the dark. Not as bad as I thought it'd be.
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