X5smw

Gave the car to my mate who gratefully took it for his young family. he took it to his local garage and turns out the camshaft timing sensor was clogged up and misreading. I had changed the inlet and outlet cam sensors but not the camshaft sensor. an engine flush and clean, new oil and spark plugs, a good service and it’s off like a scalded cat! Cost wise it was about £300 to sort. happy days!

So….. replaced the airbox and both inlet and outlet cam sensors… ran like an absolute dream for about 100 miles. Now the eml has come on and showing p0012 on a generic scanner. It’s running lumpy on tickover. oli is fine, no vacuum leaks as far as I can tell. possible timing chain? is it a big job on the mini?

Mine is a 2002 model. I picked it up for £2400. they are rare, when I was looking I only found 2 manuals for sale and only one was petrol. I would expect the value to be around the 2-3k mark.

I have one! 👍🏻… gearbox is a 5 speed manual… quick on the acceleration but top end is a bit rev hungry. enjoy it!!!

I’m guessing this one hasn’t been serviced since it was born! … I took the filter box apart and it needs replacing. Someone has tried to fix it before, but it’s beyond alive now! Haha. the bootlid needs either pushing out or replacing, as does the rear bumper after it got into a fight with a bus… and a rear light… apart from that, it seems well. 😂

Well… we have a freind at church who has been struggling with the car and I haven’t ever had time to look at it. So, we upgraded the Peugeot to a Porsche and felt it right to gift her the Peugeot. in return, I have taken the mini and intend to spend some time on it before gifting it to someone else who needs a car. drove it home and it had more lights than Blackpool.! spent an hour or so tinkering and I have got it down to two issues. The air filter needs replacing and it is showing a code of 2983 inlet cam sensor. im going to order me a Bosch one and hopefully the engine will run a lot better… after its had a tank of redex! any other suggestions or things I should look for?

…. It’s like 3 teenage women in my house now…. problem is… ones in her 40’s… one is 2 and the other is a car! it’s got to be something with the boot wiring, it’s only happened some I changed that. I think I just need time and peace to work out what’s wrong. then open the bonnet though the grilles again! 😂… then who knows!

Well… clamp meter found nothing… I have removed the fuses for the wiper, heater and disconnected the interior lights on the bootlid. I still have a drain somewhere. I just removed the plug on the rear wiper and now the car external temp says it’s -35! ….. and the bonnet cable has snapped again!

I had a similar experience with bmw dealership. … bought an e90 m sport for a large amount. it failed to start after a month, it went back in and they found it had been crashed and repaired, only found it due to the crushed wiring loom which is why the car stopped working. I handed it back to them and walked away…. Unfortunately I had financed it through my company and I didn’t check the finance had been void…. I found out that bmw finance didn’t know I had returned the car and they persued me through my closed business…sued me without contact and I was declared bankrupt by a court in Nottingham. … I live in Yorkshire…. I only found out when I went to move house and failed a credit check! nearly lost the house and my new family stressed. absolute nightmare and bmw didn’t even reply to me. ….

Check for continuity between the live at the switch and the fuse. Check the earth from the switch to the main body. you should have 12 v at the switch plug with the engine running. The wiring loom runs through the door near the hinges and can sometimes become brittle. if there is no power at the switch, make a + and - wire from a 12v battery to the switch terminals and see if the switch works. That will confirm the loom issue.

Hi James, yes… use the applicator pad to apply the scratch x and then buff along the scratches. Then remove it using the buffing cloth… repeat if necessary, then, when you are happy with the result, do the same with the turtle wax.

Hi James. Having just fallen foul of children drawing on the car I can recommend mcguires scratch X. I have a polishing machine and buffed the light scratches out well. https://ebay.us/m/G1orVi something like this. then turtle wax polish black afterwards.

Thanks mate. I have checked the crimping and it’s all good. what might throw it out is the wiring all being different colouring, so I might have a permanent live swapped with a switched live… obviously I wouldn’t be able to tell until the car is sleeping and I don’t know where each live controls . I have a clamp meter en route, I’ll find it! it can’t be that difficult, there is only about 15 wires in the top boot and no exterior lights. surely it’s a lock button, wiper and 2x interior lights. The brake light was not cut along with the aerial module on the spoiler.

Hi Dave. The lock and button are from the donor vehicle. I basically cut and crimped the existing wires to the loom in the upper bootlid. the lower bootlid used the existing loom. when I had the light issue, it was the rh upper lid courtesy light the that came on when I pressed the lock release button. Left one works correctly and all lights extinguish when I lock the car.

Hi all… what’s the best way to locate a power drain? basically, I have changed the boot on the x5 and since then, the battery keeps going flat. I have no shorts anywhere and I had an issue where the boot release button would turn the interior light on.. I have disconnected that but still have a drain issue. Wiring diagrams are of little insight. … anyone got any tips, time is not on my side as I have limited rest between work and crazy children! 😂 cheers! stu

Great write up and well done! chinesium is indeed the worlds finest!

Hi Stewart. Removing the aircon clutch isn’t a massive job on the 4 cylinders. I haven’t done a 6 cylinder one yet, but I’m sure it’s a bit of a squeeze and access from below would be the best option. stu.

Having a look round it, I’m a bit shocked… it’s quick, it’s big , it’s loud…. But it doesn’t have memory seats, auto tint mirror,auto lights or parking assist and even a stereo which my phone can connect to… it has a built in wired sim carded phone! Haha. it’s basically a big engine with a cool box in the glove compartment. 😂 … and it only has 18” wheels…. the X5 has started again and seems content that it’s not getting replaced. Vive le Bimmer!

I’ll line the fleet up when the x5 starts! I must have a drain from the rear bootlid somewhere… I’ll look when I get chance

It shifts!!! 😂😂😂

….. went to set off…. Diva has a flat battery! Haha

Well….. the drop top pug is getting kicked out soon… I went on eBay and made a cheeky bid. off to pick up a nice 4.5 v8 Porsche cayenne up on Saturday !! ironically I won it while I was registering my wife on a speed awareness course 🙄 let’s see how many times the X5 is going to have a hissy fit when this one turns up. 😂

Hi Jay. have you tried quarry motors?

Mine kept doing that and it was the throttle body. I would be looking around the air intake and hoses. Disconnect the maf sensor and see if any values change on the live data on the software.

Morning Adam. my x5 was showing o2 sensor issues and lean mixture etc…. Turns out the throttle body was at fault. Clear the adaptations and take it for a spin. i was amazed how much power I had lost once replaced the throttle body. also check for splits in the intake line.. the rubber pipes between the throttle body and the MAF sensor as this will give lean readings and O2 issues with over fueling.