Greydog

Afternoon Alec Welcome to the Forum Dave

Morning Crayg Welcome to the Forum A BMW foible I am afraid you don't say what year and model ? On my X5 2003 vintage I developed and installed a circuit that closes my mirrors on lock and opens them on unlock. it drove the Dealer mad when it was in for service 3 of their Techs asked several times how it was possible. If the model you have is compatible and If you are electrically inclined and are able to do a little work yourself I can send a drawing Dave

Morning Samuel Welcome to the Forum There are 2 types of Headlamp unit for your car I believe Halogen or Xenon Halogen should be something like Main H7 12v 55w Indicator PY 12v 21w yellow Halos 12v 5w Xenon Should be something like Dip D1 12v 35w Main 12v 55w H7 Halo ZKW unit, Indicator 12v 21w silver Your handbook should have all the information you need Dave

Answered above in your first post

Hi AMV8 (do you have one?) Welcome to the Forum Just check www.realoem.com put the last 7 digits of your mums Vin into the search box, it will call up your model then check the wheels & Tyres section it will give you all the info you need. Wintrac Extreme are thewinter tyre of my choice I run them on the X5 Dave

Hi Mike Welcome to the Forum What a hard choice first the Maintenance/Reliability issue when my X5 came to the end of it's manufacturers warranty I could have extended it with BMW (expensive) so I took an after market Warranty there are loads to choose from which has protected me against big bills until it's 18th birthday. Both I and the X5 have matured together like a fine wine 😂 I do like tinkering one of my hobbies, so I have a full diagnostic suite on an old lap top and can carry out any work with the same knowledge as the main dealer. I run a scan once a month at least and if there is an issue that needs attention I deal with it (I have a couple of younger bendier sons) if it means crawling underneath. If it is something beyond my capabilities or I just don't have the time I use a BMW Specialist who is (a) local (b) less than half BMW cost. Doesn't happen very often. As for which to choose bearing in mind I am not a two door or convertible fan M6 all the way, under 4.5 secs to 62mph limited 155mph ( 190 with the limiter lifted) The 650i is basically the same engine with less go. Both are lovely cars though tough choice What ever the choice ENJOY Dave

Hi Welcome to the Forum There is an old saying "Speed costs money, How fast can you afford to go" There are several things to try first if you haven't already, (1) ECU tuning can yield good results on forced induction engines, (2) Better Intercooler (3) Better air intake and filter. (4) Better Downpipe and exhaust. Don't forget Suspension Brakes and Steering a bit dumb being able to go faster if all you do is get to the accident quicker. If you get to the point of an upgraded or larger Turbo you will also get the down side of Turbo lag, and higher insurance costs. It may be easier and simpler to trade what you have for a 1 series with a larger engine Dave

Hi Nigel Welcome to the Forum I am surprised that your mpg is that low we have friends who have a 2010 X3 same engine and they return 27/28 around town mid to high 40's on a run When was it last serviced? Are the brakes all free nothing binding? 19" wheels shouldn't make much difference apart from ride quality due to the lower profile tyres. Are the tyres correctly inflated ? Your Audi A6 was it Quattro as one of our sons ran an A6 Allroad 3.0 tdi and he only ever saw 40mpg on the motorway he loved it but sadly it broke a lot Dave

Morning Terence Welcome to the Forum Well done on the salvage and rebuild job, once water has got into a loom it can take a long time to completely dry out and it can pull water up by capillary action and pins get corroded. So I think you may well have a long job ahead slowly checking and cleaning connectors, you are quite right about the earth points BMW love Comb type earth points when checking cleaning those I would dismount the unit and clean its contact point and bolt I use electrical contact paste from RS Components when reassembling. Stop Start systems are another thing to check, plus are the batteries correctly registered and charging correctly, is the alternator putting out the correct charge? Just thinking out loud here. One of my Merc's suffered dying battery syndrome Dealer fitted 2 under warranty turned out to be a failed diode in the voltage regulator allowing current bleed back when the engine was off? Good Luck Dave

Phil Collins today

Morning Jim Welcome Stu is quite right the PA Soft BMW 1.4.0 diagnostic is great and in my opinion the best and easiest to get to grips with it will work with all BMW's that have I-bus communication. For newer models with K and M bus communication then other systems are needed. If your an engineer with a "need to know" (or as my Daughter says GEEK) like me you end up with them all, and not just for BMW. Like Stu all my diagnostics sit on an old Win7 laptop which I keep in the garage on top of the beer fridge 😂 Your Sat Nav/Radio problem when I brought the first 4.4 E53 it had issues in the end I fitted a Dynavin unit because it retained the OBC function (the Geek thing again) you will need a 5m extension to run from the boot to the dash I added to the loom an extension for the Radio antenna and the Nav antenna. All the BMW OEM stuff I sold on Ebay and got more than the cost of the Dynavin ?? Mad. My E53 4.6is is all OEM still and everything works. (So Far !! 😁) Most common cause of issues with the PDC are first the sensors and connectors, water ingress from jet washes and car washes corner ones can be fiddly if you have fat fingers like me but an easy to change item, make sure you clean the connectors with a good contact cleaner. If there are still issues then it could be the PDC control unit in the boot by the BM54 Radio unit again an easy change and plenty out there. ENJOY your E53 Dave

Looks like that could do the job nicely Dave

You are welcome Stewart I would try a tube of Dr Tranny in your beasty not normally a promotor of "snake oil" type fixes but this is one that works, 2 of the 5 series touring that my brother inlaw has owned (same box) had persistent TC Lock up faults. BMW Dealer tried the "New Gearbox" route, a Specialist suggested a new Torque Converter a still expensive a tube of Dr Tranny as an experiment fixed the first one it took about two weeks to work into the system then fault cleared and never returned. When the fault came up on the second car we just stuck a tube in same result. Hopefully it will work for you. Yes all good here not difficult to social distance when yo walk with 5 dogs and Majestic Wine are still delivering so the essentials are all covered 🤣 Dave

Morning Welcome to the Forum Not sure what your trying to describe here, is it a sound or a feel through the brake pedal or something through the whole car? Do you feel/hear it with the transmission in Park foot off the brake? or in Neutral foot off the brake ? Dave

Morning James Welcome to the Forum First your battery is either dying or needs charging, at 7 years old it could well be near it's end. You should se 12.8v at rest and around 14v+ when engine running 82% is around 9v The low voltage could well be triggering your other warnings so that is where I would start, a new battery will need registering to your car to ensure correct charging takes place. If it isn't a job you would do yourself any competent Garage should be able to do it for you, or if you have deep pockets a BMW Dealer. Dave

No as said previously the Torque converter is independent. Attached is a service manual for your ZF 5HP-19 gearbox showing all solenoids and their operation and her is a Youtube link to the Torque converter and what's inside it ( Dave ZF 5HP 19 manual.pdf

Morning Mando I don't know if you are aware of www.realoem.com its a BMW online parts list put the last 7 digits of your Vin into the search box it will bring up your model. Then just search the sections to find what you need, there are small exploded drawings that will help show where bits fit and if you need parts you have the right part number. Timing chain, 2 years ago a friend of one of our one of our sons brought an N52 engine (same as in your car I believe) to put into a Drift car he was building, it came from a car that had covered just short of 200k. I stripped and rebuilt it for him, he had the head re-worked I fitted a new hi volume oil pump but timing chain and oil pump drive chains were fine and reused with a new tensioner. He has since ragged the life out of it virtually every weekend for 2 years. So if your motor has a reasonable service history and is running quietly at cold start in particular, ie; no chain slap at start. I would get your mechanic (if you aren't a DIYer) to change the tensioner. A fiddly rather than difficult job, I do my V8 tensioner every 40k. Gearbox, BMW sealed for life? Yet ZF build it with drain and fill plugs 😂 and BMW now sell top up fluid (wonder how they top up a sealed box) 🤣 If buying fluid a ZF specialist will be cheaper than BMW or online search will bring up offers. BMW straight 6 is one of the worlds great engines Dave

Very professional or as your wife would say "who left all this stuff in here " 🤣 Oh how we love them 😂 Be interesting to know how it works with the key I just had a read up and it seems that providing you dont enter the wrong codes when reading the EWS chip you can't do any damage and if you brick it, your well practiced now at refitting an EWS 😂 Good luck with the programming Dave

Hi Ben Welcome to the Forum Which model X5 ? E53, E53 face lift E70, E70 LCI, F15, F85, G05, Dave

Hi Mandip Welcome to the Forum Tasty motor, quite right,Dealer Speak "We gave it a full service" translation "we changed the oil but probably not the filter 🤣 BMW still tell people the box is sealed for life though ZF who make the Box recommend a fluid change at 80 to 100 k/km depending on climate and use. So BMW's "Sealed for life" is basically end of warranty. Hesitation, I would check the usual suspects all the Vac lines, plugs, coil packs and loom to coil packs. Enjoy your Beemer Dave

Absolute bummer !!

Morning Stu As I understand it there is a chip in the key blade which provides the rolling code then there is the Fob which operates the central locking I have read about the Key Programmer but have absolutely no experience and don't know anyone who has, Yet ! I would think if the key chip is compatible with the BMW system there is no reason for it not to work Hobby what's a Hobby I don't have time for Hobbies!!! I have a wife with Horses 🤣, one of them was scratching it's backside against the stall wall and pushed it over yesterday !! So today I get to rebuild the wall and re=hang the stable door 🤣 Plus as the love of my life is leaving for a ride this morning says "Oh we have a 100 bales of hay being delivered this afternoon 😲 WE. Then we have the dogs 5 + a pup to train enough to drive a man to drink !! Now there's a thought ?? 😂 The boys were round yesterday wonder if they restacked the beer fridge ? Dave

Morning Ian Think I would still talk to BMW UK just remember the old adage " if you don't ask you never know" Dave

Hi Balraj Welcome to the Forum I think the only way is to get in there with the old tape measure and possibly make a cardboard template to check Good luck Good hunting they are becoming rare cars

Not heard that one before ?? How do they expect you to get it there?? I think I would Contact BMW UK Customer Services to see if they can assist May be it is just that dealer or maybe a picture of you with the car ?? Dave