E70 first impressions.........

[chelsea]

I brought a late 2009 E70 xdrive 30d shadow edition with 106k FBMWSH with a few problems two weeks ago, the problems were......
1......
2 new front tyres needed and 4 wheel tracking as it was wearing the driver side front outer edge badly.
It had Duellers on it when I brought it and after running Accelera Iota's on my E53 for the last 50k then I have swapped over to them, they are excellent in the wet and have been very reliable with ride quality and track on the E53.
I took it to Kwik Fit for the four wheel alignment as they use the Hunter system, not cheap at £80 but it is the best system going, and I decided to go for the 2 year and/or 7 times realignment for free any outlet in the country for £109....and a bargain if you have an X5 !! (it was miles out!)

2......
The EML light and Idrive was on saying that the DPF was full etc, this was not so and it was only 36% saturated, also said that the last regeneration was at 98.6k so that was 7.5 k ago so I replaced the glow plugs and controller, it then threw the EGR valve code up so I replaced that and the solenoid, after replacing them the EML light stayed off after clearing until I switched off and back on again, it then reappeared after warming up?
Cut a long story short,I got fed up already of throwing bit's at it !
I took it to SLT tuning in Sheffield, he cleared the code using bmw software and even he didn't know why it had thrown the code, everything was good with the engine !!?
Whilst there I had it stage 1 re-mapped with EGR delete, I left the DPF operating as he assures me it does not need the EGR to regenerate, it will not log the regeneration but it will happen if I do the 3rd gear 2.5k rev's for 20 min's every 1k miles, don't drive it like I can't afford it, and stop using supermarket fuel (bio added).
The difference is that it is now a reliable 280bhp (50bhp more)' but it has changed the way it drives totally,the steering and attitude has changed and it is so much more enjoyable.

I was actually thinking about keeping my E53 and selling the new one on (paid 8k for it so good profit!) but it feels so much better, more like it should for a 50k car. The thing spins up like my old Z3M when you put the foot down, and because it's changing quicker at normal speeds then the round town mpg has gone up to 27mpg from 22mpg and approx 35mpg ish on the motorway, very tempted to get rid of the DPF as apparently that will make at least 5 mpg difference but I will stay with it for now.

3......
That's it ! I love the car now, not as good on fuel as my E53 (not by much) but it feels like it should have from new. Spent £750 on it so far (minus M badges ) and gave myself a 1k budget,so all good except I should have just gone got proper advice from a tuner before replacing the EGR and solenoid (£160), tail chasing is easy on these cars, and I should have known better !

Couple of things I am not happy with still,

When on tick over it has a diesel vibration, tick over revs are fine on the p.c. so its not an air leak etc, my old E53 was smooth as silk, this feels slightly agricultural thru the pedals and feel (those who know!), it's fine when driving but feels dieselly when ticking over, less so when starting from cold?....anyone give a tickover comparison between E53 and E70?

The Radio keeps losing signal, I have kind of figured out it is a boot lid opening and closing short problem and will report back after weekend.....it's very common and there are no reports of fixing as yet !

[X5Sport]

You do know that all road diesel legally sold in the UK is B7 (7% biofuel) don’t you?  Regardless of where you get it it will be the same.  It’s been that way since the Renewable Energy Directive of 2009.  B10 is currently not approved as older Diesel engines can’t cope.  Interestingly it’s the inclusion of biofuel that is causing the increased NOx emissions problem the press berates us with.

The only difference between supermarket and non-supermarket fuels is what the tanker driver adds as was discussed a few years back by someone in the industry.  They all come from the same fuel depots.  GTL fuels still meet the B7 regs but are developed from chemically converting natural gas rather than refining crude oil.

Your DPF should be regen cycling more frequently than 1k miles.  It should be nearer 500 mile intervals.

You only need 2,000 rpm (or minimum 40mph) for 20 mins once the engine is fully warmed up to get it to happen.  The clue is the engine fans will run at high speed to prevent a fire due to the very high EGT during a regen.  They will run on after switch off if mid-cycle.

[chelsea]

[quote="X5Sport"]
You do know that all road diesel legally sold in the UK is B7 (7% biofuel) don’t you?  Regardless of where you get it it will be the same.  It’s been that way since the Renewable Energy Directive of 2009.  B10 is currently not approved as older Diesel engines can’t cope.  Interestingly it’s the inclusion of biofuel that is causing the increased NOx emissions problem the press berates us with.

The only difference between supermarket and non-supermarket fuels is what the tanker driver adds as was discussed a few years back by someone in the industry.  They all come from the same fuel depots.  GTL fuels still meet the B7 regs but are developed from chemically converting natural gas rather than refining crude oil.

Your DPF should be regen cycling more frequently than 1k miles.  It should be nearer 500 mile intervals.

You only need 2,000 rpm (or minimum 40mph) for 20 mins once the engine is fully warmed up to get it to happen.  The clue is the engine fans will run at high speed to prevent a fire due to the very high EGT during a regen.  They will run on after switch off if mid-cycle.
[/quote]
I did remember reading about the added bio on here when I first got my E53 nearly 4 years ago so I will keep using asda fuel.
The dpf I am stuck with, short of removing it,which I don't really want to do. I will do as you suggest and go give it a boot every 500 miles or so, I live 750 yds from a motorway so it's no biggie.
cheers.

[X5Sport]

Removing the DOF now is an MOT fail and (allegedly) easy to spot as one of the clues is a black tailpipe!  My X6 is 7 years old and the exhausts are still spotless so there may be something in that statement.