facelift diesel advice needed........looking to buy

[b21playa]

Hi all

Looking to buy a facelift e53 diesel, and needed some advice.

Ive seen a black 04 plate sport auto for sale which has tv, sat, nv, 6cd changer (i guess the comms pack), 94k on the clock with full history (part independant).

Now all looks good, but the pixels on the instrument cluster are starting to dissappear, cant this be fixed easily/cheaply?

Any common problems on these?

Roughly what is the car worth?

Thanks in advance
B21

[X5Sport]

From what I've seen on the various boards, loss of pixels quite often means a change of the entire instrument cluster - not cheap! Vehicle then has to go to a dealer to be recoded.

Not sure on price as mine is a year newer with a lot less mileage (44k) and that came in at around £17k Max, £14k trade-in but we're keeping it now. Given you may need an instrument cluster change I would either avoid, or knock it dowen further. There is supposed to be a way of seeing whether the cluster has been tampered with as there will be a single bright pixel on all the time. If there is, you're probably better walking away.

TV came with Sat Nav in 2004/5 so you may not have a comms pack. Phone cradle is in the armrest.

Areas to watch will be gaiters on the drive shafts, suspension bushes and possibly the auto box itself - if it's changes are rough leave well alone as it may need rebuilding. A software upgrade may be the easy fix for the box, but not always. Jason on this board would be able to advise. Check every electrical function works properly on every switch, and press the righ hand button in the instrument binnacle itself for 'Check Control' Messages - it should just say 'Check Control OK'. Check the electric windows and mirrors and the pano roof (if fitted) as there have been problems reported with all these areas over the years.

[b21playa]

[quote=""X5Sport""]From what I've seen on the various boards, loss of pixels quite often means a change of the entire instrument cluster - not cheap! Vehicle then has to go to a dealer to be recoded.

Not sure on price as mine is a year newer with a lot less mileage (44k) and that came in at around £17k Max, £14k trade-in but we're keeping it now. Given you may need an instrument cluster change I would either avoid, or knock it dowen further. There is supposed to be a way of seeing whether the cluster has been tampered with as there will be a single bright pixel on all the time. If there is, you're probably better walking away.

TV came with Sat Nav in 2004/5 so you may not have a comms pack. Phone cradle is in the armrest.

Areas to watch will be gaiters on the drive shafts, suspension bushes and possibly the auto box itself - if it's changes are rough leave well alone as it may need rebuilding. A software upgrade may be the easy fix for the box, but not always. Jason on this board would be able to advise. Check every electrical function works properly on every switch, and press the righ hand button in the instrument binnacle itself for 'Check Control' Messages - it should just say 'Check Control OK'. Check the electric windows and mirrors and the pano roof (if fitted) as there have been problems reported with all these areas over the years.[/quote]

Thanks for the reply and advice

The car ive seen is priced at £10,500.

[AW8]

You can get cluster repapired for £80 CLICK HERE

Perhaps still get price from dealer to replace and fit & use cost figure to haggle.............. I seem to recall you wont get much change from £800 via main dealer without discount but do check.

[b21playa]

[quote=""AW8""]You can get cluster repapired for £80 CLICK HERE

Perhaps still get price from dealer to replace and fit & use cost figure to haggle.............. I seem to recall you wont get much change from £800 via main dealer without discount but do check.[/quote]

cheers for that AW8.

I was reading up and it seems to be around the £500- 3600 range for a new cluster inc programming.

Im going to try and view the car on friday, and see how it goes. It was up for £11k, already got it down to £10.5k

[AW8]

Prices on E53 all over the place & thus I wouldnt be confident putting a value on same at moment.

Am sure you have looked at used asking prices & ebay completed listings for some idea.

As for £3600 for a cluster replacement I dont know where that figure came from but it's grossly inaccurate IMO.

[b21playa]

[quote=""AW8""]Prices on E53 all over the place & thus I wouldnt be confident putting a value on same at moment.

Am sure you have looked at used asking prices & ebay completed listings for some idea.

As for £3600 for a cluster replacement I dont know where that figure came from but it's grossly inaccurate IMO.[/quote]

should have bee 600, stupid shift key is sticking

will be viewing friday to see it in the flesh.