XSeries-forum

Hi

My name is Lee, from Nottinghamshire (Mansfield area). I have also posted this on the Newbie section.

I recently bought a 2006 E35 3.0d with 130K with service history, 3 kets etc. See pictures (these are from the person advert):

It has full electric memory heated seats, heated steering wheel, fully working pan roof, factory 20 inch wheels, working parking sensors, functional Tv & sat nav.... so a pretty good spec.

I did not really want my first post to be a negative one and was hoping to get the car polished/detailed etc for better pics but today has not been a good day!

So as mentioned owned it for 4 days, very happy indeed. Until today the nightmare begins, I decided to take it to a friends garage for a once over and the following issued were found:
Cracked manifold,
Split exhaust flex
Oil leak from rear main seal,
Oil filter housing leaking,
Gearbox connector leaking,
2 x rear lever arms

I will state for the record I am not a mechanic and no doubt bought with my heart rather than my head.

Is anybody in the Nottinghamshire area who would like the above work. The garages quote is around £1100-1200, I have no idea if this is good or bad and not exactly in a position right now to spend that sort of money (if I can really help it).

Are these common problems or a sign that I may have bought a "wrong one".

I fully appropriate it is an 14 yr old car and is not run/maintained on ford focus money. It is just hard to swallow when you buy a car, put 4 brand new tyres on and then this hits you.

Any advice or offers to fix the car (obviously at an agreed price) will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Lee

Had the splits (7) on my e53 exhaust manifold ....they are stainless steel and prone to crack, you can get a cast one off eBay, not expensive, as for the rest to be expected really.

The manifold is very common, and should be replaced with a cast iron version.

The other ‘opportunities’ are not unusual on a car of that age. If the quote is from BMW then you can get cheaper. My main dealer charges (or did) around £200/hr and the Indy I use just £65.

Most of the issues sound simple-ish to a mechanic but they need time and I’m guessing that’s what is pushing the cost.

Did you buy ‘*’ marked tyres? It is important as these are matched sets for BMW. The standard 20” wheels are a different width Front/rear and that means a subtle but important difference in the circumference unless the diameter is matched. ‘*’ marked tyres have that match. Getting the wrong tyres frequently leads to broken transmissions, diffs or transfer boxes. If the garage did them then check what they fitted, and if non-approved get them to change them at their cost. It isn’t a dead cert that problems will occur, but it is one less thing to worry about. Audi, Merc and others with 4x4 transmissions have the same problem too.

And

Hi I had a cracked manifold on mine , full service history with main dealer since I bought it at 16k miles , each year the list got longer as the car gets older . Unfortunately however old the car and how looked after it has been it is still a 50k car to fix and maintain , I got rid of mine 2 years ago at 101k miles as the dealer said it needed all the bushes replaced front and back and it also had a steering rack leak 8k please .
If you bought from a dealer see if they will repair or give them it back ?

Well if you had a V8 you may have to stump up £2000 for broken timing chain guides..

Not bought from a dealer, private deal.

After the initial panic and as pointed out my many, the issues are mainly wear and tear and nothing too alarming.

I am in it for the long run with this car.... to me for the looks, drive, comfort/space and reasonable performance for a big car, I believe you cant do much better than an X5.

The rear subframe bushes look good, turbo pulls well and overall the car is in excellent condition.

I have been lucky enough to make a contact, through a friend, who is an ex senior BMW technician who has huge experience in BMWs from 1999-2010 and knows the X5 inside out. He is set up at home and obviously charges a lot less than the garages.

It will be interesting to see what he finds with the car compared to the issues found by a "general" garage.

I will post my finding and let you know how it goes