XSeries-forum

CHANGING THE AIR FILTER ON A E53 3.0D
Changing the air filter on a 3.0d should be a 5 min job as it is on the petrol X5’s. However it’s not. I did mine today and taking my time it took me the best part of an hour from start to finish. Along the way I took a few photo’s that you may find helpful should you wish to take on the job yourself.
1.) Tools needed as follows – 13mm spanner. 13mm socket with wrench. 5mm Allen Key.
2.)

Remove the rubber trim that runs along the top of the bulkhead.
3.)

Undo the quick release screws around the pollen filter but not the two that take the actual filter out. You will then be able to remove the plastic scuttle.

4.)

Once you have removed the scuttle you will see to the left and right of the pollen filter a plastic scoop type thing. These need to be removed and this is done by just lifting them out.
5.)


Undo the two 13mm nuts using the 13mm spanner/socket.






6.)

With the two nuts removed you can slide out the pollen filter assembley. Be careful its heavy. The picture above shows the assembley removed,note you can now see the back of the engine.
7.)

To gain complete access to all of the bolts on the air filter housing you need to move out of the way one more piece of plastic. This is done by undoing the 13mm nut on the bottom of the wiper motor. Then the two 10mm bolts below that,then finally the plastic 10mm nut

The last picture shows the plastic trim moved out of the way,there is no need to remove it completly just prop it out of the way so that you can gain access to the air filter bolts at the back. Yes you got it all the work done so far is to get to the back two bolts on the filter housing.
8.)

Remove the plastic airfilter intake pipe. (photo taken before I started)
9.)

Again photo taken before i started but you then need to undo the five air filter housing bolts with a 5mm allen key. These bolts are captive so will not come all of the way out. The reason for removing the pollen filter assembley is to gain access to the two rear bolts. Once the bolts have been undone remove the oil filler cap. This will then allow you to remove the air filter housing.( tip – replace the oil filler cap as soon as you’ve the housing clear of the engine).


10.)

Housing removed ( filler cap back on) You can see the air filter lying north/south. To remove the filter just push it towards the bulkhead and lift out. When the filter has been rmoved you may need to hoover around the bottom half of the housing to remove a ny insects/bits.
11.)

The bits removed.

Obviously replace in reverse order.
Good luck......

The dweeb

Excellent write up, i did mine when the old site was down, like you say should take 5 mins but a

real PITA . Thanks for this how to, saves me doing the copy and paste thing through photobucket .

Did you do the oil breather filter at the same time ? Mines on a 05 and it did not have the modified oil breather filter.

Jesus didnt know there was one !!
Cheers

Wow, I would have thought it would have been as simple as my 4.4i. I replaced mine at the weekend, new filter from eurocar parts £4.50 and a 1 minute job, done!.

Yea it should be a 2 minute job. Worth the effort tho as they often get ignored durring a service due to the work invovled.And once you've done it once its easy

Thats a lot to remove to get to the filter, is that just poor design or is there some reason for it to be so tucked away?

I would say poor design.

Dealer replaced mine, was not that expensive. About £35 in total.

Thats not bad then

It was part of the extended second oil change I thing. Also involved the fuel filter change.

[quote=""Minda""]Thats not bad then [/quote]
Yea I was thinking that.But Enjoyed doing it myself tho.

I removed that whole guard a while back, can't remember why, but I do remember it being a fiddle to put back.

What year is your E53? Mine doesn't look like that under the bonnet, and the engine cover has a join at the rear so nothing other than the four screws to remove?

Mine is a 2005 MY and all that metalwork on the right of your engine is just not there on mine at all. The only thing I have to the right is a Webasto Thermo Top Z.

Great write up there dweeb all these how too's are really handy to refer to when doing jobs on the car.It's part of what makes a great forum

[quote=""X5Sport""]What year is your E53? Mine doesn't look like that under the bonnet, and the engine cover has a join at the rear so nothing other than the four screws to remove?

Mine is a 2005 MY and all that metalwork on the right of your engine is just not there on mine at all. The only thing I have to the right is a Webasto Thermo Top Z.[/quote]
Hi,
Its a pre-facelift 2002 model. You can understand by following the work that needed to be done why BMW decided to split the engine cover as on yours.
Dweeb