Greydog

Morning Ant Welcome to the Forum £10k is a good budget, as with any used car condition and history are paramount. Modern Diesels are not lovers of short journeys as they don't get a chance to reach full exhaust temperature, so unless you are going to use the car for longer journeys at weekends a petrol may be a better choice. Then there is the spec, leather, electric everything, aircon, sports or comfort seats, we make our choice and pay our money. Same with performance better performance normally equals less MPG another choice. So I would put together a need to have and nice to have list that should help to narrow the choice, things like: Need to have's- Leather Seats, Climate Control, Sat Nav, Bluetooth, Body type/Colour, Alloys(style) Nice to have's- Engine (Petrol Diesel), Gearbox (Auto/Manual) Power/Performance, MPG, Warranty, Low tax bracket. Hope this helps Dave

Morning Rhys Welcome to the Forum They need an inline resistor, normally the "error free" lamps have it built in clearly not the case for you? You can buy the line resistors separately, one per lamp. If you put the original bulbs back does the error go? How ever you should be able to buy "Canbus Error Free" items from a good Motor Factors, Halfords (worth a try) or online from someone like HID's direct (my preference) then of course Ebay (but often origin uncertain) Dave

Very Nice Best engine as well (in my opinion) Welcome to the Forum Davie Dave

Before you get carried away have a look underneath the rear it may be that a previous owner changed the suspension to coil springs (not un-common) then turned off the warning. If you are still on the air suspension then it will likely be one of the ride height sensors, they are often put back incorrectly and cause the warning. Belt tensioner's are likewise often not installed correctly and will allow a squeal under load changing them wont break the bank just needs sockets and skinless knuckles !! Ask how I know

You buy two, it looks flash on the drive but one is for spares

I still think you will have codes there if there is an ECU issue, senor issue, fuel issue it will log a code you need a BMW specific code reader. I did read somewhere about the ignition switch barrel giving problems but I can't for the life of me remember what it was sorry. Dave

Make sure it is the right battery Eric the previous owner may have fitted an over-rated battery in due to the sticky starter, an over-rated battery will never reach full charge as the alternator output will not be suitable. I believe yours should be 70ah 760Cca (cold cranking amps) but check your hand book. There was a lot of issues recorded on forums here in the UK with starter motor failures but they tended to be pre 2005 and Magneti Marelli starters, symptoms were slow cranking or intermittent cranking but drawing massive current which fried batteries. I did read of one guy who measured over 900amps draw on cranking !!! Bosch starters were the replacement of choice. When I was in business we built a huge distribution centre for Honda in the UK just to give Dealers an overnight spares service it helped perpetuate the myth of them never breaking down?? With one of my AMG.s the super charger bearings at the nose pulley failed more than once, clearly the bearings and housing weren't up to the task. In the end I got hold of a nose section from a breaker and with the help of a friend with an engineering shop re-machined the nose bearing housing to take better bigger bearings and increased the oil feed. We also up rated the output with a 10% smaller drive pulley. I never had another failure and George sells upgrade kits for Range Rovers and Jags here. What was the old joke we all drive around in cars made up from 50000 parts all supplied by the lowest bidder!! No matter what they throw at us we will fix it and make it better

Morning Stephen I would check www.realoem.com often there are repair kits available from BMW. I would try a good electrical contact cleaner with a sliver of emery board (my wife loves it when I cut bits off her nail boards!! not) If the connectors are beyond saving then it is only 2 wires so a new connector should be 10 mins with a soldering iron and some shrink wrap Dave

My thought on the mechanism is something has made it wear oddly in the first place. Have a look at www.realoem.com it's a BMW parts list put the last 7 digits of your Vin into the search box and it will bring up your model then search for the part it gives exploded drawings and part numbers helps to make sure it will fit. Also www.newtis.info it's a BMW technical information site as used by Dealers good for how too's etc Dave

Morning Andrew And Welcome to the Forum Sounds as though the heat shield around the Cat is loose and he has tacked it in place. Flickering lights is a sign of something loose(earth or power feed) I would check and clean all light connections (take care if you have HID) Your Mechanic is quite right if your battery is on it's way out that alone will trigger spurious codes. When you say "blanking plate" is that the EGR? or Swirl flaps? Good Luck and Enjoy Dave

Definitely looks like dead battery at 9 volts it should be 12+ at rest 14 with engine running and charging. I suspect that with very low voltage even getting an accurate code read will be difficult. I read codes with the engine running, clear and reset any codes then turn off and leave the car to go to sleep, in the X5 it takes around 15 mins for the car to go into sleep mode (all systems off) the gear selector light is the key with the X5. Once it's asleep I restart and re-read the codes if any have returned they are the ones I investigate and fix, most codes with the X5 have tended to be caused by electrical connections poor earth being the most common with mine. My X5 shows 2 at the moment Aux Water Pump and Open Circuit Drivers Door Mirror so Suspension swing arm bushes then go digging for the cause of the codes, lifes never dull with a Beemer.if my wife doesn't have plans the car does. Dave

Morning Micheal and Welcome to the Forum Very Pretty and just in time for Spring. With regard to the window issue replacing worn guides will never harm it have you taken off the trim to make sure that nothing is loose or out of kilter with the mechanism. Enjoy Dave

Morning Simon If the result is like my sons Toyota you will have smoother running engine and improved fuel consumption. I have just had to change the rear suspension air springs (1 failed) and then a water pump. While I was under neath I noticed the swing arm inner bushes looked a but frazzled so have ordered a set (BMW say you have to change the whole arm !!) so with the weather improving it looks like I might have a few weekends working through the suspension bushes. An X5 is not a car to let you rest on your Laurels it will keep you busy Dave

BMW's are famous for being power hungry beasts a low battery will trigger all sorts of spurious and seeming unrelated codes and warnings. So if your battery is on it's way another may solve a lot of issues. Dave

That's why you need the codes to point you in the right direction otherwise it's change parts and hope which is a wallet busting way to try and fix things. The list of possible culprits is long fuel filter, fuel pressure sensor, MAP sensor, MAF, Fuel pumps Dave

Morning Ian That's a new one, have you tried starting in neutral in case it is something like the inhibitor switch. To be sure you will need the codes read, no other lights or warnings? Dave

Check www.realoem.com search the model the parts lists all have small exploded drawings that will show where stuff is. www.newtis.info will also help. the Pelican Parts web site is also great for information how too;s and parts. Fingers crossed it's a simple fix Dave

Is something unplugged ? I would make sure the battery is fully charged then read codes and back track slowly over whatever I have done checking all connections and earths Dave

Good luck and good call with an MOT garage your right they see them all Dave

Hi Zach I just had a quick check on www.realoem.com BMW parts site (put the last 7 digits of your Vin in the search box it will bring up your model) and www.newtis.info this is a technical information site used by Dealers (but not yours it seems?) Your engine does has an electric coolant pump, so it makes sense that after engine switch off the coolant circulates to aid turbo cooling, time would probably be sensor driven until below a certain temp. I am not certain but it seems logical to me Dave

Morning Zach, Welcome to the Forum When you say Dealer is it a BMW Dealer? if it is then that really doesn't give much confidence fr the future? The noise could be a turbo cooling pumps moving oil and coolant around ? just a guess but something similar I would suspect Dave

Is it because you have Bi xenon lights? The inner lamps maybe just flash? I believe they did this as sudden start On/Off actuation of Xenon lamps could kill the ballast. As I understand it Bi-xenon lamps are on full beam all the time but have a shield/flap that cuts off light scatter on low beam setting. When the high beam is switched on the shield/flap is raised giving full beam, and supplemented by the halogens. Daylight just the halogens flash. I can't think of another reason, my X5 has xenon dip beam supplemented with halogen main beam only.

Sounds like a plan, certainly looks as though Carista is a better system. Check out the water pump connections as well last thing you need is no heater??

First action reset all the codes then see what comes back often the codes are just left in the memory. A lot of codes can be triggered by a low battery voltage, I would clear the codes and check what comes back. The Vanos is the key to fixing your stalling issue I would start with removing and cleaning the solenoid not unusual for them to become sticky. The rest of the mixture codes will likely be linked to the Vanos The others look like earth or connector cleaning so happy days. Anderson's sail boat isn't in that league, but great fun he just thinks he is Captain Hook when he gets out there must be his Viking ancestors??

Hi James Welcome to the Forum Great find, such a low mileage car, I have a Glaswegian friend who say's Scot's are not tight just careful he also say's a Yorkshire-man is a Scot with the generosity squeezed out !! To help in your Quest for value and correct parts, I use www.realoem.com search by model or put the last 7 digits of your Vin in the search box it will bring up a complete list of parts for your car. I also use www.newtis.info for how too's and technical infor mation. Once I have the correct part number I can search for the best deal (see not just Scot's are careful) I use Eurocar parts plus their Offer codes when they are on to get filters and oil ahead of needing them. Coolant and Brake fluid changes I get done by my local BMW Specialist don't discount BMW dealers for parts as they often have deals on our "older" models. Like you when I got my X5 it had a complete history yet many service parts had clearly never been changed, on the X5 the fuel filter is behind a cover under the car by the amount of mud, crud and debris when I removed the cover it had never been changed. Like wise the cabin filter mine was black and literally fell apart when pulled out yet it easy to access, doesn't make sense sometimes. I use Magnatec 5-30 oil which meets BMW spec with the gearbox and diff oils BMW say "sealed for life" ZF who make the box in my X5 say service every 80-100k Km (60k miles) so I found a ZF specialist and had the box serviced, I drained and refilled the front and rear diffs and the transfer box. I hope this helps Dave