[E91 M Sport]

So my wife and I just took the keys to a 41k mile 2013 X5 35d and I freakin dig this rig. I'm posting on here cause the X5/6 forums are very quiet and there's a lot more activity with maintenance and modding here.

So I've tried searching for posts with what forumers do as preventative maintenance but it doesn't look like there are any stickys or posts that cover those in detail. So my question is what are the common items to keep tabs on for these oil burners? Any help/input is appreciated :thumbs:

Once I get any/all items assessed I can't wait to start tinkering with it. I'm still amazed at the potential for increased power that can be had with these engines.

[335duff]

Congratulations! I hope you come to enjoy it as much as I do mine. There are a few common problem areas that are particular to the diesel models.

The first of which is the emissions system. The SCR system, which injects exhaust fluid into a special cat (to the delight of penguins), seems to break 100% of the time.

The cars can also be prone to carbon build up (CBU) in the intake tract. This can be cleaned at the dealer for an expensive but not outlandish fee (its a BMW- think a couple thousand dollars, give or take).

Many people have taken steps to prevent carbon build up, such as blocking of the egr, or tuning to disable it. Some cars reportedly do not have CBU. I'm not sure about mine, I haven't looked yet.

Many people have experienced failure of the crankshaft pulley, which is also known as the harmonic balancer. This isn't that expensive or hard to deal with but could be inconvenient. There are a few discussions of this failure on the boards already.

I will just link you to Yozh's fantastic thread on the vacuum control system. It is very highly recomended.
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1308500

Finally, remember to forget everything they told you about servicing the car when you bought it. Do not change the oil every 12000 miles (change it more often!), DO change the transmission fluid (Which is NOT ATF, it is ZF Lifeguard 6), DO change the power steering fluid (Which MAY be ATF, check your car).

Many people prefer non runflat tires, I think that rft when they are brand new are really good but they wear out long before the tread depth goes away. Really I can't tell you what tires to get as I have not tested all of them.

Surely others will fill in my gaps.

Most of all, enjoy the ride!

[E91 M Sport]

Originally Posted by 335duff

Congratulations! I hope you come to enjoy it as much as I do mine. There are a few common problem areas that are particular to the diesel models.

The first of which is the emissions system. The SCR system, which injects exhaust fluid into a special cat (to the delight of penguins), seems to break 100% of the time.

The cars can also be prone to carbon build up (CBU) in the intake tract. This can be cleaned at the dealer for an expensive but not outlandish fee (its a BMW- think a couple thousand dollars, give or take).

Many people have taken steps to prevent carbon build up, such as blocking of the egr, or tuning to disable it. Some cars reportedly do not have CBU. I'm not sure about mine, I haven't looked yet.

Many people have experienced failure of the crankshaft pulley, which is also known as the harmonic balancer. This isn't that expensive or hard to deal with but could be inconvenient. There are a few discussions of this failure on the boards already.

I will just link you to Yozh's fantastic thread on the vacuum control system. It is very highly recomended.
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1308500

Finally, remember to forget everything they told you about servicing the car when you bought it. Do not change the oil every 12000 miles (change it more often!), DO change the transmission fluid (Which is NOT ATF, it is ZF Lifeguard 6), DO change the power steering fluid (Which MAY be ATF, check your car).

Many people prefer non runflat tires, I think that rft when they are brand new are really good but they wear out long before the tread depth goes away. Really I can't tell you what tires to get as I have not tested all of them.

Surely others will fill in my gaps.

Most of all, enjoy the ride!

Perfect, thanks for the list. I'll be sure to go over that thread as well

[NickTheStick]

Hola, and welcome to the club. I was a previous owner of a 335d in addition to an X5d. The 335d is gone, but I still have (and love) my X.

Surprisingly, the X seems to be a lot more reliable than the 3er. The addition of a 2nd EGR seems to help cut down on the amount of CBU, however, it can still become an issue.

The layout of the SCR system on the X is more prone to issues than the 3er, BUT, BMW just pushed out a service bulletin for this problem. You can read about it here: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1311858

There is currently a recall on the MAF.

If you're getting poor gas mileage, well it could be attributed to alot...but you might want to start monitoring your engine temps. The thermostats are known to go crazy on these, and get stuck open...not allowing your vehicle to fully warm up and therefore, leading to bad gas mileage.

Also, the injectors are hit & miss. Sometimes they fail early, sometimes they last forever.

Cutting oil change intervals in half is definitely a good idea.

Overall, the X seems to be more reliable than the 3er. Some speculate that the extra weight of the X puts more strain on the engine, leading to a more complete burn of the fuel. Consequently, leading to less CBU.

Deleting the emissions components makes these vehicles pretty rock solid, and frees up power and MPG. Of course, for off-road use only *wink*

Enjoy it! I'm over on xbimmers as well, but as you said, its pretty dead. Every once in a while I'll check xoutpost and bimmerfest (that's where I found the service bulletin for the SCR)

Cheers!

[E91 M Sport]

Originally Posted by NickTheStick

Hola, and welcome to the club. I was a previous owner of a 335d in addition to an X5d. The 335d is gone, but I still have (and love) my X.

Surprisingly, the X seems to be a lot more reliable than the 3er. The addition of a 2nd EGR seems to help cut down on the amount of CBU, however, it can still become an issue.

The layout of the SCR system on the X is more prone to issues than the 3er, BUT, BMW just pushed out a service bulletin for this problem. You can read about it here: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1311858

There is currently a recall on the MAF.

If you're getting poor gas mileage, well it could be attributed to alot...but you might want to start monitoring your engine temps. The thermostats are known to go crazy on these, and get stuck open...not allowing your vehicle to fully warm up and therefore, leading to bad gas mileage.

Also, the injectors are hit & miss. Sometimes they fail early, sometimes they last forever.

Cutting oil change intervals in half is definitely a good idea.

Overall, the X seems to be more reliable than the 3er. Some speculate that the extra weight of the X puts more strain on the engine, leading to a more complete burn of the fuel. Consequently, leading to less CBU.

Deleting the emissions components makes these vehicles pretty rock solid, and frees up power and MPG. Of course, for off-road use only *wink*

Enjoy it! I'm over on xbimmers as well, but as you said, its pretty dead. Every once in a while I'll check xoutpost and bimmerfest (that's where I found the service bulletin for the SCR)

Cheers!

Many thanks! It's interesting that the emissions systems are what appear to be the culprit of the majority of issues.

Gotta love the "offroad use only" disclaimer

[Persian Whisperjet]

X5 also has a different EGR system than the 335d which may explain that model appearing to have less trouble with CBU.