Buying an E65/E66 7 series... Convince me not to do it

[TriggerFish]

The size of that rear door!

Good luck though - I hope it goes well

[verde]

I was about to go on about how my friends 550s. 545s and 750 have fared well and the V8s are generally good bar a few things, then read 760i and thought wow, you've really jumped in the deep end. Brave man but lovely car and im sure itl be fine.

[Andyboy]

Great cars are surprisingly reliable.

[Jon_Bmw]

Andy it actually came from Sheffield. What a boring drive that is from the deep south.

So the Battery recharge light illuminates when you have the key in the ignition for a while and the engine not running. I borrowed the Autologic from work which we hardly ever use anymore and scanned it. Surprisingly there wasn't 10 pages of fault codes, just the two(21 fault codes in total ) ;





I had my Ctek charger on it whilst I was using the Autologic scanner as the last thing I wanted was that going flat mid way through reading/clearing faults.

So obviously after photographing the faults things the obvious thing to do is just do a quick clear. This removed the airbag light temporarily...

Onto the Battery, well its an AGM battery which is some large 90Ah gel mat battery (read expensive). The results didn't make particularly great reading:





So basically at that time the State of Health is 37% and circa half the Ah it should be.

I thought I would have a look at the battery history as you have to tell the car when you fit a new battery and if you change the size or type (not recommended by the way). This is called Battery registration or something similar.

This is what showed up:



So I got confused. It doesn't make sense. Unless the cars been clocked a lot. Current mileage is 121,000 miles equalling 194km. So I think the 524k is just some spurious info...

So I went to dig the battery out of the boot to have a look to see if it was the right type. It is an OEM BMW 90 Ah AGM battery, so I think that it is the original. I didn't see it all as I didn't want to remove it, so I can't be 100% sure it is the original.

So my current plan is that I have charged it with my Ctek charger until it said it was full. That was last weekend. So I will check what charge it has over this weekend. The autologic can also tell you the last 5 days charge percentage. So it will be interesting to see what it has lost just sat on the drive. If it is still diabolical I will change it and register a new one.


Soooooo other issues:

1) Rear side mirrors were autodip and had spat their fluid out on the LH and the RH was on dipped mode permanently. With the factory blacked out windows and mirrors that thought you were being blinded by a non existing vehicle behind reversing at night was guess work.

Replacement autodip mirrors on this vehicle have a finite life, so any new ones on a shelf might become bad pretty quickly, so along with the £300 a side replacement cost (ok it was mainly the replacement cost! ), it got some nice blue tint ones from eBay for around £15 a side. Fitment was relatively straight foward.

2) Right rear centre PDC sensor or wiring broken - Made reversing along with point 1 impossible at night. To be sorted.

3) Airbag light illuminates after the reset. I need to hook the scanner back up to see what fault has been logged again. There is a recall on pretensioners for this aged E66 so with any luck BMW might rectify. I need to check if this vehicle has been done. To be sorted

4) Centre Idrive screen occasionally flickers. There is various discussion around on this with dirty cables or Nav unit getting the majority of the blame. I am wondering if Battery voltage is also a problem... To be temporarily ignored!

5) Drivers Seat squab heater broken In this weather it would be nice. The back rest heater works. I would probably need an engine crane to remove the seat to inspect as they look seriously heavy...so...To be temporarily ignored!

6) Autorear boot won't open without a little assistance. Closes OK on its own. The hydraulic fluid looked slightly low when I took the trim out to look at the battery. So some more fluid and a bleeding session should see that sorted. To be done when changing the battery.


Other than that, what a way to travel.

On board computer says I am averaging 19.9mpg. I will see how accurate that is after a few tankfulls.

[bss325i]

Not a huge list of ailments!

The date of manufacture of the battery is stamped on the negative terminal is week and year e.g,

24
05

would be the 24th week of 2005.

[Andyboy]

What year and engine size is your X5 Rog as you may have the more reliable M62 engine?

51 with the 4.4

Yep, M62 but these still like an oil leak and stretched chains shagged guides.

..and head gaskets, and breathers, and cooling dramas and......

The N62 has proven more reliable in the main. I love an E65 but they've got to be at the price point where they can be broken and sold in bits when* it goes badly wrong. I've seen plenty of 150-200'000 milers that still run well without issues, but oil leaks are a constant.



*not 'if'.

[Jon_Bmw]

I still haven't check the battery yet! I tend to leave it hooked up to a Ctek when not using it for a few days.

Point 2 - No progress!

Point 3 - Rescanned and came up with 9767 Control Unit Fault. Our autologic has just packed in, so I might get an "eBay cable" and spend hours of my life trying to install the software at some point...

Point 4 - Still occurring. It seems to be worse when I leave the car pointing downhill and then use it. Autoboot hydraulic leak onto the Nav unit is a potential cause if Interweb is to be believed. Nav unit now says no disc, but I drive screen working fine.

Point 5 -This was sorted easily as that was just a plug under the drivers seat that needed reconnecting. My sort of fix.

Point 6 - No progress.


Actual MPG 17.4MPG

[bss325i]

17.7 is what i used to average in my old E38 750iL.

[Simon13]

they're quite good really for all those cylinders, my old bi-turdo only ever managed 18mpg and the M5 isn't a huge amount better 21

[bss325i]

Exactly, an E39 525i auto only seems to only average 21-22 mpg.

Half the engine and only 4 mpg better!

[Jon_Bmw]

I Still have it, and it needs an MOT about 3 weeks ago! Eeek.

So the airbag control module job was fun...

I nearly shat myself at one point as the battery went flat after coding, everything was dead (I didn't realise it was the battery at the time). I had my Ctek charger on it with a Ctek extension cable, the cable was faulty and not charging at all which allowed it to go flat. The amount of warnings that came up on the dash was ludicrous! Then it started to rain, it was dark, outside and the windows were down...

But a £30 cable, £23 eBay special airbag module and it is fixed. Shame it nearly caused me to lose all my hair. It would be easier a second time around I am sure...

Just got some 'cough,' previously loved tyres to go on for the MOT as the 4 contis are shagged. I did go for conti sport 5s again as they seem OK. Then drop it in for an MOT.



I fixed the heated drivers squab, that was just a electric plug that had come loose. The flickering I drive screen has completely disappeared over summer. I think that the front water drains are blocked and accumulate water in a sensitive area over winter.

Autorear boot is now fine. A bit of a bleed seems to have that fixed.

The Rear PDC fault is not a sensor, a bodger has been at the wiring loom in a previous life. That needs a new rear loom to sort but that means the bumper needs to come off to sort. That can wait, I will just look in the mirrors for now.

Front washers never worked, but they are now fixed. A glue gun to the rescue.

I am debating about selling once the car is MOT'd in case something goes catastrophically wrong, but I have nothing I urgently need the (relatively small amount of) money for, so I might just hang on to it and waft.

MPG with no long journeys is around 15mpg. Slightly painful, but not horrendous, seeing as you could get that figure in a w**ked out v8 disco/rangie.

[Jesus325iTouring]

15mpg in a shagged out Rangie?? I can say from experience thats being generous Jon, I have a 4.6V8 P38, Sunday tram to tear up the Plains, I routinely get 11mpg The rumble is worth it

[Simon13]

Good stuff chaps, i'm yet to break the V8 V12 cherries yet

[Jesus325iTouring]

Having packed in the fags pays for my V8 shennanigans

[Simon13]

No way! how long?

[Jesus325iTouring]

1 year and 3 months Life changing for wife & I, can afford to itch those scratches. £3.5k a year saved, well not saved but spent on motors of 8 cylinder variety

[Jon_Bmw]

15mpg in a shagged out Rangie?? I can say from experience thats being generous Jon, I have a 4.6V8 P38, Sunday tram to tear up the Plains, I routinely get 11mpg The rumble is worth it

Good to hear one is being used properly! Talking of the plains I have officially had a mid-life crisis and bought a learner legal two stroke enduro bike. I have been out onto the plains with a mate a couple of times. The last time involved him towing me back, and being towed on a bike by another bike across rough terrain is not fun!!

It has resided in the garage for the last 4 weeks until I get some motivation to fix it. Perhaps we can meet up one day on SP?

Si, I saw your latest purchase on FB, which is probably better than a 540 touring in every way, except perhaps noise.

[Simon13]

It might well bury me Jon! I'm thinking this time rather than tweek the engine is to gear it down with the diff ratio to "tune" it. Long way off anyhow

Rog good man! I never noticed what i saved as i used to rinse the joint account for fags. My wife tells me she noticed! Nearly 8 years for me now, wow

SP is it big play ground free for all?

[Jesus325iTouring]

That'd be great Jon, we go up there most Sundays, me, wife & the boys. Boys learning to drive, though it might be a few years before my 6 year olds feet reach the pedals.
PM me when you've done some fix it to the Enduro.

Si the Plains are great and criss crossed by many many byways of varying terrain so something for everyone. There are many tempting areas but you have to be careful of wardens, police etc as there are fines and seizure of vehicles. Bikes usually can outrun them, and do, but in a lumbering old Rangy, you're not going to out run much

[Jesus325iTouring]

Here it is, on sat low on access mode. Air lifts its up by about 8" or so. I put 16" Disco steels on it with Insa Special Trak mud terrain boots, the biggest you can fit without mods. Still can't use full lock though! Aggressive and noisy on tarmac, but mega grip off road.

[Jon_Bmw]

It passed it's MOT with no advisories around a month ago which was good. I thought it would to be honest but you never want to tempt fate by saying so before the MOT.

Can't make myself put it up for sale yet...

[Topblag]

I bought a v10 a year ago and one thing I've noticed above the running costs is that I find myself walking more. Also packed in the fags the year before so that eases the purse strings. I average about 20mpg. I don't mind spending money on it as 420bhp and 10 cylinders avec Milltek is worth it.

[Jon_Bmw]

Audi of some description?

[Topblag]

Yes, S6 saloon. Considering selling it for an RS6 V10. Great cars.