Imminent purchase of X5 30d se 2009 with problems

[chelsea]

Hi all,

I'm about to collect an e70 2009 30d xdrive so looking for a bit of advice.

I have been on this forum for a while after buying an e53 a few years ago and enjoying a pretty much great 50,000 miles !....so much so I am getting the new one ! All be it 2009 with 106k miles and a few problems to go with.

First problem is that the iDrive has got the DPF  message showing and also the dash has the EML lit up and linked to the DPF.
Wondering whether to have the dpf gutted and get remapped and errors deleted (is it an easy job?) or get the dpf taken off and ultrasonically cleaned????? anyone had this done??????

Second problem is the outside edge of the driver tyre is going bold (like I'm going), gathering this is the bushes? any info on this problem?
cheers all,
Paul.

[Horizon]

DPF problems are not uncommon on the E70 as the car will not regen if either of the thermostats are faulty.
Also like the E53 and E83 3.0d the glowplug controllers are also a weak link, so preventing DPF regents.
The latter would throw a fault code.
Many owners have also reported scrubbing of the front tyres on the outer edges, tracking or worn suspension, or even incorrect tyre pressures can add to uneven tyre wear.
Don't forget to post up a few pictures

[chelsea]

Horizon......cheers pal, will search the offending bits !

[chelsea]

[quote="Horizon"]
DPF problems are not uncommon on the E70 as the car will not regen if either of the thermostats are faulty.
Also like the E53 and E83 3.0d the glowplug controllers are also a weak link, so preventing DPF regents.
The latter would throw a fault code.
Many owners have also reported scrubbing of the front tyres on the outer edges, tracking or worn suspension, or even incorrect tyre pressures can add to uneven tyre wear.
Don't forget to post up a few pictures

[IanP]

Before you go down the route of DPF removal, I would take a look at the proposals for tightening MOT rules regarding diesel smoke emissions.
A friend of mine used to offer this service, but now has a system to clean DPFs in situ to allow them to regenerate.
I thought it was snake  oil until i saw it work on numerous vehicles.

[Horizon]

i agree with Ian's thoughts, the same thinking was once aimed at Catalytic converters years ago.
Some makes of cars made the mistake of siting DPF's too far down the exhaust that regen temperatures were harder to hit.
We've had as a family several DPF  fitted vehicles, and never had a problem even with shortish daily runs.
If you are having DPF blockages the first line is to check out why regents are not being performed.
I.e. Glowplug, thermostat failures.
As mentioned DPF deletes are now an MOT failure, look at any diesel car fitted with a working DPF and the exhaust tailpipe is sparkling clean, pre DPF or DPF delete cars have black soot ridden tail pipes. It will be obvious to MOT testers if a car has been tampered with.
Then the expense of replacing it will be £1500 + then having to then rectify why it was failing in the first place.

[Alan Gunn]

If it was me and i was going to keep the car i would get the glow plugs and controller changed.
Also new thermostats then you know you are good to go for a few years.
When i first got my X i got them all done and all the front arm's and joints as one was really bad i did the lot.

[chelsea]

Thanks for the advice all,

Picked it up yesterday and drove back 150  miles from London, the car is driving great except for the tracking out which has caused the front driver tyre to scrub outside edge, the tail pipes are defo sooted up, and when I got home you can actually smell something getting hot coming from the car.

Very happy with it tho and having driven an E53 for the last 3 years then you can imagine the grin on my face, very impressed with the idrive and stereo system,the seats are much better fitting and the car feels loads bigger inside.
No clonking from anywhere, the gearbox and general drive feels like new,just had new discs and pads fitted so the brakes are brill.

I forgot about the new dpf laws etc and I guess the best thing to do would be to get it ultrasonically cleaned if it is not beyond repair??
I called a guy in sheffield who will remove and ultrasonically clean it and reset for £450 maximum, he also mentioned the glow plugs and control unit but have seen a whole set with module brand new on ebay for £120 so I guess worth doing from start.
Not too sure about the run flat thing tho, I have been using Accelera iota tyres on the  e53 for 2 sets and they have not ever let go etc and give a good ride, the price is less than half that of the run flats but I will have to get a spare wheel for it as it does not have one.
cheers,
Paul.

[X5Sport]

You can run without runflats but think hard about using non ‘*’ marked tyres. 

The E83 and E70 with staggered wheel setups are very intolerant of certain tyres and will break either transfer boxes or diffs as some on her have found. 

Any jerkiness at low speed on full lock, or odd noises from the transmission are signs of damage that could be expensive to fix.  Facelifted cars are apparently better but not immune.

[chelsea]

Hi,
I checked the codes on the truck with my hand scanner and all it came back with was dpf code so I dropped the x5 off at my friends garage expecting the full works on the dpf......called him this morning and they hooked it up to a proper scanner and found that 3 glow plugs were bad, they changed the three offenders and went for a drive and the eml came up again with a glow plug they hadn't changed so they changed that one too, no more eml light on or codes stored but he has ordered a new control unit as good measure ! Thanks for the info on the glow plugs everyone!!
He did mention that the driver side rear sussie went down over night but pumped straight back up. It did have the passenger side done (receipt for £800) not so long ago so I will wait for a bit better weather and do the bad one myself.

[chelsea]

[quote="X5Sport"]
You can run without runflats but think hard about using non ‘*’ marked tyres. 

The E83 and E70 with staggered wheel setups are very intolerant of certain tyres and will break either transfer boxes or diffs as some on her have found. 

Any jerkiness at low speed on full lock, or odd noises from the transmission are signs of damage that could be expensive to fix.  Facelifted cars are apparently better but not immune.
[/quote]
Sport, was that the same for the E53 ?, as there were reported problems with the tyres on those too? I have been semi reliably informed that as long as they are like for like size and replaced new on the same axle then there will be no problem at all, you can even run half worn tyres on the back with new tyres on the front or visa versa.

[X5Sport]

The E53 seems better about this though I don’t know why.  Possibly different hardware in the transmission line, or made down to a price - kkx5 might know from what he sees though the shop?