Herbmiester

It does have rear air springs which adjust if you are towing or have a heavy load.

I bought an E70 X5 40D a few months back to replace my trusty old Highlander as the family vehicle. I didn't gel with it at first probably because the previous owner left it in a pretty untidy state and my OCD got the better of me. After a few wash's and a thorough interior clean I started to appreciate it. I had the intake ports and inlet manifold de-carboned and fitted a replacement EGR valve. This made quite difference performance wise and my economy improved by just over 1l per 100kms and it also got rid of the dreaded check engine light. Ironically the light did not cause the check control to report a fault. The 40d makes 225kw and 600nm so it gets up and goes for a big heavy thing. I have had a few traffic light drag races and have surprised a few punters including a boy racer in his WRX who finally flew past at 100kph only to see the blue flashing lights a few seconds later. I had to laugh as he was a typical flat peak bogan with a fart cannon exhaust. I was going to buy an E53 as I think they are a great looking wagon but I wanted better safety and I was underwhelmed by the performance of the 2 diesels I drove. The ZF8 speed is a great gearbox with smooth quick shifts, I have driven a few BMW's with this box and it always impresses me. My 40D has the M Sport suspension and its pretty firm, body roll is minimal and I am still surprised by how much lateral grip there is even with the average Bridgestone Duelers. That said it does run on 275 and 315 runflats so replacing them wont be cheap. The downside is that the ride can be a bit crashy over rougher roads; on the highway though its a treat. On twisty roads you really can push it, the steering is quite direct and the sport seats have decent bolsters to hold you in. It is a pleasant place to be, and the CIC while not as nice as NBT works fine and the heated seats front and rear keep the woman of the household happy on cold mornings. The biggest downside is my wife likes it and I often find it gone and I am resigned to her Bio Hazzard Skoda.

Damn terrible timing I just bought replacements for my 540is.

I fitted 15mm spacers with correct lip to my 335i and bought decent aftermarket bolts. VTNZ never picked it up.

Glad you did it, it makes a very good chassis excellent.

I used an AMS copy from Ali Express, really well made end tanks. No complaints.

No issues at all, but I ran Konis with Tein S Tech springs.

I will check.

Just picking up on this thread as I am now sorting out a towbar for my E70X5. I have the Westphalia type detachable setup but I would prefer the removable tongue system for my bike carrier. That said I am also looking at roof racks. I do have option 233 increased towing and self leveling suspension so that seems good. Just a few questions. Any recomendations for where to buy a towbar setup? Where do I get one of those clamp on things to get a flat surface under BMW tow ball? What does option 233 actually give me?

Yes I understand your position I dont care so much about the legality more about the environment.

I am thinking that might be the way to go.

My X5 40D keeps bring up a check engine light and the codes are: 49A6 Glow Plug Controller. New GP controller. 4CAE EGR controller position sensor. 40D4 EGR controller Position Sensor. 4C9F Exhaust-gas recirculation valve, plausibility 4C9E Exhaust-gas recirculation valve, plausibility 40B4 EGR Valve position control. Apart from the first one everything else is EGR related. I removed the EGR valve (10 min job) and it wasn't sticking, a small amount of carbon but less than I imagined. My question is do these fail otherwise? Is there a way of checking them, specifically the operation of the stepper motor?

I took the car on a road trip to Hawkes Bay. Idle and transition off idle are noticeably smoother, there is more power as you would expect and open road fuel economy went from 9.7 to 8.1l per 100kms. Will have the before and after photos next week.

Yes it was the colour that really got me.

Just to keep the thread going.

My X5 40D went in yesterday for an intake manifold and intake port clean. I felt like the 306 hp just wasn't quite there and after looking at the intake ports with the manifold off it was clear why. For those of you who have seen N54 intake ports this will be very familiar, carbon and soot lined the intake port walls to around 20 to 30 percent of their volume. The valve stems were twice the size and the back faces of the valves were thick with carbon. The guy doing it has his own walnut blasting machine and is doing the ports tomorrow. He cleaned the manifold and it looked spotless as did the EGR and throttle body/ anti shudder valve. I will have some pictures in the next few days.

I joined this group a number of years back and the support, discussion and knowledge provided here has been invaluable, yes we have the odd enthusiastic discussion but this really is a very good community. A perfect example of this happened recently. I bought an E70 X40d and it was located in Auckland ; with Covid lockdowns occurring I was struggling to find a way to get the X5 back to Wellington. Pramod came to the rescue; he helped get the X5 picked up and bought back to Wellington for less than an airfare and diesel; and there was nothing in it for him he was just helping out. Pramod for those that dont know is really good with programming, he can sort and re program keys as well as code your DME, he is a BMW enthusiast and a really nice guy. Thanks Pramod, I really appreciate your help.

Isn't the box in the first post that thing?

I am also considering going down this route for the CIC unit in my X5. The whole Android through the Aux bugs me a bit so also considering a complete 10.5 inch Android conversion. Which way do you think I should go?

Yes I did the same, all I could find were KYB Excel G's. In the end I went with some Sachs OEM Sport struts from FCP Euro, I combined this with a few other parts I wanted for the 540is. Interestingly that Sachs strut was NZD $146 plus GST and freight, $216, as opposed to the cheapest price I got quoted here of $335.

Thanks I think this is the one I found some info that says the 540i uses that part number. Do you have the factory sport springs or aftermarket lowered springs?

What was it?

I need some new front strut inserts for my 540is but I am unsure what the correct stem lenght is, the internet says 16mm, but I am unsure. Anyone able to shed some light on this?

The body changes on the M4 make it a much easier car to look at. In fact I quite like the M4.