Another old wagon repair log
06-04-2019, 11:59 AM
#1
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Another old wagon repair log
Hey all,
Picked up a 2010 535xi last month, it has ~135k miles on it, but luckily the previous owner took good care of it.
It came with many documents and receipts, the pre-purchase inspection revealed a few issues but nothing that was tooooo unexpected. The biggest concern is the oil pan leaking....which is going to positively blow to fix. I'm planning to address the oil filter housing gasket and valve cover gasket, here soon then run it. If the leak is pretty severe, then it will likely come off the road and into storage and I'll save pennies for the repair (as this is a "fun" car, so doesn't need to fixed right away) And if we're pulling the subframe, axles, etc then I will be replacing the stock turbos at that time as well, as although they don't have any issues right now...even with it being a 2010 (with allegedly better designed wastegates) I'm sure they'll fail within the next few years.
But, hey, that's just spitballing...
As of right now, the next item on the list following fixing the oil leaks and doing the oil service is refurb'ing the tailgate. The previous owner had mentioned the hydraulic arm had come off the ball once before, but he put it back on and didn't have too many issues with it following. While I was helping the trunk come up (guessing the hydraulic fluid needs replaced) the arm came off again, and holy shit that tailgate is heavy. The ball is fairly rusted, so I've ordered a replacement, and picked up the repair kit that a fellow 5series.net member has on eBay that consists of 2 5mm ball bearing tipped set screws, a small tap, and a small drill bit. The plan is to replace the helper arm, replace the body mounted ball, and drill & tap the lower hydraulic arm to install the set screws to lock the arm to the ball. (As seen here: The Fix-it Blog - Sorting Things Out: BMW 535xi Touring E61 Tailgate Hydraulic Strut Popping off the Ball Joint - Set Screw Repair )
That's the plan anyways. I've got more hydraulic fluid on hand, and a syringe and will be following DaHose's really good writeup over on BimmerForums (Here: https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...-opening-fully)
Beyond that, the 3rd taillight doesn't work, and I'm guessing it is part of the wiring harness passing through the hatch...which my right license plate just failed today so I have a message about that. I've reached out to Sencom to buy their repair harness' and plan on taking care of that some week/weekend in the future. Also, could've smokechecked the filter behind the right speaker, but who knows. This is me just being an armchair mechanic with the googlemachine. We'll see!
Picked up a 2010 535xi last month, it has ~135k miles on it, but luckily the previous owner took good care of it.
It came with many documents and receipts, the pre-purchase inspection revealed a few issues but nothing that was tooooo unexpected. The biggest concern is the oil pan leaking....which is going to positively blow to fix. I'm planning to address the oil filter housing gasket and valve cover gasket, here soon then run it. If the leak is pretty severe, then it will likely come off the road and into storage and I'll save pennies for the repair (as this is a "fun" car, so doesn't need to fixed right away) And if we're pulling the subframe, axles, etc then I will be replacing the stock turbos at that time as well, as although they don't have any issues right now...even with it being a 2010 (with allegedly better designed wastegates) I'm sure they'll fail within the next few years.
But, hey, that's just spitballing...
As of right now, the next item on the list following fixing the oil leaks and doing the oil service is refurb'ing the tailgate. The previous owner had mentioned the hydraulic arm had come off the ball once before, but he put it back on and didn't have too many issues with it following. While I was helping the trunk come up (guessing the hydraulic fluid needs replaced) the arm came off again, and holy shit that tailgate is heavy. The ball is fairly rusted, so I've ordered a replacement, and picked up the repair kit that a fellow 5series.net member has on eBay that consists of 2 5mm ball bearing tipped set screws, a small tap, and a small drill bit. The plan is to replace the helper arm, replace the body mounted ball, and drill & tap the lower hydraulic arm to install the set screws to lock the arm to the ball. (As seen here: The Fix-it Blog - Sorting Things Out: BMW 535xi Touring E61 Tailgate Hydraulic Strut Popping off the Ball Joint - Set Screw Repair )
That's the plan anyways. I've got more hydraulic fluid on hand, and a syringe and will be following DaHose's really good writeup over on BimmerForums (Here: https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...-opening-fully)
Beyond that, the 3rd taillight doesn't work, and I'm guessing it is part of the wiring harness passing through the hatch...which my right license plate just failed today so I have a message about that. I've reached out to Sencom to buy their repair harness' and plan on taking care of that some week/weekend in the future. Also, could've smokechecked the filter behind the right speaker, but who knows. This is me just being an armchair mechanic with the googlemachine. We'll see!
06-04-2019, 12:18 PM
#2
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Thread Starter
Here are a few pics:
Waiting for the pre-purchase inspection...
Heading back home into Indiana
HOME!
Added Tint
Also the previous owner had a carbon fiber vinyl on the rear spoiler/decklid...thing...It had started pulling up, so he removed it, but the adhesive stuck and was extremely stubborn to get off. Even after hitting it with some goo gone and heat. I bought a specific adhesive/glue remover that is designed exactly for situations such as this, in addition to some plastic razor blades. After 20 minutes of work, it was gone and looks great!
BEFORE
AFTER
Waiting for the pre-purchase inspection...
Heading back home into Indiana
HOME!
Added Tint
Also the previous owner had a carbon fiber vinyl on the rear spoiler/decklid...thing...It had started pulling up, so he removed it, but the adhesive stuck and was extremely stubborn to get off. Even after hitting it with some goo gone and heat. I bought a specific adhesive/glue remover that is designed exactly for situations such as this, in addition to some plastic razor blades. After 20 minutes of work, it was gone and looks great!
BEFORE
AFTER
06-04-2019, 12:20 PM
#3
New Members
Those are certainly some good posts about fixing the hydraulic tailgate. I looked at those as well for guidance when I re-retrofitted my hydraulic pump that had been deleted by a previous owner. Since yours is a 2010 does it have the updated CIC iDrive or the old, clunky CCC?
06-04-2019, 12:48 PM
#4
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Thread Starter
It does have the CIC iDrive, which is AWWWWWWESOME. 
Forgot that I updated the nav system, too. It was a 2017 map pack, and updated to the 2019 map pack. Thank goodness for really smart people on the interent. Using another forum, I got a script put on a USB, plugged into my car, which created a .bat file (I think, this was a few weeks back at a very late time) that I used to generate the upgrade code. The 2019 map pack was procured from....the 7 seas. Yar.
If you need help finding resources to upgrade your CIC, post up and i'll try to find the links. Once the upgrade started, it was about 45 minutes or so....I started the process of acquiring the map pack and upgrade code around 11pm or so and everything was finished up around 3am.
Forgot that I updated the nav system, too. It was a 2017 map pack, and updated to the 2019 map pack. Thank goodness for really smart people on the interent. Using another forum, I got a script put on a USB, plugged into my car, which created a .bat file (I think, this was a few weeks back at a very late time) that I used to generate the upgrade code. The 2019 map pack was procured from....the 7 seas. Yar.
If you need help finding resources to upgrade your CIC, post up and i'll try to find the links. Once the upgrade started, it was about 45 minutes or so....I started the process of acquiring the map pack and upgrade code around 11pm or so and everything was finished up around 3am.
06-25-2019, 02:14 PM
#5
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Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Boston, MA
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My Ride: BMW 530xiT (E61)
Model Year: 2007
Congrats on the new wagon.
i also had an issue with the hydraulic arm continually popping off the ball even after replacing the ball with a new one. There must have been some wear in the socket also. In the iDrive menu for the tailgate, I lowered the height setting to the second from the highest and the ball stopped popping off. It must have been the change in angle which put less stress on the mechanism.
i also had an issue with the hydraulic arm continually popping off the ball even after replacing the ball with a new one. There must have been some wear in the socket also. In the iDrive menu for the tailgate, I lowered the height setting to the second from the highest and the ball stopped popping off. It must have been the change in angle which put less stress on the mechanism.
07-29-2019, 10:51 AM
#6
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Thread Starter
2 Weeks ago a buddy and I tackled the OFHG and did oil service at that time as well. Additionally, replaced the belt as I couldn't see when (or if) it was replaced prior to me getting it.
Ever since picking up the car, it has had a nasty shudder when slowing down so I'm fairly certain the nice cross-drilled rotors had warped. Luckily, the previous owner had kept the hardly used stock rotors. I grabbed those out of the parts pile and took them over to a friend who knows a guy with a brake lathe. They didn't even need turned, just sanded the face and sent them down the road.
I managed to get one corner done and moved over to the passenger front and barely turned the rotor retaining screw and it stripped. I didn't have time to deal with that so I put the wheel back on and that's where it's currently sitting. I ordered new rotor retaining screws for all corners and will try again once I get them here. Current plan is to hammer in a 1/4 hex socket into it and hope it comes out. If that doesn't work, I'll probably drive over to my buddies, have him weld on a nut and get it that way. Then I'll just do the stupid brakes in his driveway. Haha.
Life pro tip for rotors....get a small 3 or 4 inch c-clamp...once you get the spring off the front, get the clamp on the backside of the caliper and in the hole where you can see the piston (where the brake sensor goes) and compress it a bit. Makes it way easier to get everything apart. Took me WAY too long to figure that out.
Ever since picking up the car, it has had a nasty shudder when slowing down so I'm fairly certain the nice cross-drilled rotors had warped. Luckily, the previous owner had kept the hardly used stock rotors. I grabbed those out of the parts pile and took them over to a friend who knows a guy with a brake lathe. They didn't even need turned, just sanded the face and sent them down the road.
I managed to get one corner done and moved over to the passenger front and barely turned the rotor retaining screw and it stripped. I didn't have time to deal with that so I put the wheel back on and that's where it's currently sitting. I ordered new rotor retaining screws for all corners and will try again once I get them here. Current plan is to hammer in a 1/4 hex socket into it and hope it comes out. If that doesn't work, I'll probably drive over to my buddies, have him weld on a nut and get it that way. Then I'll just do the stupid brakes in his driveway. Haha.
Life pro tip for rotors....get a small 3 or 4 inch c-clamp...once you get the spring off the front, get the clamp on the backside of the caliper and in the hole where you can see the piston (where the brake sensor goes) and compress it a bit. Makes it way easier to get everything apart. Took me WAY too long to figure that out.
10-31-2019, 05:59 PM
#7
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Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: NYC
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My Ride: 2010 535 Sport Wagon
Model Year: 2010
Engine: N54
It does have the CIC iDrive, which is AWWWWWWESOME.
Forgot that I updated the nav system, too. It was a 2017 map pack, and updated to the 2019 map pack. Thank goodness for really smart people on the interent. Using another forum, I got a script put on a USB, plugged into my car, which created a .bat file (I think, this was a few weeks back at a very late time) that I used to generate the upgrade code. The 2019 map pack was procured from....the 7 seas. Yar.
If you need help finding resources to upgrade your CIC, post up and i'll try to find the links. Once the upgrade started, it was about 45 minutes or so....I started the process of acquiring the map pack and upgrade code around 11pm or so and everything was finished up around 3am.
Forgot that I updated the nav system, too. It was a 2017 map pack, and updated to the 2019 map pack. Thank goodness for really smart people on the interent. Using another forum, I got a script put on a USB, plugged into my car, which created a .bat file (I think, this was a few weeks back at a very late time) that I used to generate the upgrade code. The 2019 map pack was procured from....the 7 seas. Yar.
If you need help finding resources to upgrade your CIC, post up and i'll try to find the links. Once the upgrade started, it was about 45 minutes or so....I started the process of acquiring the map pack and upgrade code around 11pm or so and everything was finished up around 3am.
11-04-2019, 05:22 AM
#9
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Thread Starter
Whoops, didn't see this...
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1461515
That's what I used, then someone may be able to torrent the 2019 Map Pack. If someone was so inclined and had the ability to do it...
EDIT: This is the 2020 Map Pack, though unsure if it is for CIC or not...
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1654612
and here is someone who explains it if you're new to the process
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1662689
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1461515
That's what I used, then someone may be able to torrent the 2019 Map Pack. If someone was so inclined and had the ability to do it...
EDIT: This is the 2020 Map Pack, though unsure if it is for CIC or not...
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1654612
and here is someone who explains it if you're new to the process
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1662689
Last edited by Azar; 11-04-2019 at 05:50 AM.
11-05-2019, 05:14 AM
#10
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Thread Starter
So, that 2020 Map Pack link is for CIC. Was kind of a pain in the dick to do this time, as my car kept going to "sleep" even though it was on the charger. I dunno, I just finished it while I was driving around this morning and seems to be fine.