TwoPedal

Hello 5 Series Forum,

Two days ago I joined the fold with a 2006 E61 530xi with 73k miles (USA member). I've perused many BMW websites and am pleased to find one that deals only with the 5s and doesn't seem to have the "boy racers" posting nefarious stories.

I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the car, especially the mechanics, warning signs, and replacement schedules from real life not from the dealership world.
Mechanically, my two biggest questions have to do with the drive train. I bought the car from a BMW dealership in Boston and they either didn't know or wouldn't tell me anything but the sales speech that the rear diff. and transmission never needed new fluids and that the coolant replacement schedule is computed by the car with the brake fluid schedule. I don't believe any of that.

So what is the real story? With 73k miles, should I have an idie shop replace the drive train fluids?

I would greatly appreciate any tips, tricks, trivia, and general info on how to properly maintain this car.

Thank you!

Lotus99

Welcome! I just got mine, but someone posted this link for me as far as tips and tricks go:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=380619

TwoPedal

Thank you, Lotus99. That was some interesting reading. I was happy to find out about the extending arm rest. Somehow I missed that in the manual.

One more question to add to my original post. I took the car out for a night drive and its cool here. I could not get any heat, even with the physical dials set to 80F. Then I read in another forum that one has to go into the iDrive menu and change the color from blue to red. How do I do that? No amount of fiddling did anything. Is there a trick with the iDrive knob to do that?

Lotus99

YW. I've yet to go thru the whole thread myself.

Press the center Auto button once, then the temp screen comes up. Pressing the Auto button repeatedly at this point toggles between different air speeds, and while the temp screen is showing, if you rotate your iDrive knob, you'll control the temp coming out of the middle vents.

TwoPedal

Thank you, I'll give that a try. I feel sort of silly not knowing how to change the temp. The manual isn't very intuitive. Somehow reading that link you posted has taught me more than reading the manual. I think its the density of the manual that makes me not remember the small things.

Cwest

enjoy the fourm and the wealth of knowledge this fourm has to provide.

Lotus99

I've not yet had a chance to read the manual in full, though I'd like to. The last few years with my cars, I just save a PDF copy of it, then look things up in it (very easy to do a search for a word in a PDF file).

TwoPedal

Thank you for the welcome, Cwest. Lotus- I do that too. In fact I had to take a trip before I picked up the car and read the PDF every chance I had.

mmitev

TP, welcome to the forums!

Re: temp, as your car is pre-LCI, it won't work as Lotus says. You have to go into the "Climate" menu on the idrive, where you see the vent strength upper, middle and lower on both drivers and passengers side. On that screen, just in front of the driver there is a smaller scale, which is for the temp of the dashboard vents. You turn this to warm (full red) and it should work. If it warms up very slowly in the morning, then you have a problem with the thermostat(s) as 95% of European E60/61 diesel owners have experienced. A simple replacement of the thermostat(s) will cure that, although not sure whether the problem is that frequent on the gasoline cars.

Re: drivetrain fluid changes. Yes, by 73k miles its time to change both automatic and diff fluids. After that, the automatic and diff fluids should be changed every 30-40k miles. There is info on the forum about specific fluid types and DIYs for the actual change. Don't have any links, just do an extensive search.

There is lots of other info regarding these and other issues on this forum, the search function will be your best friend for a while, and it will be worth it!

TwoPedal

Thank you mmitev. I finally figured out the temperature settings. Definitely a system designed by people who don't drive. The heat came on nicely so I'm hoping that the thermostat is OK.

I'm getting better at the search function. I called my indie euro car garage and he said that changing to trans. fluid in these cars is an expensive and long process of sucking out the fluid from the top-off point. Is that the general consensus? The original dealership was rudely reluctant to do anything about it. With an attitude like theirs, I don't want them touching my car again.

One interesting thing I did learn while fiddling around with it last night was: with the car off and no key in the slot, pressing the turn signal lit up the corresponding "angel eye." Interesting if not very useful feature.