OT so if not appropriate here please move


2017 x35d X5 BMW

~61K
3.0 turbo diesel
Bad engine coolant leak
It’s not a drip, drip, drip. Good flow.
Not up front so doesn’t appear to be radiator.
Near firewall.

Anyone have experience with similar?


Click to view attachment

Thanks,
Sean

BMW notorious for leaking coolant pipes. Often made of plastic - cracks. O-rings get nicked or degraded though yours isn’t that old. Metal retention clips fail or don’t get clipped properly.

No easy answer other than de-trim the belly pans if necessary to figure out where leak is coming from.

2012 x5 35d ~ 140k miles. Like the ride / handling but hate the complexity of the vehicle. Not DIY friendly

Check the AC evaporator drain...

Heater core presents like this.

Cheap ass BMW plastic piping does too.

Heater core is a dash out job on that.

That's a serious job...

If dash has to come out, I think it’s customary to simply scrap the car.

I've got a 2011 Tundra for dash out right now.

Pile of interior shit almost as big as the truck next to it.

Toyota's come apart in layers.

Seems like 6-7 layers.

200+ individual electrical disconnects...

Bimmers can be worse!

Like a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle.

Luckily it is complete when you start.

If you're careful it all goes back exactly as it came apart and I seldom have hardware left over.

Prius are the very worst! More electronic shit PACKED TIGHTLY in too "small" a box.

All you have to do is weave a single wire loom wrong and it will not go back together...

thermostat housing are really bad the one in my E39 2001 touring failed after 60k miles,leaked down the front of the motor and took out the crank sensor which wasn't even a sealed unit ,car went into limp mode .
Ordered a new housing and the guy told me that BMW used recycled plastic ,he mentioned he stopped selling the genuine part as he had history of repeated failures the german made aftermarket one he sold me had never given issues .
It's not only water fittings that fail my oil separator went and cracked it seemed clear that the plastic was no good with oil either ,I had huge issues with this car and ended selling it after constant repairs to keep it going and dumped a ton of $$$ just to move it on despite being a dealer serviced approved used car .
To the OP be prepared to suffer BMW's version of assembly , any repairs are a sequence of removing many parts to get to the issue , hope you have a hoist ?? problem is BMW don't really want you to fix this easily and burn you for parts also.
Hope you sort it , good luck,cheers

Yes, heater core will go where the hoses fit on to the thru pipes and run down the firewall ,looks like coolant in the pic as staining on the heatshield ??.

This coming from folks focused on Porsches sold fifty years ago. What a generous group.

That’s an understatement. I had a soft spot for BMW based on my 73’ 520. Just like Porsche, it is no longer the same company it used to be.

BMW has gone out of their way to shut down websites that offered technical info and/or ISTA software necessary to do DIY on their vehicles.

Pretty lame how these companies are getting away with suppression of right to repair. Same thing going on in agriculture with John Deere and others. Formerly honorable companies now working directly against their customers desire to keep equipment running. So sad.

Thanks for all the replies everyone. You’ve given me some insightful information that will play into my long term decision on this vehicle. It’s been towed to a shop awaiting inspection in the week ahead.

This is my DD and I want durability and reliability above all else. Doesn’t hurt that this thing is very comfortable, has plenty of power, great for long road trips. It’s been to Okteenerfest twice as well as several more long trips. However, if this is going to be the beginning of a long line of repairs then I will have to move on and find another DD.

I’ll report back when the shop lays on the bad news later this week.

Again, thanks for your feedback.

Sean

I really like mine much for the same reasons but I’m sure this will be my last modern car. Just about everything newer than 2012 era has too much “driver assistance” and too much spyware.

BMW floating a subscription model for features like heated seats and such is just too much.

Let’s close this out with the repair findings.

$1100 and my DD is buttoned up and back on the road.
Failure of the EGR Cooler-Coolant Pump Pipe. Here is the offender:

Click to view attachment

Here is the failure:

Click to view attachment

And, here appears to be the root cause of the failure - a kinked hose:

Click to view attachment

The repair shop found the elbow of this hose to be severely kinked.
This would have been caused by the local BMW dealer when they did a recall repair 4/2021 on the EGR Cooler. 15,000 miles later resulted in a burst pipe.

Lucky for me this wasn’t on my way to or from Okteenerfest. or North Carolina last month.
Unlucky for me my Okteenerfest budget just got spent.

It’s probably better for me to stay home and work on my karma anyways.

Ouch

Glad it was “easy”.

Sorry the stupid stealership jacked it up during recall. This stuff really burns me when someone else’s screw up ends up costing you $1100 for what is basically a $20 part (OE production price).