Well this might be a long read. I haven't posted but for the past 14 days my 19 X5 50i has been in the shop due to some sort of leak under the front of the car. I was out doing yard work after coming home from the gym 7am and as I walked up the drive way I seen a shimmer effect on the floor of my garage. It was a pool and run of something from under the front center the the engine bay. I touched it and it was cool to the touch and had an off very strange smell. So I started to guess what it could be;
- I thought water from AC unit. No way didn't run it that morning at all.
- Thought maybe clear power steering fluid but thought its electric.
- Thought radiator fluid, no way smell is off and its perfectly clear but still oily feeling.
Either way I knew a trip to the dealer was to happen. I called up and asked if it was okay to drive and they ask what does the car say. Well no alarms or errors at this time. Somewhat small amount came out. Anyway headed in to drop it off. Now I always work with the same service adviser because he always has an X5 waiting for me.
I popped the hood just before leaving and there were spots all over the top, NOW I'm really worried it might of been engine oil but it was super clean. Well drove it anyway, not a far drive but it was a risk.
So I was told dropping it off on Friday they would not get to it until Saturday. Not to big of a deal so was happy to hear. Saturday roles around I get a call. Well we are going to get BMW engineering involved in this because it seems to be the entire secondary cooling system!!!! I was like oh no any idea on how long, he said no ETA right now. Here is where I tip my hat to my dealer. I was kept in the loop via text messages and calls the entire way, over the 14 days they had it I received 18 messages, and that does not account for their reply's to my questions that is him reaching out to me to keep me posted. I never once had to call them for an update.
Monday he calls to let me know the parts have to be ordered from Germany and it could take two weeks but he will engage his parts department manager to push for sooner. Even during the waiting for parts they updated my software (my request now up to date 03.2019.48).
Timeline; Dropped it off May 30th Thursday, got the news of parts coming from Germany Monday June 3rd.
June 12th roles in and parts arrived the X5 will be back to my on the 13th.
I head into the dealer yesterday June 13th to pick her up. I sat down to get the information in better detail from service adviser. According to BMW Engineering the radiator fluid was incorrect (no details on what they mean other than bad fluid mix). This caused a seal or hose to degrade on the secondary coolant system (did not get any information on which seal what seal or location) my guess from the parts is might of been around a clamp or hose. They are sending a sample of the fluid back to BMW for testing. The Engineer said flush everything and put new in.
Here is what they replaced. Keep in mind they do not list the parts like hoses since they come with the parts ordered.
- Radiator 171010
- Inter cooler 175010
- inter cooler 175010, YES both right and left side!
- Clamps 889520
- New Antifreeze 832540
Update, everything nice and clean no leaks. Repairs looks to have gone well. Software updated added some cool camera features my X5 did not have working before. As I back into the garage it will adjust to show how close I am to the wall when I first pull in. I can now set my home it actually shows up on the map now. All my settings stayed except the home screen, made those adjustments to back to normal for me. Not much time driving yet but will put some miles on it, so far happy with the repair.