Quote:
Originally Posted by Sophisticated Redneck
I would recommend you stay away from any 50i unless it has had the valve stem seals replaced or it has an excellent warranty (or you have the tools and time to replace yourself). These go bad like clockwork on all 50i X5's. The seals themselves are cheap, around 150 dollars but the labor (40+ hours) to install is the killer.
The other weak points on the 50i are it's plastic CCV hoses and plastic connections on the Turbo coolant lines and cylinder head to cylinder head coolant line and seal on the turbo oil return cover.
I'm sure you noticed a pattern, all the plastic and rubber bits are what wear out on this engine. It was the first production reverse flow twin turbo stuffed between the cylinder heads engine ever made and BMW made some mistakes on the thermal management of the engine.
With this being said, a 50i can be a great truck if you get it with an excellent warranty or can do the work yourself and you can expect to get another 100,000+ miles out of it once the plastic/rubber seals are addressed (I have over 160k on mine).
BTW, if you buy, immediately change oil to liqui-Moly 5-40 with cetatech additive and THROW AWAY your engine cover.  |
Ugh. I know this but really like the 50i. Thank you for the detailed response. I can do much of my own work but valve stem seals would be way beyond my skill level.
Did BMWs CCP address most of this? I think it is still eligible since it is still within 10 years of first use and under 120k miles.