BMW E61 535xiT Wagon - Turbo Replacement, Cooling and VANOS Repairs

My 5 Series wagon just hit 185,000 km (115,000 miles), and I've had an engine light (low boost error) for the past 4,000 km. A trip to the dealer confirmed that I had a worn waste gate bushing. corroborated by the unmistakable waste gate rattle sound on acceleration. I was returning from a camping trip with the kids and I got on the phone with Turner Motorsports and discussed the turbo replacement options.

N54 Front Turbo Oil Leak

I decided to replace the turbos with new Mitsubishi OEM units - identical to the BMW part but at half the price.I thought about what work I would do while having the front end apart, and I added the following to the work order:

1. Walnut blast the intake valves;
2. Replace the radiator, expansion tank, thermostat and upper / lower coolant hoses (due to the damage to the radiator fins behind the grille and age). I've already replaced the coolant pump about 2 years ago;
3. Replace the VANOS (variable valve timing system) solenoids;
4. Replace all the drive train fluids - engine, transmission, transaxles
5. Ignition - plugs and coils
6. Do a good inspection and replace any leaking drive train seals.

I'll have to keep the car for another 5 years to justify the investment, no worries considering the later 5 series wagons are no longer imported to North America, and the E63 AMG wagon is a bit out of my snack bracket... I figured this project would justify the purchase of some new tools, so number one on the list was a Quickjack car lift system. I went with the BL-5000 EXT - which I measured to fit just long enough to hit the lift points on the 5 series wagon.

Setting up the Quickjack lift took about an hour - you have to add the quick connect fittings to the ends of the the hydraulic hoses and pumps, fill the reservoir with hydraulic fluid or transmission oil, and test the system. Everything went together smoothly, with no leaks from any of the hose connections.

Quickjack BL-5000 EXT unboxed and ready for assembly

Ready for the first lift with the Quickjack

With the lift tested - and with the engine and transmission still warm - I proceeded with a compression test of all cylinders before dropping the engine and transmission oil.

Engine covers, air filter housing and intake duct work removed to access the plugs, coils and throttle valve.

I removed the covers and intake in order to remove the coils and plugs, and access the throttle valve to be able to jam it open with a plastic pry tool. I also removed the fuel pump fuse - #72 on this car, so that I wouldn't be injecting fuel while doing the compression test. Everything went smoothly - starting with removal of the cabin air filter housings, the cowl cover, the engine cover and finally the air filter housing.

Three of the coils had been replaced last year along with a leaking valve cover. I'll be replacing all coils as a set, along with new plugs. 

My 10 year old daughter held my iPhone and took videos of the compression gauge during each test - so that I could see the results after cranking the engine. Results of the compression test are as follows, from cylinder 1 to 6:

170, 170, 165, 175, 170, 175 psi.

All in all - not bad variation - in spec for this vehicle. I wanted to make sure I wasn't wasting my time and money replacing the turbos...

With the compression test done, I drained the engine oil and transmission oil - and sampled both to send out for oil analysis. I'm interested to see the condition of the oil, particularly the lifetime transmission fluid, and to get some indication if there is any abnormal wear.

Oil bottles with samples ready to ship to the lab.

One thing I did find was lots of oil in the main intake pipe at the throttle body. This could be an indication of oil leaking from the bearings in the turbochargers - another indication that the turbos are ready to be replaced.

Lots of motor oil in the intake piping. 

I'll probably be at this project for a week or two - so I'll be doing regular updates as the work progresses.

Sources and Links

I hope you found this post useful. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section below. I answer all questions. If you're interested, you can help support this site by using the following links to Amazon.com in the United States. Turbo parts were supplied by Turner Motorsports. Other parts were supplied by Pelican, BMW Park Avenue in Brossard, and eEuroparts. Oil analysis by Blackstone Labs.

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Adding Trailer Light Harness to the BMW 5 Series E60 E61 Touring

I've had my 1 1/2" trailer hitch installed for three years now, I use it regularly with my receiver mount bike rack, but everytime I needed to tow - I needed to use the Subaru Outback because I never got around to installing the wiring. So - camping trip with the kids planned for this summer, so I was forced to get on the lighting controller installation.

Vehicle connections are on the left side - black - 12V, green - right turn, red - stop, yellow - left turn, brown - tail, white - ground.

Curt Powered, Circuit Protected Taillight Converter, Trailer connections right side, vehicle connections left side.

I thought I'd post a few tips to help anyone out with selecting tapping points for the lighting controller.

Green lead on the Curt adapter - right turn - I found the blue / brown wire to the right signal light right at the connector to the right side signal light connector, just above the trunk battery. 

Stop light (red wire) connected to White / Brown and Running Lights (Brown Wire) connected to Black / Brown at the right rear signal light connector

Ensuring a good ground - scuffing the paint around the ground lead connection to bare metal

Reverse lights (not needed for the Curt adapter, but used in the 7 pin plug connection) in the wiring harness above the battery, right rear of the trunk, white / yellow wire. This is also useful for tying in a reverse light camera. 

Use a bit of aluminum foil to deflect heat from the heat gun when shrinking the butt crimp connectors, to protect trim and other wiring. 

Following installation - neaten up the installation with some black PVC wire wrap. 

And that's all there is to it. Once installed, make sure you test to make sure all is working correctly. You can purchase these inexpensive testing plugs online, this one is made by Curt as well.

Light testing adapter. Running lights / stop and turn signal combination lights. 

2 Year Update

Still working perfectly. Did a cross country tent trailer camping trip with the kids - everything worked great. Good quality parts. 

Sources and Links

I hope you found this post useful. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section below. I answer all questions. If you're interested, you can help support this site by using the following links to Amazon.com in the United States.

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Installing the Tekonsha P3 Brake Controller in the 5 Series BMW E60 E61 Touring

Let's get the first question out of the way... Why? I've had my 2010 BMW 535xiT for almost 5 years now, and there is no sign that BMW will be importing the next generation 5 series wagon to North America - so I've decided to keep the BMW and run it into the ground. I purchased it at 78,000km, I'm at 175,000km now - averaging about 20,000km per year, so I figure I'll take it to at least 300,000km and really get my money's worth out of it. So - I already had the 1 1/2" receiver hitch installed and get routine service out of it with the bike rack, and I decided to properly set up the car for towing. There's going to be the guys out there that will say you should go out and get yourself an F150 or the like - and I've thought about this quite a bit. The 535xiT weighs 4100 pounds, has 300HP, and most importantly, 300 torques all the way from 1500 to 5000 rpm. Plenty for towing up to 3000lbs with the correct hitch. Oh - and the 535 touring is also equipped with airbag rear suspension, on board air compressor and self levelling suspension control.

The completed Tekonsha P3 Brake Controller Installation, Console Mounted, Passenger side of the Shifter

So - on we go.

Locating the controller - you want the controller within sight and reach of the driver, to be able to actuate the manual brake lever on the bottom of the unit for testing and calibration. One limitation of this controller is that it has to be aligned with the travelling direction of the vehicle (display perpendicular to the direction of travel) so that the inertial sensors work properly. The unit can be rotated up or down a full 360 degrees as long as the unit is aligned along the travelling axis. I originally thought I would install the unit under the drivers side dashboard (below the steering wheel) and there were a few nice options to do so - however - there is almost no clearance below the wheel between the drivers legs. You could easily avoid the unit installed under the steering wheel, but if you ever got in an accident, the placement of the control unit under the steering wheel could really mess up your knees - so - I looked for a better alternative.

I did a quick search on cell phone mounts for the E60 / E61 and found a nice placement to the right (passenger side) of the shifter - so I decided to fabricate a bracket out of aluminum sheet.

First step in bracket fabrication - hook over the leather border on the console, fit into the gap between the wood trim and the console edge. 

Final shape of the bracket, with a small hook to fit under the carpet trim on passenger side of the cabin. 

I glued a baseplate to the top of my bracket to take the screws from the Tekonsha mounting bracket, using isocyanate glue

You can see where the second Neodymium magnet will be fastened to the bracket - make sure you mark the rotation of the magnet with the correct field orientation - so when you mound the magnet on the back side of the bracket, it will engage with the hidden magnet with full force (N to S, S to N). 

 Now - onto wiring. The brake controller needs a battery connect, a ground connection, a brake signal from the brake light switch, and a switched line back to the back of the car, the brake connection on the trailer connector. I first tackled the brake light signal. This took a whole lot longer than what I expected, because the brake pedal switch on the BMW E60 / E61 is not connected directly to the brake lights. It's a double pole switch which switches to ground on one pole, and switches a signal between two control boxes - comfort access and lighting control module. So - I decided against tapping into the brake light switch wiring and tap into the brake light wiring instead.

There are four brake light bulbs on the 5 series BMW, and a single high mount brake light. Since the BMW has a light bulb failure detection feature, each individual light bulb has it's own feeder wire. That means that five separate brake light wires go from the lighting control module located up front to the left of the brake pedal, all the way to the back of the car. I decided to tap into the larger of the two brake light wires feeding the left rear brake light bulbs, this wire is 0.75mm diameter, gray wire with green stripe. I found this wire on the way out of the lighting control module.

Gray wire, green stripe, leaving connector to lighting control module. I've cut the wire and tapping the signal wire which will run to the Tekonsha P3 stop signal (red wire). 

By the way - there are two gray wires with green stripes in this section of harness, one is larger than the other, you need to tap into the thicker wire (0.75mm diameter). Don't ask me how I found this out.

Heat shrink butt crimp connectors - I use two layers of aluminum foil to protect the rest of the wires in the harness from overheating. 

 Now - I needed 20A feed, and a good ground. Just to the right of the center console, on the passenger side of the car, there is a conventional 12V power outlet up underneath the dashboard. Instead of tapping a new fuse on the fuse box behind the glove box, I simply crimped two space connectors on the Tekonsha harness and tapped into the connector for the 12V power outlet. Brown wire on the car harness is ground - connect to the white wire of the Tekonsha harness, and the other wire is the battery feed (12V) to the black wire on the Tekonsha harness. SIMPLE AND QUICK!!

12V power and ground - I just removed the connector from the passenger side 12V power outlet, and tapped into the connector using standard crimp on spade connectors. 

 Next - you have to run a minimum 14gauge wire back to the trailer connector. I ran this wire along the passenger side of the car. Pelican parts has some nice tutorials on how to remove the door sill trim - really useful - just google them - and I ran the wire along underneath all the door sill trim.

Use a coat hanger to help run the wires through B pillar trim without removing the trim piece

Tape the wire you're pulling to a section of coat hanger wire - to help feed the wire under the luggage compartment side wall trim.

Installation of the 7 pin connector underneath the car, to the right of the hitch receiver. I decided to trim the bracket to make the installation a bit easier. 

The completed 7 pin connector installation - bracketed to the underbody cover which hides the battery box and air suspension air compressor. 

 So - with all the wiring completed, back to the final bracket installation. I decided to have the aluminum bracket held in place using two neodymium magnets, one underneath the console side carpet trim, one underneath the Tekonsha mounting bracket.

I used my mythbusters / Adam Savage trick of mixing baking soda with Isocyanate glue to thicken the glue, and provide gusseting for the magnet. This is the backside of the thin carpet trim piece which runs along the passenger side footwell. 

Conclusion

With the brake controller installed and powered up, here's what it looks like in the 5 series. 

Powered up and tested, brake controller head unit conveniently located to the right of the shifter.

The Tekonsha P3 has a nice voltage troubleshooting screen under the help menu - will tell you your battery voltage, and stop light voltage. 

I also installed a Curt lighting adapter to provide the turn signals to the trailer adapter, I'll write a separate post on that installation, and one on the operation of the brake controller.

Sources and Links

I hope you found this post useful. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section below. I answer all questions. If you're interested, you can help support this site by using the following links to Amazon.com in the United States.

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BMW 535xi Touring E61 Tailgate Hydraulic Strut Popping off the Ball Joint - Set Screw Repair

My BMW 535xiT is my daily driver - use it for going back and forth to work every day and running all the errands to keep the household running. So - the tailgate and back window get lots of use. The car was manufactured in September, 2009 and now has 175,000 km on the odometer, and since BMW hasn't inported the 5 series touring to North America since 2010 - it looks like I'll be hanging onto this car for a while longer. The 3 series touring is too small, I'm not an SUV kind of guy, and I'm not ready to go to a Mercedes E series wagon just yet...

The completed set screw repair - neat and flush. 

So - about 6 months ago the hydraulic strut in the tailgate stopped lifting all the way to the top of travel - it started sagging and making ominous noises. So - I took the time to dig out the hydraulic pump and reservoir, replace the fluid with the BMW service kit, change the 10mm strut ball and get the tailgate functioning well again. I wrote about all that here.

Well - it took about 3 weeks until the hydraulic strut started popping off the ball - you can see the state of the bottom socket on the hydraulic cylinder here, there was finally enough wear that it wasn't going to stay in place.

This is not good....

This isn't good either....

So - just to keep the socket engaged, I cut a piece of styrofoam to jam in behind the strut to try to keep it in place - that worked fairly well for about a month, then the strut would pop off about every time I opened the tailgate, and it was time to make a more permanent repair.

There was a good discussion on the 5series.net forums, the idea that I decided to try out was a set screw. I did a bit of research and found some really nice ball tipped set screws and decided to try them out. 

5mm ball tipped set screws

So - I ordered a lot of these set screws and set out to do the repair.

To drill and tap a 5mm hole - you need a 5mm tap, and a 4.2mm tap drill bit

First step is to dismount the strut from the tailgate - you need to remove the plastic trim on the left side of the window. There's a small clip you need to get out of the way to get the trim off. 

Lift the trim underneath the window to get this clip out of the side trim.

Removing the lower half of the left hand tailgate trim - once this is removed, you can remove the hydraulic strut. 

With the hydraulic strut removed, it was time to set the hole placement for the set screws, and drill two holes - one on each site. I put a small sheet of plywood on top of the security screen - was very useful to support the strut during the machining.

With the strut removed, it's easy to rotate to drill and tap the set screw holes. The plywood makes a good work surface.

I aimed the drilling to intersect close to the steel circlip. Very important to use a pilot drill to locate the holes properly - a pilot hole of 2.5mm would be perfect before drilling out to 4.2mm which is the tap drill size for a 5mm tap. 

Drilling each side of the strut base. 

The first hole on the top side - this hole walked a bit because I didn't use a pilot drill hole - don't make the same mistake I did...

Aim for the steel ring clip...

With the first hole tapped to 5mm - testing out the set screw. 

With the holes drilled out to 4.2mm tap drill size, it was very easy to tap the holes - this is a fairly soft steel part and it cuts well. 

Strut replaced, and the set screw does a great job holding the strut in place. The bottom set screw is easily accessible.

To access the set screw on the top side - its easiest to access with the window open and the left side trim off.

A dab of blue Loctite will hold the set screw in place, keep it from backing out. 

In case anyone is interested, I've created an eBay listing to sell the surplus set screws from the lot that I had to purchase - you can purchase the set screws here at eBay listing 183298383219.

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BMW E61 5 Series Wagon Hydraulic Tailgate Lift Repair

Today I spent about 5 hours repairing my hydraulic tailgate actuator. There lots of discussion about this issue on the forums, I thought I would add some photos from my experience to help those considering or performing this repair.

Correct oil level should lie within the "X"
You can see the oil level is quite low - about 25mm below 

What was wrong? The hydraulic system sounded like it was straining to lift the tailgate. Did not sound normal. The tailgate wasn't lifting up all the way - was settling back down about 10cm lower than normal. And - the hydraulic actuator on the right side of the tailgate started popping off the ball joint - when that happenned, the lift would not operate normally and had to be reset by hand.

So - did some research, and then ordered the following parts:

1. Pressurized gas cylinder for the right hand side of the tailgate.
2. A pair of new 10mm ball joints
3. The hydraulic repair kit from BMW - which includes some hydraulic fluid and a bunch of small parts.

Then - I got started.

If you are going to top up the hydraulic fluid - start by opening the tailgate, closing the tailgate, then opening the tailgate again. This bleeds the system.

Start by supporting the tailgate with something solid - like a painting pole

I started by switching out the right side gas pressurized strut. I removed the old one - it just pops off the ball joints with a bit of gentle force.

E61 Gas Pressurized Struts - New on the Right, Old on the Left

I then took a bathroom scale and measured the force of each strut compressed about half way. The old strut had a force of 96 pounds half compressed. The new strut has a force of 138 pounds half compressed - a little over 40 pounds different. This may explain part of the reason why the hydraulic system sounded like it was straining. Replacement struts are not that expensive, even from the dealer. The new OEM strut even comes with a dab of grease inside the ball joint so that it is ready to install. Check yours - make sure it is greased to protect the ball joint from wear during opening and closing.

Old vs. new ball joint for right hand side gas pressurized strut.
Not bad condition overall. 10mm diameter ball.

With the gas strut changed - I then turned my attention to the left hand hydraulic side. I began by popping off the hydraulic actuator and trying to replace the ball joint.

Left hand ball joint - rusted and frozen in place

It was jammed, and I stripped the hexagon faces trying to remove it dry. So then I soaked it with penetrating fluid, and got onto it with a pair of vice grips.

Penetrating fluid helped a lot. Vice grips tore up the ball joint, but it ended up finally coming out. 

So - I decided to top up the hydraulic fluid while allowing the ball joint to soak in penetrating fluid. Every 10 minutes or so over 3 hours I added another squirt of penetrating fluid. On to the hydraulic system.

Hydraulic pump is just underneath the left rear access panel. The radio module is Sirius satellite Radio. 

Start by removing the left rear access cover - it just unclips and comes off. Next, remove the radio module if you have one - 4 screws hold the radio module to the bracket, then 4 screws hold the bracket to the car. I didn't bother removing the radio wiring harness, I just let it hand from the back of the car during the repair.

Hydraulic pump exposed - correct oil level runs through the X - you can see the level is quite low.

There are 2 nuts holding the bottom of the hydraulic pump bracket, this comes out with a 10mm socket. The upper part of the bracket is held by an 8mm hex head screw - comes out well with a 1/4" drive socket and short extension. 

Upper bolt removes with 8mm socket, short extension. 

By the way - make sure you have a nice 1/4" drive socket with a fairly light mechanism - you'll thank youself. The folding handle is really convenient in these tight spots.

Once the bracket is undone - you go underneath the bracket and remove 3 nuts holding the pump to the bracket - 6mm. 

Once the pump is freed from the bracket - reach up to the top and free the hydraulic lines from a small clip, and free the electrical harness from a zip tie clipped to the bracket. Once these are free - the pump is free to descend. You'll also need to remove the electrical connections - one plastic connector, and two individual wires that connect to the motor underneath a black plastic circular cover over the motor. 

Motor power connections under the black plastic cover. 

Then you can continue following the BMW instructions. I drained all the oil from the reservoir into a small pan.

Draining the oil from the reservoir. 

The drain plug is a small metal plug in the very bottom of the plastic reservoir. You don't need to (or should not) remove any of the hydraulic plugs from the pump. Then you can refill the reservoir. If you purchased the BMW kit - you'll have a new drain plug complete with O-Ring to reseal the reservoir.

Installation is the reverse of removal. Redoing the electrical connections is a bit tricky. Once the electrical connections are replaced - test the tailgate before bolting everything in. It might saving you having to remove the pump a second time to check the motor connections (from my experience...).  

BMW repair kit contents. The bottle of oil has a nipple the same size as the drain fitting on the reservoir - very nice. 

Then I went back to removing the left side ball joint. Three hours of penetrating fluid loosened it up - it was still very difficult to remove.

Chewed up the old ball joint removing it with vice grips. New 10mm ball joint on the right. 

Use lots of anti-seize on the new ball joint - might save the next owner of the car a lot of trouble. 

Socket at the end of the hydraulic actuator needs cleanup. 

So - I cleaned up the socket end of the actuator - toothbrush and penetrating fluid to get all the rust and crud out of the socket. Then I blew it dry with a bit of canned air, and filled it with waterproof grease. I popped the socket back on the new ball and it held.

Cleaning out the socket. 

Completed repair. I put a small section of stiff rubber fuel line next to the actuator, just to give it a bit of support to help it keep from popping off again. I'll update the post if this works. 

So - about 5 hours to do this repair from start to finish. The topped up hydraulic system works nice and smooth - like new - no sound of straining. The tailgate now closes and locks with a firm click. All good. 

The culprit - worn ball joint - chewed up by removal with vice grips. 

Update - 2 Years Following the Fluid Top Up

I use the car daily, use the glass window typically daily, and the liftgate hydraulics multiple times a week, several times an outing. So - the liftgate sees regular service. After about two years - my hydraulic strut developed a leak at the rod seal, and eventually the oil loss was enough to prevent the liftgate from going to full extension. I just recently replaced the hydraulic strut, and rebuilt the pump. I've completed a new post on the pump rebuild at this link. I'll do a new post on the cylinder replacement as soon as possible.

Sources and Links

The replacement 10mm ball and fluid kit was sourced from my local BMW dealer - Park Avenue BMW in Brossard. Total cost was in the order of $200.

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