Still no Bentley service manual for X3?

[x3man]

Still no Bentley service manual for X3? There's one for the X5. Does that cover the X3? Any other manuals out there?


Everyone: Be sure to write to Bentley and request it!

http://www.bentleypublishers.com/feedback.htm

[X3 Skier]

Everyone: Be sure to write to Bentley and request it!

http://www.bentleypublishers.com/feedback.htm

Great idea and I just did that. Sent it to Editorial General.

Thanks for the suggestion.:thumbup:

Cheers

[UncleJ]

I have a feeling that as long as the X3 was under a full maintentance program there is little incentive for others to produce after market parts/or related collateral. Now of course the '04-'05 cars are coming out of full coverage and the incentive is starting to emerge. As far as Bentley is concerned the question is "are there enough X3's out there to justify the expense of producing a new manual for them"? And of course, "are there that many DIY owners who would buy a manual"? Time will tell.

[ducx3]

Done. Sent to "sales."

[z06bigbird]

Methinks we need to locate the pres, exec sec, or customer service mgr. Worker bees have no influence.

[AlanLX3]

I'd certainly be interested. Our '05 X3 drops out of warranty next month and given it's track record for repairs (none beyond recalls) even the dealer service reps advised me to not buy the extended warranty/maintenance packages. Ours is very low mileage (23K) since my wife doesn't drive all that much so home maintenance seems like a very workable alternative dependent of course on how much information I can get about what needs to be done for it.

[X3-terrestrial]

Still no Bentley service manual for X3? There's one for the X5. Does that cover the X3? Any other manuals out there?


Everyone: Be sure to write to Bentley and request it!

http://www.bentleypublishers.com/feedback.htm

In the meantime, the 3-series e46 manual is a great help. We share the m54 engine and management, and several different things.
Our X's are based on the 3ers 'member?

[X3 Skier]

Got a reply today and it said they are not going to produce one (yet).

Cheers

[AzNMpower32]

For now, the closest relative to the X3 is the E46 3er xi models. A lot of shared between the two cars.

[rs6655]

We share the m54 engine and management, and several different things.

The later models have the N52B30 engine.

http://www.mwerks.com/artman/publish/features/printer_960.shtml

http://www.mwerks.com/gallery/gallery2.php?mode=album&album=/BMW/Technology%20and%20Development/BMW%20N52=Inline%206%20Engine#

[bmwadam]

The e83 isnt out of production yet. It usually takes the car coming out of production, and then a year or two for them to put the manual together. There will be one, just not for another few years.

[X3-terrestrial]

The later models have the N52B30 engine.


I know, but those are under full factory warranty/maintenance program...

[rs6655]

I know, but those are under full factory warranty/maintenance program...

True but the factory maintence schedule is a little lacking for those of us that hold on to our cars.

[bmwadam]

True but the factory maintence schedule is a little lacking for those of us that hold on to our cars.

Well Spoken! I plan on keeping my 04 for another 7 years or so.... well in excess of 100k. So I need it to last and I need more frequent fluid changes etc. And I do all of those myself, except for brake system flushes....

[rs6655]

Well Spoken! I plan on keeping my 04 for another 7 years or so.... well in excess of 100k. So I need it to last and I need more frequent fluid changes etc. And I do all of those myself, except for brake system flushes....

Thanks!

I'm a firm believer in maintenance and like you I do my own. I change my oil every 5,000 miles, and all the gear oils gets changed every 30,000.

[X3-terrestrial]

Mmmm... you guys are not getting my point.
You (at least, I ) don't need a Bentlley manual to do an oil change, or spark plugs change, or fluids or even brakes.
My point is, (post #12) if something real bad happens, you are covered under factory warranty thus you don't need the book anyways.

I agree with the factory intervals being way apart though.

[rs6655]

Mmmm... you guys are not getting my point.
You (at least, I ) don't need a Bentlley manual to do an oil change, or spark plugs change, or fluids or even brakes........

No, I honestly am getting your point..... Our cars are still under warranty and thus will be repaired by the dealership who has all the shop manuals.

What I'm saying is that in order for me to change fluids outside BMW's schedule (or lack thereof for "Lifetime Fluids") I need to know the specs and capacities of all the fluids and the torque specs of all the drain and fill plugs.

Too many times I've gotten ham fisted and felt that sickening feeling of threads letting go.... so I absolutely will not tighten anything that is threaded into soft metals without a high quality, calibrated, torque wrench.

The specs may be the same for all X3's and they may not. Until a manual comes out I'll just have to compile the numbers and specifications piecemeal.

[Andrew*Debbie]

The specs may be the same for all X3's and they may not. Until a manual comes out I'll just have to compile the numbers and specifications piecemeal.

You can always buy a 24 hour subscription to BMWs on-line shop manuals. Print out the pages with all those specs. Cost for 24 hours isn't too bad.

[rs6655]

You can always buy a 24 hour subscription to BMWs on-line shop manuals. Print out the pages with all those specs. Cost for 24 hours isn't too bad.

That's precisely what I'm going to do when I get ready to do all the drive train fluids at 30k. I plan on having a fresh ream of paper and plenty of ink so I can get my monies worth. For previous vehicles I was able to buy complete factory shop manuals from Helm Inc. I wish I could do that for this one. Right now I'm just doing engine oil changes and have the drain plug torque for that.

[AlanLX3]

You can always buy a 24 hour subscription to BMWs on-line shop manuals. Print out the pages with all those specs. Cost for 24 hours isn't too bad.

Second that - I already did this for most of the interior and electrical for both our X3 and my Z4. I will likely be paying a return visit soon for the X3 mechanicals.

[ducx3]

How much does this cost?

[X3 Skier]

I have seen what are described as BMW Factory Shop Manuals and Parts lists on CD's for under $10 on eBay. As with anything on eBay, Caveat Emptor. I suppose one could buy on eBay and do some spot checks via the BMW Subscription route.:dunno:

Cheers

[Andrew*Debbie]

How much does this cost?

Have to be running Windows to get the prices and I'm too busy today to reboot into Windows -->

USA:

http://www.bmwtechinfo.com/

EU, including UK:

http://www.bmwservice.com/

[X3 Skier]

Have to be running Windows to get the prices and I'm too busy today to reboot into Windows -->

USA:

http://www.bmwtechinfo.com/

EU, including UK:

http://www.bmwservice.com/

It does not like Firefox either.:thumbdwn:

But using IE gives a 24 Hour Subscription Price of $30.

Cheers

[X3-terrestrial]

How much does this cost?

It's 30 bucks for 24 hrs access. Money well spent! IMO
Service bulletins are available too. When I download/print mine, I'll make a scanned copy and make it available to the forum. :thumbup:

http://www.bmwtis.com/

[ducx3]

It's 30 bucks for 24 hrs access. Money well spent! IMO
Service bulletins are available too. When I download/print mine, I'll make a scanned copy and make it available to the forum. :thumbup:

http://www.bmwtis.com/

Nice! I bought the cd off Ebay, but it's made for Windows 95. Definitely doesn't work on Vista 64.

[rs6655]

When I download/print mine, I'll make a scanned copy and make it available to the forum.

http://www.bmwtis.com/

That's a very nice gesture but also an excellent way to get into legal trouble with BMW.

They are known to be fiercely protective of their stuff.

[Court M3]

well spoken! I plan on keeping my 04 for another 7 years or so.... Well in excess of 100k. So i need it to last and i need more frequent fluid changes etc. And i do all of those myself, except for brake system flushes....

+1

[T1T2GRE]

I will wait patiently for the Bentley. Their E30 manual was invaluable when I swapped out the head on mine and did some other invasive surgeries.

For now the X is covered for a coupla years. No worries.

But I can definitely see the value of a Bentley manual when say...one of the XDrive components craps out down the road and you have to fiddle with that. :eek:

[tbergman]

I saw the mention of disks available on eBay. I took a quick look, found a DVD version available for $12.50 shipped and said, what the heck, I'll give it a try.

It came today. Installation was a little quirky with errors about ODBC drivers etc. but it did finally install (Vista 32). It works! It appears to have very complete coverage up to and inclding 2007 model year vehicles.

It's clearly designed to run on a dedicated computer. It takes over an entire monitor, can't be resized and is overall a fairly poorly done interface. I suppose in a shop environment, I might not think it's so bad. After using it for 15 minutes or so, I can get around OK and the information appears very complete.

Here's a link to the one I ordered.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-X3-Series-E83-Factory-Repair-Service-Manual-2003-07_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ34211QQihZ002QQitemZ 120424584118QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Well worth the $12.50.

Tom