04 x3 restoration? is it worth it?

hey whats going on..

i got my parents x3 which didnt have the best of care u could say (mother drove it mainly)... it was a cpo when bought and it was the dealerships test drive car.. it drove wonderful when i used to take it for a joyride back in the day when mom and pops went out for the weekend..

now that i started college theyve decided to pass it down to me and its not the same car now *80,024 miles on engine* i drove 4 years ago *15,000 miles on engine* ..

gas meter doesnt work..
radio doesnt eject cd's (i needa give it a nice pound for it to come out)
a yellow 4x4 caution light shows up once i hit either 25 mph or tranny shifts to second.
red BREAK light is always on..

and now the car basically drags when i let go of the accelerator so i need to keep my foot on the gas for it to run "normally"

the car has cosmetic damage also.. *FR bumper and RR door* but thats not my worry right now..

so, can anyone tell me whats goin on with my car and what i should attend to first.. & is it even worth fixing at all.. i know the value of the car isnt much now... i dont want to invest into something thats not worth investing inside in.

if anyone could help me id be very appreciated...

sorry for the long text im new to this forum..

Thanks, Steven V.

Originally Posted by svega4290

it drove wonderful when i used to take it for a joyride Maybe too many...

It's so sad that a car with a relatively low mileage it's been neglected that way.

Originally Posted by svega4290

1-gas meter doesnt work..
2-radio doesnt eject cd's (i needa give it a nice pound for it to come out)
3-a yellow 4x4 caution light shows up once i hit either 25 mph or tranny shifts to second.
4-red BREAK light is always on..

5-the car basically drags when i let go of the accelerator so i need to keep my foot on the gas for it to run "normally"

*Answers adequated to your particular circumstances

1-Probably a fuse, probably the sender(s) or the floats inside the tank. Too complicated to fix it yourself and expensive to get it fixed, just use your "guessimagination"
2-Needs a new head unit. You can find used ones on ebay, or can get and aftermarket and install it yourself.
3-Could be a xDrive malfunction (expensive to fix) you can leave it alone without any major consequences. (Keeping in mind that probably you are runninng rear-wheel drive only)
4-Parking BRAKE sensor faulty OR BRAKE fluid is low.
5-Can you explain further. For what I can understand, sounds like a transmission issue.

If I were your Dad, I'd sell the x3 and get you a Civic to get you through college without any issue.

HTH

As a college student myself, having car troubles is the LAST thing you want to worry about. No offense to your parents, but why would they give you a car that's not in good shape or safe to drive?

I have a 2004 X3 with 82.200mi and it's been trouble-free.

1. Not sure about the petrol gauge issue. Dealer-fix
2. New headunit..........not cheap.
3. xDrive and DSC failure. I'm surprised your car doesn't go into limp-mode (as mine did when the garage fixed something improperly).
4. You might be low on brake fluid, which should have been changed every 2 years regardless of mileage.
5. Sounds like a transmission problem, or could be associated with the xDrive error as noted before.

The repair of these problems will likely cost over $1500 even if you take it to a reputable independent BMW shop.

Agreed with previous posters on all counts.

And with New Yorks snow storms the last thing you want is to be stuck on the side of the road at -20 degrees.

My rule of thumb is that once the repairs on a car exceed a monthly car payment more than twice or it threatens to break down on a cold rainy night.

It's gone.

Originally Posted by AzNMpower32

As a college student myself, having car troubles is the LAST thing you want to worry about. No offense to your parents, but why would they give you a car that's not in good shape or safe to drive?

3. xDrive and DSC failure. I'm surprised your car doesn't go into limp-mode (as mine did when the garage fixed something improperly).

they told me it had problems and it wasnt being driven at all since they bought a ml350. they warned me about it and they gave me to option to take that or use the train and bus to get to school until they have the funds to finance a car.. so i decided to take the risk but i wont lie i do like the car still thats why im considering getting it repaired..

& what is limp mode.. i took the car down from ny to delaware not to long ago and on the New Jersey Turnpike the avg speed cars go is like 70-80 mph and i went on the fast lane hit 80.. and realized my car started shaking a little bit.. that wouldnt be in anyway associated would it?

Originally Posted by X3-terrestrial

It's so sad that a car with a relatively low mileage it's been neglected that way.



*Answers adequated to your particular circumstances

1-Probably a fuse, probably the sender(s) or the floats inside the tank. Too complicated to fix it yourself and expensive to get it fixed, just use your "guessimagination"
2-Needs a new head unit. You can find used ones on ebay, or can get and aftermarket and install it yourself.
3-Could be a xDrive malfunction (expensive to fix) you can leave it alone without any major consequences. (Keeping in mind that probably you are runninng rear-wheel drive only)
4-Parking BRAKE sensor faulty OR BRAKE fluid is low.
5-Can you explain further. For what I can understand, sounds like a transmission issue.

.

HTH

i think ur right about the running rear wheel drive only.. that might be it.. and to explain further.. say you have your foot on the gas going about 55 and then u decide to let go of the gas and the front of the car feels like it drops a little bit and then u feel like u have a flat tire where the car starts to drag and go slower..

sve, sounds like you are standing on the edge of a money pit. To fix everything, it will probably cost north of $4K at the dealer and about $3K at a decent indy shop. Maybe you can get it cheaper but I doubt it. At the end of the day you will still have an X3 that has been rode hard and put away wet. You might think about trading it in for a nice Subaru (not the WRX Si) Forester which will do you just fine, have lots of room to haul stuff back and forth, and do very well in the snow.

I think the RED brake light means different things depending on whether it came on in isolation, or in combination with the 4x4 light and maybe the AT light.

In your circumstances, its hard to be sure what the sequence was.

On its own, it does mean STOP and make sure brake fluid level is topped up, or the faulty sensor for the handbrake fixed.

In combination (which sure sounds to be the case), I think it would initially be YELLOW, allowing time to get codes read and appropriate fixes made.

If your AT was in limp mode, I would be surprised if you could cruise at 80 mph.
Nor does it sound as though you are purely in RWD.
Sounds more like the X-Drive components are in a real state of confusion, whether under some planned computer control or not.

Hard to say whether continuing to drive it will cause further problems or not.

What about visiting a BMW dealer's used car lot, find something you might conceivably want, then say you would be trading the X3 in.
They will quickly check it out, and let you know why they are only going to allow you, say, $10K.

Not really wasting their time, as who knows, it could be in their interest and yours ultimately.

I agree with UncleJ. An X3 (or any other vehicle in it's class) isn’t the cheapest vehicles out there to keep on the road, specially if you're a student. Unless of course there's access to a hidden money pit . Rather get something that is cheaper and easily maintained for now. And then get that BMW later on when it's an affordable option. Just my 2c...