[v_i_r_u_s]

I am looking to get a BMW X3 for a while. Recently found a BMW X3 2011 with 181000 KM Mileage, Clean Title.

I would appreciate some guidance about possible major maintenance cost if I purchase this vehicle with 12000Cad.

[Subydayo]

Originally Posted by v_i_r_u_s

I am looking to get a BMW X3 for a while. Recently found a BMW X3 2011 with 181000 KM Mileage, Clean Title.

I would appreciate some guidance about possible major maintenance cost if I purchase this vehicle with 12000Cad.

That's about the price I paid for mine ~$8,800 USD.

Can you get ahold of the paperwork for the vehicle? Like all past maintenance and such? Run the VIN, and see if it had the VANOS bolts replaced as a part of the recall or VIN, if you aren't sure or if it hasn't I would have that done first. Mine wasn't recalled, but I'm currently going through that and the warranty (10 year or 100k miles) doesn't cover the cost to replace/repair.

Some other commons issues:

- oil filter housing gasket leaks. This is easy to diagnose, the front right of the engine is the oil filter housing. If you see oil, it's leaking... The gasket should be replaced and only use the BMW filter and Liquid Moly oil. This is important because the leak can get back, get on the drive belt, belt warps, and get sucked into the engine. Cool design FEATURE.
- You'll probably want to do the transfer case fluid, transmission, oil, and brakes. Unless done recently.
- The steering rack was a problem on these vehicles, they came up with a $45 solution, here's a thread that talks about it. https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1647049. Owners were going in and out of the dealerships getting their entire racks replaced under warranty, turns out there was a cheap plastic knuckle that needs to be replaced with a better part. https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/attac...8&d=1650401749
- You either have halogen bulbs or LED. If you have halogen it is not as simple as putting LED lights in, you'd need to replace the entire housing
- The glove box leather warps off, this might of been fixed already with glue. The handle to mine was also broken, and there is a BMW repair kit available.
- The driver door inside hand grip wears away. It becomes gunky and gross. There are ~$10 replacements on Amazon that insert, EZPZ.
- Does it have roof rails? You need the rails to put on a roof rack. There's a good video on installing the rails yourself, tedious though.
- Valve cover leaks eventually, common repair.
- The water pump + thermostat WILL go bad, hopefully, it was already replaced. Some people never have them go bad, you're around the mileage where it might happen. It's electric, and a costly part.
- In the winter cold weather can drain the battery, so some owners put a trickle charger on theirs in the garage. I'd use a battery BMW recommends, which I think is AGM.

If the engine has a rough idle after about 10 seconds after a cold start I believe that's a sign of the bad bolts on the timing camshaft sprockets. It's a pricey repair, each sprocket is 500-600 USD if they need to be replaced. BMW Canada seems cooler about the situation though... The rough idle could be other things too though.