sorry to hear about your bad gearbox, maybe I'm lucky and mine has got a replacement, as suggested above, I have been reading about doing the oil change on the gearbox, here is the link somebody else posted here. http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/x5-e53-forum/7957-transmission-fluid-change-diy....

Thanks guys, its forums like this that help to keep the cost down if I had taken this to the body shop I'm pretty sure the repair costs and parts would have been more like 3000 and it would have still been registered as a category D :( so my advice unless you're going to do yourself don't bother buy...

No they're not working at all, when I go into reverse, there is one beep noise, and then a flashing green light on the dash,
I have been reading the threads on PDC so hopefully won't have too much trouble fixing it when I get time.
Thanks for the thumbs up

The front bumper hanger -if you mean the metal part under the plastic bumper, yes it was badly out of shape but with a 2 tonne chain hoist
and an iron bar it soon became straight.

I finished the work on my x5 and I passed the MOT, but my total repair cost so far £ 30, that was for one front grille and paint touchup kit. The accident destroyed one of the parking sensors so I will need to get a replacement, not a priority at the moment. Here are some pictures, yes you can see ...

I think it is good, so I have ordered one, look at his feedback it's all good , he is selling car manuals all the time
anyway £ 4 is very good value, let you all know when I get it and if it's any good.

I needed to get two new tyres as the two front one's wearing badly on the edges (tracking was out) Having looked around the Internet and seen some shocking prices for tyres :o the best deal I could get for budget tyres was at Hounslow Tyres I bought two Nexen 225 /50/R19 for £100 each including fit...

Thanks theweeb
Everything went very easy today, in what seemed no time at all the plastic was off and I could get to the air filter the breather and the EGR.
all the work was done in about two hours

x555
Thank you for this thread, a big help today when I was changing my air filter and i did the breather aswell, that EGR was full of shit

Hmmm it's not just a bumper, the bonnet and radiator. Most people selling bumpers on eBay are only selling the outer skin anyway I can't see the damage when I am inside driveing down the road.

[quote=""Chompers""]Ho Powercat & welcome aboard :D I find it ever more suprising how little damage it takes to 'write off' a car these days :( the damage you mention does not sound much and very little bodywork by the sounds of things. Would be very interested to know how mu...

Hi to everyone
I picked up my new X5 insurance write-off this week, most of the damage is to the bumper and a little bit to the radiator and bonnet,
I should have everything back in reasonable order this week, it's amazing what you can do with a heat gun, to those plastic bumpers.