To Thomas or anyone else similarly confused...

The above 4-section advice addresses four recurring problems with the "in-line6" 1998-2006 BMX X5. It had many problems as a fairly new version of the x5. I have since then owned two newer models and all of these problems are resolved. In case you still dont understand the above, Ill summarize the above 4 quick-answers.

1 - The engine burns oil - The engine block has overheated is warped. Oil slips between the flat metal surfaces.

2 - Blocked gas filter - end of life gas filter indentification. This happens.

3 - This saves common problem IN ALL BMWs before 2000 saves owners $1500 by putting in your own AC final stage resistor.

4 - Avoid hours of figuring out replacing a door handle or window regulator (it moves the window up and down)

Hopefully this answers "What are you even doing..." <- This sentence lacks a puctuation and doesnt really ask a question FYI

I figured it out. Ill add the pictures somewhere else, so look here for them. But they slid hoizontally into position when you separate the bottom layer, slip it onto the cap where the picture shows. Ill explain better at the picture.

My oil burning has stopped recently because so much residue has built up inside the engine( I believe). If black soot shoots out the exhaust when you accelerate and tgere no leaking oil on the engine, the it's likely that oil is seeping past the piston rings through to the gas-burning side and coming out with the gas. The mechanical fix means having the engine head smoothed and/or replacing those rings with thicker ones to block the gaps. The lazy way is to wait for junk to gather in those holes and block further leakage. That's a $2500+ repair vs $free. At my worst I burned a quart every 250 miles, cheaper than gas and no harm to the engine (sorry, environment).

Also when removing the screws from the clear plastic bean bin, use a magnet to get them up so that you don't drop them into the grinder hole.

Jean, can you please look at my inline comments and include them in your main instructions? They are hidden to the user and they wont see these precautions until it too late. Again, thank you for this excellent super helpful guide with great pictures. I took a few of my repair Id be happy to send to you. I would have posted them but this site doesn't allow commentators to post pictures.

Observation: The screen's power cable is longer and stronger than the data cable (ribbon) . Take the power out last and put it in first, because you want to be super gentle with the data ribbon which slides into the holder and is clamped down by a tiny black plastic tab at the bottom of the clamp. You've seen the clamp before if you've opened a phone or anything requiring a tiny data ribbon. Of course, don't pull the power cable up by the wires. I used a fork from the kitchen both to pull up the power cable and to flip up the data ribbon black clamp tab. The fork was also handy in separating the screen from its frame, because the clear plastic tabs holding it onto the frame will be easily snapped off if you just pull them apart.

Another landmine: On the Intelia with external milk carafe ( HD8753/87?), the silver front panel has a lip that fits under the adjacent panel. That panel which is about 2"x 3" and has a hole for the carafe MUST BE LOOSENED so that the lip from the front panel can slide in and out without snapping off the upper panel's lower lip. Also, inside are two tabs that must fit perfectly in their slots/holes or they will snap off. These tabs are tiny and will easily break So please loosen the lower panel before moving the front panel, slide the front panel on and off gently.

Next and most IMPORTANTLY, after you lift the clear plastic bean bowl (name?) take off the metal warming pad (name?) so that it MOVES TOWARDS THE REAR. Why? Because there are tiny clips on the front you cannot see hooking under the lip of the front to hold it down and they will snap off the lip where they are holding the metal cover down. DON'T USE ANY FORCE AT ALL! This is the first landmine. Obviously when you reassemble it - and you can see the clips since they're out so this wont be hard - slide the metal warmer towards the front from the rear so the clips slide in under the lip that holds the metal top down. Id post pictures but this website doesn't allow comments with pictures.

Someone put a special security tork (torque) screw into my machine. (I suppose they thought it would keep his customers from doing DYI repairs). This screw has a tiny raised metal rod in the center of the opening so that a normal torque screwdriver will not fit into the middle groove. You have to buy a $5 set of security screws on ebay. ugh.

See below my introductory comment that I appreciate this excellent guide. I'm just going to add some inline additional observations from my repair which may help you. Here, for instance, I left the machine plugged in, because once you have the screen connected it makes sense to test that the screen works before reassembling the machine. Also, I retested the old broken screen a few times while it was open just to be certain that it was not a connection or short circuit that caused the outage.