This BMX X5 Shows Why Mechanics Hate SUVs

Diagnosing an oil leak on any car is tricky. You can see the stream of dribbling oil RIGHT THERE, dripping off the corner of the oil pan or some other easily accessible component. Ah, but that’s where the oil is now, not where it came from. Finding, diagnosing, and fixing the origin of the leak; Therein lies the rub. 

Even our wrenching hero Sreten over at the M539 Restorations channel on YouTube—who’s published dozens of restoration videos—is having trouble with this one. Of course this particular BMW doesn’t make the task any easier. 

It’s an E70-generation BMW X5, built in 2008. The X5 has served as the Bavarian marque’s flagship SUV for the better part of 20 years now. During that time, the X5 has only grown more competent, capable, and indeed complex. This example shown in the video is powered by the BMW N62 engine, a naturally aspirated V-8 built from roughly 2001 through 2010. 

Despite a lack of turbos and associated components, there’s plenty standing between Sreten and an oil-leak diagnosis. For example, the N62 has three unseen connections on the back of its intake manifold that must be disconnected before it the manifold wrenches free. And that’s on top of the rats-nest tangle of lines crisscrossing the manifold in every direction that had to be freed first. 

We demand more and more of our SUVs with every generational leap, and that goes especially for BMW’s flagship. These are indeed incredible SUVs, but you won’t find much joy laying underneath one, searching for the source of that drip drip drip.