A former Mercedes-Benz technician bought a 2009 BMW X9 sight unseen at an online auction while he was on holiday in Italy. His wife tried to talk him out of it. The vehicle had a "cracked" engine, or so the listing said. He paid $3,000 for it and went to take it to his shop. Now, he is fixing it. Will it cost more than he paid for the car?
The former Mercedes-Benz employee Alex Palmeri kept checking the N63 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 engine, but there was nothing really cracked about it except for the plastic cover. It is, though, leaking oil and showing many error codes that he "fixes" by deleting them. But there is a camshaft code that gives him a headache.
The coupe SUV, which is an X6 50i xDrive, has only 113,000 miles (186,006 kilometers) on the clock, it runs, drives, shifts, and has a clean title. But that N63 engine is the king of unreliability as it has been hit with so many recalls over the years. So, anyone who buys a car powered by it knows what to expect.
That is a vehicle that used to cost $85,000 in 2009. Now, Alex only paid $3,000 to bring it home, even though such models sell for more than $10,000 on the used car market. But, well, it was listed as a car with a "cracked" engine by an insurance agent who did not know better.
He suspects that everything will be fine once he replaces one of the exhaust valve camshaft adjuster solenoids. However, he cleans up the solenoids first, fires up the car, and has the surprise of his life: no trouble codes detected. Furthermore, the Check Engine light from the dashboard is gone and the engine runs smoothly. The smoke is also gone.
Photo: LegitStreetCars | YouTube
So, he has just fixed a "cracked" engine for free, just by spraying the solenoids to clean them up. However, he still needs to fix the air suspension because the air springs are collapsed, and the BMW sits too close to the ground. When he wants to remove the wheels, he notices the tires are brand-new, which is another good news.
He buys air springs for $200 each, replaces the old ones, and the X6 gets the height it deserves. "No warning lights on the cluster of a BMW. Is that even physically possible?" he asks himself.
The X6 goes for its maiden voyage after the fix. Alex Palmeri wants to check if there is anything wrong with the BMW while joking about BMW drivers' stereotypes referring to turn signals.
The steering seems fine, the suspension works properly and the transmission shifts on time. But he gets what he was most afraid of: the Check Engine light is on again, and the engine runs terribly and misfires. He turns the engine off and on back again, and now it works properly. Minutes later, the error is back.
The only error code he gets is cylinder number 5 misfiring. But he believes that a new coil might fix the issue. And it does! Next up would be detailing the coupe SUV because the headlights have gone matte, the paint has some scratches that it needs to get rid of, and the leather inside is a bit dirty.
The final fix would be removing the fake M badge from the trunk lid. The 2009 BMW X6 50i xDrive is definitely not an M car, but it is the next best thing at the time.
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