Well... that job sucked some serious sack. Took me about 6 hours total to do the job because of some self-inflicted time sucks and BMW's desire to everything they possibly could in the way of anything you might want to get at to do this procedure. I had to call in reinforcements twice when I was getting ready to rip the module harness out due to frustration at BMW's (and my) incompetence. My wife was kind enough to aid when smaller hands were beneficial. She had to clime on top of the crossbar that runs across the front of the engine bay so she could work in that back area where the module resides.

That job would be 10x easier if those harnesses had 5 more inches of length on them, OR all those vacuum electrical conduits weren't haphazardly running in front/above the module, OR the cooling system wasn't spidered all over the damn place. I did not remove the coolant pipe... though I will next time if I have to).

The actual work went without issue. Got all 6 plugs replaced with no real issues, came out just fine. Removal of the intake was not fun, but not bad either. Will update with a final "solved" post if that solved our issue. I do worry about my thermostat(s) as in the intake removal thread (a godsend) the OP mentioned he gets 30+mpg out of his but when his thermostat failed it would dropped to only about 25mpg ish. We've never gotten 30+ and highway the best we've gotten is 28mpg on the factory 19's. Mixed driving is always ~22mpg.

I also noticed some oil film on a large pipe going down along the right front of the engine, possibly a charge pipe from the turbo? I hope not as I would hate to think the seals are going on it. I had some oil in the intake, but nothing crazy, and the carbon buildup was not ridiculous... I didn't even clean it, though probably should have. Will post some pictures.

Anyway, there's always something isn't there?

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2005 X5 4.4i Build 04/05 Maintenance/Build Log
Nav, Pano, Sport (Purchased 06/14 w/ 109,000 miles) (Sold 8/15 w/121,000 miles)

2006 X5 4.8is Build 11/05 Maintenance/Build Log
Nav, DSP, Pano, Running Boards, OEM Tow Hitch, Cold Weather Pckg (Purchased 08/15 w/ 90,500 miles)

2010 X5 35d Build 02/10
Nav, HiFi, 6 DVD, Sports Pckg, Cold Weather Pckg, HUD, CAS, Running Boards, Leather Dash, PDC, Pano (Purchased 03/17 w/ 136,120 miles)