2004 X5 4.4 Cold Start problem

[cjsit960]

Every morning on cold start it hesitates when idling. I start moving it warms up it runs fine - My service light has come on and idea what can be causing this

The car has 160K Miles

thx

[squidzilla]

Get a code reader since your SES/CEL is on. That will give you a needed to clue to know where to look next. Tons of choices out there for android phones and IPhone.

[electricalserv x5]

Hello , You have the n62 engine and that is normal , it is the timing changing from the screw that going into your head cylinders.Also your timing is affected by the vanos units, which are controlled by your vanos solenoids, I just changed mine and wow , it is day and night differences.
Mine dose not do this any more, Also the intermediate levelers are a question too.That is a big job. I would try the vanos solenoid first.

[Freestyler]

I'm guessing that your X left the production line in the second half of 2004, right?

All N62 engines from 06/04 up to 02/05 production date are prone to suffer from bad, (out of spec.) valvetronic intermidiate levers. -Mine included.

When the weather gets cold the engine will stumble and idle very rough on cold starts, eventually ending up with a 'check engine' light.
The only true remedy is to replace the intermediate levers with BMW's revised parts, which is a rather costly affair in the price range $3-4.000.
But before you run out and torch your X on fire, read on..

When i start my X on a cold morning, (Close to the freezing point or colder in my case. Others have reported the issue in warmer conditions), it will fire up and idle normally for 20-30 secs. After that the ECU program takes over and the cold and out-of-spec intermediate levers causes the engine to misfire on one or more cylinders, wich the ECU then marks as 'faulty' and eventually ends up with a 'check engine' light and a series of cylinder misfire error codes.
I always shut down the engine as soon as the rough idling begins, and before the 'check engine' light comes on. But just those 20-30 secs of running has usually generated enough heat to bring those levers back within spec. So if i immediately start the engine again, it will run and idle perfectly fine. Although if it is really freezing cold, (5-10ºF), i sometimes have to stop and re-start it twice to get the rough idling to go away.

It's a very annoying issue, especially if you live in a cold climate.
The only positive side of it is, that if you can live with this whacky start-stop-start routine on cold mornings, you don't necessarily have to spend the entire christmas budget to get it fixed. Leaving everything as it is will not harm your engine and it will, supposedly, not get worse over time. (Mine hasn't)

Here's the SIB BMW issued about the problem:
http://www.xoutpost.com/attachments/...b-11-02-05.pdf

[cjsit960]

Greatly Appreciated,

[cjsit960]

Any Idea how much it would cost at the dealer to get done?
Do i have any other option?

[bcredliner]

The are many other potential causes of rough idle on cold starts. Not time to draw a conclusion. As mentioned, first thing to do is to check for trouble codes. If there are codes, note them, clear them, and see what returns.

[StephenVA]

As bcredliner mentioned, there are literally multiple issues that can cause a ruff idle. If you have not done so lately, I would recommend a tune up - plugs, check coils, clean throttle body, all filters (yes fuel too) and pull all codes. Yes even the pending fault/failure ones. This will give you a base line. It will also expose vacuume leaks etc. if your year has replaceable coil boots- replace them with the correct brand boots (not one size fits all).
Repost when you pull the codes as it will help those who offer up assistance from a far to understand what is going on in your engine.
Example: I just did this on a E39 wagon and the results were to be perfectly frank, were amazing. Idle, tip in acceleration, wide open performance, fuel economy, and slow speed modulation all became perfect.

[bcredliner]

More troubleshooting, don't chase down the problem with a string of new parts.