My First Impressions of the X5

[SILENTx5]

Earlier this afternoon I picked up my X5. First, it was gorgeous. Sterling Gray on black leather w/ 19's, cold, premium, sport, nav and adjustable ride height. The Start up was nice and quiet. The ride was smooth. It didn't feel rough with the sport package. The sport seats were comfortable. It was a beautiful day and everything seemed perfect. And then something went wrong....

As I'm driving home and sitting in bumper to bumper on the belt parkway about 20 minutes after leaving the dealership, my "service engine soon light" came on and the engine was idling very rough. So I pulled over to the side and shut off the car and restart it and the engine was still idling very rough. I felt the whole car shaking. I called up my sales advisor and told him what happen and he said it's probably because the gas cap wasn't tightened all the way. So I check the gas cap and tightened it until it clicked a few times. He said because the gas cap wasn't tightened enough, air might of gone in. The thing is, they gave me about half a tank of gas before i left the dealership. He said it was most likely one of the workers that forgot to tighten it and he kept apologizing to me (because i was really pissed off that something could happen not even an hour had gone by and something happened). He then proceeded to tell me to shut off the engine and then restart it, doing this about 5 times and see if the "service engine soon" light goes away but it doesn't. He then told me to bring the car back and he'll have a mechanic "bleed out" the air and give me a loaner for the weekend since the body shop is closed on the weekends. And I was looking forward to cruising in it this weekend.

So I get to the body shop and a service advisor tells me it probably isn't because of the gas cap but maybe something was loose. They gave me a 2004 325i loaner for the weekend. There's only about 40 miles on the car and something goes wrong already. It was less than an hour after I left the dealership and something goes wrong. Can anyone tell me what could be wrong with it???? Anyone ever experience something like this????

[shahkg]

Aw man that sucks...it's probably the Belt Parkway that f-ed up your car

Sorry to hear about that, haven't heard about this issue before. The rough idle of the 4.6/4.8 has been discussed, but usually it doesn't make the whole car shake. You should make the dealership give you something for free for the hassle.

[Curious Joel]

I had the same problem on my X5, and also on the 330.. It sounds like a problem with the coils arching. On the X5, I was coming out of a toll booth and the light came on.. Then the car started shaking. It was losing power, and then losing speed slowly. Ironically, I was on the way to the dealer anyway. It died just as I turned into the parking lot there. On the 330, it just happened when I started the car one morning. If it is that, it's an easy fix. Good Luck!

[ktulu]

Haven't had a problem with my 02 X5 but had the Service Engine Light Soon come on on my 02 525. They gave me the same crap that it was the Gas Cap. BS! It went away without any intervention. I also had a horribly rough idle and loss of power with about 8k miles on it. Had to have it towed just to find out a Tech had broken a connector and didn't tell anyone. Replaced it and haven't had any problems since!

[S'pore]

Hi,
Sorry to hijack your thread but I am new to the forum and I dont know how to create a new post. Perhaps somebody can help me. Thanks in advance.

In any case, I come from a country where the Octane rating is typically 92 or 95 RON. When I looked at the recommended Octane rating for the X5, it says Anti Knock Index of 91 or better but the pumps show 87, 89 or 93.
Which one should I be using?
Cheers

[UCrewX5]

Originally Posted by S'pore

Hi,
Sorry to hijack your thread but I am new to the forum and I dont know how to create a new post. Perhaps somebody can help me. Thanks in advance.

In any case, I come from a country where the Octane rating is typically 92 or 95 RON. When I looked at the recommended Octane rating for the X5, it says Anti Knock Index of 91 or better but the pumps show 87, 89 or 93.
Which one should I be using?
Cheers

You should be using anything 91 or higher - so use 93

As for posting a new thread, go to the main page on the forum - http://www.xoutpost.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3

and click on the button that looks like this (near the top left corner):

[4.6is Ryder]

Man that really sucks. I had a similar problem on my M3 after I added all of the Dinan upgrades. Come to find out, it was just a loose spark plug wire. I haven't experienced anything like that on either one of my X5's

[BMWX5]

I feel sorry 4 yah bro

I never had this problem with my 03 X5

[SILENTx5]

Thanks everyone!! Well nothing more I can do than wait and find out what is wrong with it. Will keep you guys updated once I find out monday afternoon.

[ATCX5]

Trade it in on a new one...that's what one everyone else recommends.