X5 or BMW Issue?

[pravda]

Hi everyone,

Ok here's the deal.. When I had a 330CI and a M3 I noticed that in both cars after a few months start running cold, specially in the winters. i.e. the temperature doesnt always point right at the center (perpindicular) upright but towards the left. The dealers fixed it on both cars but I dont remember asking them if this was a fault or what..

When I moved back to Jordan I noticed that my fathers 520I does the same thing but didnt give it much notice, but now its on my X5 as well.. Is it normal or does it mean that some thermometer is broken etc? I guess I dont mind my car running cold since it doesnt sound like an issue, HOWEVER, it accelerates much weaker and feels less responsive in that stage. When speeding at high speeds in the winter it gets really cold and it feels like I had just turned the ignition on.

Any feedback please?

Pravda

[motordavid]

Pravda,
Hard to diagnose from here...but, our '01 X5 3.0 has always had
its temp needle straight up at noon, in its 5 1/2 years with us.
(Once fully warmed of course.)

Even during the rare, very hot stop&go
situs, the needle has barely nudged past straight up.

I doubt it's a BMW "thing". I'd get your gauge or sending unit or...
checked.
GL,mD

[Zulu95]

The temperature guage is really only an anolog idiot light.

Analog instruments are controlled by the IKE from signals it receives over separate inputs. The needle of the coolant temperature gauge is centered if coolant temperature is between 75°C and 110°C.

75° C = 167° F
80° C = 176° F
85° C = 185° F
90° C = 194° F
95° C = 203° F
100°C = 212° F
105°C = 221° F
110°C = 230° F
115°C = 239° F
120°C = 248° F

Check your real collant temperatures using a scanner before you do anything else.

[Sedoy]

Правда г гг...

[Aimster]

Mine is always in the middle but in the cold it takes like 20minutes to get there

very slow warm-up for the X5

[pravda]

Hi guys,

Thats the thing- regardless of how much time it takes to warm up the X5, the temperature needle is supposed to eventually point towards right the center of the gauge and stay there, no matter whether the weather is cold outside or too hot (unless something is wrong the car is heating up etc).

In my case, if i were to turn on the ignition the car WILL heat up until normal temperature, but as I start driving in the cold weather (mind you its not that cold in Jordan) the car cools down as if i had just turned the ignition on- which is bad because it then performs weakly.

The only reason I said it might be a BMW issue is because the same thing happened with the 97 M3, 2001 330CI, 2003 520I and now my 2002 X5. Some BMW dearlers say its fine (they dont care unless the temperature was actually going too much the other way around i.e. heating instead of cooling) while 1 of them took the M3 and had something done which fixed it.

I didnt want to let it get to me, but the colder the weather is getting around here the worse the condition becomes and its annoying.. I thought maybe knew of a quick fix or something..

Thanks again

Pravda

[Laurence]

That sounds as though the engine thermostat has stuck open?
It would explain why the temperature falls once you start moving - but I would have thought that it would have to be very cold outside for this to have a noticable effect?

It would also explain the rough running, if the engine management system thinks the engine is cold, it will run the engine on a richer mixture (as if the engine was just started).