Intermediate Levers issue on 06?

[mikem0re]

Level issue causes what you describe, right? Does that make the gaz/air mix too rich?

Originally Posted by JT///MC

Um, it's not just a cold idle problem. You loose power and performance but you prob haven't really notice. After the fix my car was getting 2-3mpgs better than before the fix. The car definitely had more pep in it's step. if you can take them up on the offer. The parts alone are 3k retail so you're still coming out ahead. Also, it only gets worse over time so better to fix it now than later.

[mikem0re]

How many lever on a N62 (v8)? 8, 16, 32?

[JT///MC]

Its 2 sets of levers. One for each bank of cylinders. Trust me, the parts are OE and are expensive. BMW paid for both my parts and labor and I was very happy. Had they offered just to pay for parts, I would have gladly paid for the labor. I checked out the manifest and the parts are about 2k for a set of levers. Labor runs around $1500. So BMW paid $3500 for the job. Cash pay customers are usually charged around 5k. So the dealer marks it up quite a bit if its not warrantied.

[skrambles]

Originally Posted by elmo

Having been somewhat underwhelmed by the lack of response from UK owners of V8 versions, I have now written to BMW UK to complain about their position on the Intermediate Levers issue. I could have done with some back-up from other UK owners as I am fairly sure what the response from BMW UK will be!

Elmo, I'm going through this same problem at the moment with my 4.4 v8 in the UK. I wasn't a member of this site when you posted/didn't see your posts etc. How did you get on with your complaint to BMW UK? I was told that there's a 6 year cut off for "goodwill"; they seem not to have understood (or pretend not to understand) that the problem is an inherent defect.

Did you get the problem fixed? If so, how much did it cost/what did it involve?

S

[elmo]

See my pm to you.

[elmo]

Me again! Now it's getting colder in the UK I wonder if the Intermediate Levers issue will rear its ugly head again. I had mine done but it hasn't really been that cold since then so I am not sure if the issue was cured. However, I will be back at the dealer if it hasn't. Anything new on this? Isn't it cold in New England/Canada yet?

[NotreDame05]

Hi All. I am a relatively new 2006 x5 4.4 owner with NO warranty. I live in Minnesota and it is winter here. Several times I have started the car and I get the rough start in idle or reverse for about 20 seconds, but then it goes away. This morning, however, I got the rough start and the SES light came on.

Now I have read thru these 10 pages of posts and it seems to me there are two recommendations:

1) Valvetronic Lever replacement (very expensive)
2) MAF Sensor replacement (Probably expensive but not as bad as valvetronic lever replacement)

Should I even do ANYTHING about this? Unless I am missing something here, it does not seem like any of these options guarantees a fix.

[avusm3]

Hi,

I had the exact same symptoms that you describe on my '04 (page 7 of this thread) in Feb of 2010. My car was under CPO and the dealer replaced all the intermediate levers and it completely fixed the issue. The bill would have been in the $3k range without warranty.

The issue only happens when the car is cold on the first start of the day. Have you tried pushing the gas pedal in a bit during start up? That might be a work around if you didn't want to take on the repair right away.

John

Originally Posted by ryannellis

Hi All. I am a relatively new 2006 x5 4.4 owner with NO warranty. I live in Minnesota and it is winter here. Several times I have started the car and I get the rough start in idle or reverse for about 20 seconds, but then it goes away. This morning, however, I got the rough start and the SES light came on.

Now I have read thru these 10 pages of posts and it seems to me there are two recommendations:

1) Valvetronic Lever replacement (very expensive)
2) MAF Sensor replacement (Probably expensive but not as bad as valvetronic lever replacement)

Should I even do ANYTHING about this? Unless I am missing something here, it does not seem like any of these options guarantees a fix.

[NotreDame05]

Thanks AVUSM3, 3k is sounding better than 5k....either way if this car turns out to be too costly, I might just sell the thing.

I have a 96' 328is with 215,000 and the thing is a champ in this weather, starts right up every time. I would think the X5, being 10 years newer, would not have these issues at the very least.

[mikem0re]

With my 06 4.4, it was under waranty, and I really pushed the dealer very hard to get a full resolution of my problem (same as yours it seem).

They kept the car for 3 weeks last winter, they changed everything, but its still not totaly fixed.

Now out of waranty, I have decided to work around the problem, to manage it. That is...

-keep the car in the garage (heated) overnight.
-decrease the short trips as much as possible.
-when I park outside and its very cold, I start up, and then I press the pedal just a bit so the engine stays at 1000 rpm for a few minutes.

I don't pay attention anymore to the check engine light which normally goes off after a few days.