'06 4.8is sluggish on inclines

[daveycrocket]

I noticed when I drive up even small hills it's as if I'm dragging led balloons. It seems to have worsened with the sun we've been so excited to have here in Portland Oregon. I do not have any lights on the dash or any other issues.

My '06 4.8is is CPO and has 51k, all options, and no drips leaks or dash lights coming on. I like to have a heads up on the issue before taking it to the dealer.

I've read posts about the MAF and sensors but I'm not having the issue that causes it to stall. Anyone else share this same issue? What was the cause?

Thanks

David

[CharlieHustleX5]

A worn MAF doesn't necessarily cause your engine to stall. As the sensor wears, performance will be affected. Once its absolutely worn down, thats when you'll experience issues such as stalling.

If you have a ECU reset tool of some kind, unplug your MAF sensor and take the car for a spin. If you notice the car feels less sluggish or more responsive than when it was plugged in, change it out.

[daveycrocket]

Thank you for the reply. Is the sensor the device that protrudes from the tube with a wire?

Thank again for the assistance.

David

[Weasel]

Yes that is the MAF sensor. But Id want to know that is the problem before throwing parts at it. How much throttle are you giving it when it feels slugish like this? Did you notice what gear it is in when it feels sluggish, as in would downshifting remedy the problem? I'd maybe try driving it in sport mode (shifter kicked to left) and see if it still does it then.

[daveycrocket]

Originally Posted by Weasel

Yes that is the MAF sensor. But Id want to know that is the problem before throwing parts at it. How much throttle are you giving it when it feels slugish like this? Did you notice what gear it is in when it feels sluggish, as in would downshifting remedy the problem? I'd maybe try driving it in sport mode (shifter kicked to left) and see if it still does it then.

I drive in "D" most of the time. When I drive uphill I throttle lightly to compensate for the weight of the vehicle moving in an upward direction but when I try to throttle through the sluggishness it propels the vehicle light I'm racing. So I try to be careful because officers around here will ticket if it looks like you're driving too fast.

I usually avoid driving in "sport" mode because of the kick down. Makes me crazy(er). I'll use it on the way to work tonight and see if that changes the symptom.

Thanks for all the assist!

David

[LeMansX5]

I had mine sluggish long ago and they changed DME. Running fine since.

[Icer006]

It could be the 6th gear and the fact that the car adapted to the "slow" driving.

Weasel, is that what you're thinking?

I find myself having to put the X5 in Sport mode since during the normal mode, the transmission shifts too soon to the higher gear. I found this to be the same for our 750i.

[daveycrocket]

I ran around town today using sport mode and found the problem to be less pronounced but still present. As well I did notice that when entering third gear is when it felt sluggish.

Another issue that keeps me from using sport mode, I now recall since using it today, is that the transmission waits until it hits 4k RPM before shifting from 1st to 2nd gear. Is that typical? I would think so but...

David

[daveycrocket]

Originally Posted by Icer006

It could be the 6th gear and the fact that the car adapted to the "slow" driving.

Weasel, is that what you're thinking?

I find myself having to put the X5 in Sport mode since during the normal mode, the transmission shifts too soon to the higher gear. I found this to be the same for our 750i.

The location I notice this trouble most is when I have to slow to make a hard left turn with a slight incline. Then a stop sign followed by another hard left a quite a steep incline that levels out to smaller inclines up the the hills about 2 miles.

David

[dlennard]

I was experiencing a lot of vibrations at idle in gear, stopped with
foot on the brake. This was occuring in both reverse and
drive. I took the 2006 X5 4.4 27,000 miles to the dealer to get fixed and they replaced the alternator (dragging shaft) and turned up the idle. This seemed to fix the problem but you could tell the idle was a lot higher. In traffic at slow speed the X would jerk at low speed below 5 mph. Took X back to dealer and then they replaced the levers. Now the X is very sluggish and shifts very fast just like this poster (daveycrocket) it does do better in S mode but then revs very high. Going around corners you can here the motor ping and now the sound of the exhaust is real airy (sounds like a lot of air is coming out). I guess I have to take it back to the dealer it is under CPO now so I guess I will have to pay the 100. I just don't have a lot of confidence in the dealer and would like to know what others have tried. I don't mean to hijack the thread I think I have the same problem.

Thanks David