My car has this intermediate lever problem, do I need to fix it?

[jrob216]

That's good to know...BMW dealership stated approx $6800 to repair the levers and eccentric shafts. Car runs somewhat ok once it gets warm, so I think I will just ride this one out. New car may also be in my future...

[bulkwarrior]

wow thats steep. how many miles do u got ?

[jrob216]

Just under 81,000...I'm waiting on a quote from an independent BMW shop to see if they can come in much lower.

[bmw_tech84]

All that happens with this "lever Issue" in that the levers prematurely wear and get grooved thus changing the tolerances. These extra tolerances cause the engine to misfire in cold temperatures. I am a bmw mechanic with 10 years experience. I have personally held the worn levers in my hand and sometimes you can't even tell what's wrong with them.

my Opinion is to just deal with it for the colder months and save your money. As soon as the engine warms up these tolerances are no longer an issue.

[jrob216]

tech84...thanks for the input. I agree the car does run better once it gets warm. My biggest concern was causing more harm but not fixing the levers, but it appears I have nothing to fear. My wallet thanks you!

[bulkwarrior]

81K? that's exactly when my problem first occur, 2 years ago. Now I'm at 115K and the car runs perfect during warmer months.

[recklessspyder]

I have/had similar issues and have read up on the ILs....I also knew that I had a valve cover leak. I decided to take the route of having the valve cover gasket replaced to see if car improved.

People who think they had IL issues really didn't per some posts...so I wasn't about to go the route of having them replaced without trying a cheaper alternative first.

Does it make any mechanical sense...maybe, maybe not.

[Bunyan]

I've got an '06 X5 4.4l with the same symptoms. My local Indy told me that it would not harm the engine as long as I can live with the "shake" before the engine warms up. He also quoted me around $4k to fix it and he told me after they would fix the issue it may or may not fix the symptoms. They stated it's an inherent design fault on the 4.4l engines and that BMW should have made it a recall but as of now have not done so.
There are a lot of write ups on this issue on this forum.
I picked up an OBDII Bluetooth scanner off eBay and used the "Torque" app to clear the fault codes. Here's the fault codes I was getting.

Fault log report generated by Torque for Android
=================================================

Vehicle VIN: ********
Vehicle Manufacturer: BMW
Vehicle Calibration ID: 000007555400
000007558441
Current Fault Log
------------------
P0300: Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected
P0304: Cylinder 4 Misfire Detected

Pending Fault Log
------------------
P0300: Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected
P0304: Cylinder 4 Misfire Detected
P0307: Cylinder 7 Misfire Detected
P0302: Cylinder 2 Misfire Detected
P0303: Cylinder 3 Misfire Detected
P0301: Cylinder 1 Misfire Detected

Historic Fault Log
------------------
ECU reports no historic faults
Other discovered fault codes
(possibly pending, current or manufacturer specific)
----------------------------------------------------
ECU reports no other fault codes logged

End of report.


I also saved these codes for some reason,

Show logged faults
P0103
P0003
P06dd
P0303
P0703
P04e4
P0803
P0200
P00dd

Pending fault codes
P0103
P0003
P06e1
P0303
P0703
P05e9
P0403
P0803
P02e8

[jrob216]

My indy came in with a quote of $2839. Huge drop from the BMW dealership's $6800 quote. Regardless, I think I'm just gonna live with this little anomaly with my X5.

[TwinTurboGTR]

I have the same thing on my '04 4.8is. I ignore it. Like SlickGT1 said, the X5 is popular in Mutha Russia, you think they are dropping that much coin to fix it??? I think not.

Maybe one day I will do it, but for now, I can live with it.