Hi, do you have the problem even if the engine is in warm?

Mine continues to run off and on badly when warm. I'll stop at a light and step on the gas and it lurches forward then speed plateaus. On and off the gas is really unpredictable - either it's smooth or it's not. And driving on a flat surface at say 40 mph you can feel a vibration. I can idle my car into my garage when I get home from work and it lurches forward.

Ok, thanks for the information, it sounds like a problem in the Intermediate Levers but can be other problems also.
Regarding the warranty, it is a fault and should be fixed whatever the cause is even if a new engine needs to be fitted, it is up to the certified workshop to deal with issue until it is fixed and the warranty should cover all the costs. I would say like this, if the workshop says that first we need to check the intermediate levers before doing more things then it should be included in the repair plan of the car even if the levers were good.
Cheers

Engine was torn down today and parts showed considerable wear. Waiting for my extended warranty company to send out adjuster to view them and approve the repair. Also found out that my sunroof needs repair to the plastic 'cassette' to the tune of $1,400 so that needs to be inspected as well. While I'm happy that the $3,600 I spent on extended warranty was money well spent, the repairs are starting to be unending on my X5. Ready to dump it after this...

Hi, it seems that this is the worse engine BMW has ever build! I have heard from a local BMW tech that this issue is in most N62 engines and can pop up when the wear is reached to some level. Changing levers and shafts for 40K will help for a while but not permenent since new shafts and levers will also wear... It looks like a construction fault rathar than normal wear.

Update: My extended warranty approved the repair and parts have been ordered. Hoping to get my car this Friday if all is well. They also approved repair of my sunroof so out of $6,400 for both repairs I'm on the hook for $476...my deductible plus the difference of how much my MBI policy would cover on labor versus the dealer's rate. I hope this fixes it...

Hi,

Was it the DISA unit and not the intermediate levers and the shafts which caused the cold-start rough-idle problem in your car ?

Thanks

Mine were just done at just under 50K miles! Covered under CPO but would've cost over $6,000 otherwise. The mechanic i know at BMW told me the N62 engines have this problem usually between 60k-80k miles.

@4MoJoe - Are you having this problem with an e53 or your '11 X535d?

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

I have a 2006 4.4i e53. If the temperature drops to 30ish and under, it will have a hard time start in the morning. The SES light flashes and engine hesitates. Turn the car off, and back on, it gets better. When the engine's warm, the car drives like it should(but the SES becomes steady). If the outside temp is higher, then there's no problem with the cold start, and if I keep driving the car after a couple of days the SES goes off by itself.

I've had this problem for 3 years, and since it costs over $4k to fix it, I just kept ignoring it. During winter months I keep the car in garage which helps a bit, but sometimes when it's very cold outside, the garage is cold too. Plus, sometimes I have to travel to other places and park the car in a hotel parking lot.

Here comes the question: If I don't fix these intermediate levers, will the engine eventually get damaged because of this? If this won't damage the engine, I'll just keep ignoring it. This problem first appeared around 80K miles and now I had 115k miles on the car. I'm hoping to drive another 4~5 years and 60k miles before trade it in. If it won't hurt the engine, then I'll just ignore this bug. Like I said, it only happens in the very cold winter months, and I drive more during summer.

this car is out of warranty long long time ago.

Thank you all for your expert opinion and insight!