Intermediate levers?
 

So, I've had the car since Tuesday. Part of the deal with my wife was I knew it leaked and I was going to take it to a shop to fix the trouble spots. I agreed to fix stuff down the road, but out of the gate, I negotiated a few big repairs done in one shot :)

So I fired it up tonight to drop if off at the shop. Temp was around -8C. Ran fine all day today, took a nice long drive with the kids, no issues. Tonight when I started it, the idle was a bit lumpy and when I started driving it was garbage. Felt like it was misfiring and running on 4 cylinders. I pulled off the highway, shut it off, restarted it and you wouldn't know it was the same car. Ran fine the next 1.5h. Weird thing was that it didn't throw a single light or anything on the dash.

It's getting the valve covers and valley pan gaskets done. Think it could be the levers? I'll have them check the date stamps posted in previous threads. This is an interesting one…..

Cheers.

Sounds like the levers. You get a shaky start up too? Sometimes the ses light flashes, sometimes it doesn't

Could be both, valve cover gasket and the lever...i had the same problem (like a few of us) i did the Valve and new plug 2 weeks ago, clear improvement, no more shaking and misfire. Yesterday i've fired her up (still cold here -15) idle was unstable.... I've let her ran at RPM 1500 for a couple of minutes ....SES came on :tapping:....the lever repairs is costly, turn in off and re-start is the way to go i guess.

From what I understand, my levers are not part of the affected recall group. The lever issue apparently clears up after 20s or so, but mine ran like dirt for 5min before I shut it down. The plugs were "as old as the hills" so they're getting replaced along with the valve seals and CCVs. With no lights or codes thrown, I have no idea what the issue was, but I'll see if it happens again and keep you guys posted. In a week or two, I'll test some GT1 (and SSS) connectivity and see what I can get from it that way.

Cool, on my side, I think that i will look at this DYI since my idle is so unstable... http://www.xoutpost.com/articles/x5/...ode-p0505.html

In fact i take my X only the weekend which is also part of the problem...

Dont rely on the bulletin for the date range. Its not accurate. The problem is a much larger range. Any of the engines that have valvetronic can have lever issues including the 6 cylinder in the e90 for example. Dont just do the levers either, replace the eccentric shaft of the bank thats misfiring. You dont want to go in there twice. As I have stated in other posts, there is testing that can be done to see if the issue is valvetronic related.

Saw your over post, thanks. From what I've read about the lever issue though is that it has a rough period then goes away (20-30 sec later?). Mine didn't for 5min+ and only disappeared when I shut it off. I think it's something else. If they can't find anything, I'll see how everything goes with new seals and plugs. I think it had original plugs.