The tachometer "spring" just sits there
 

I'm confused.

I've read several postings that talk about the "spring" on the tach, the hashed lines above the red line that are supposed to move to indicate, on a cold engine, where you should not rev.

Mine never moves.

There are 4 lines shown, they sit there. They are the same whether the engine is cold (well, as cold as it gets in Florida) or been running for hours.

I read another post (which I cannot now find) where someone said this feature no longer existed, but I clearly have a recessed area around the tach and the hashed lines are there, they are just static.

Broken?

Does anyone's on a new-ish X5 move? mine is a 4.8L sport 2007 built sometime summer 2007, delivery in mid-July.

The information is wrong in those threads, the spring does not move. I was misinformed by the salesman.

Wonder why BMW uses these marks for different things. :dunno: The salesman probably confused the E70 with the E60. On the E60 those marks move.

The question is what are they for, if not the temp? And more importantly HOW DO YOU KNOW when the temp is safe to drive hard?

Yep, exactly. My salesman has a '07 550i

Goof balls.

Although it seems like it should move as there is that gap around the tacho where it could "spring" up or down ? Lucky the X5 is not nuclear powered... otherwise we'd have a China Syndrome !!! :rofl:

That's a good question and one I've been asking myself.
The more important temp. is the oil which takes allot longer to get to operating temp. than coolant.
Unfortunately many car manufacturers now think that an idiot light is all we need.
Some have said that since these vehicles use synthetic oil you don't have to worry about the temp. anymore, this is bs, oil temp. is as important as ever.
My only reccomendation would be to drive for at least 10 minutes in the summer before operating the motor in the upper rev. range and 15 to 20 minutes in the winter.
Rediculous I know but there's no way to know what the coolant and oil temps. are.

BG624, makes sense.. I agree with your logic.

Got an email response for BMW Customer Relations today asking me to look at page 57 of the owners manual.

there, it says ..


"Do not allow the engine to warm up by leaving it running while the vehicle remains stationary. Instead, drive off at moderate engine speed."


I think that's a but simplistic, but at least there was something mentioned about what to do..