09 35d, CEL light on
 

According to the dealer the metering valve is defective and EGR cooler is leaking.

The leak should not affect the CEL? Is there any risk there is a problem with the NOX sensors rather than the metering unit?

I am about to order the MU but curious to see what others think.

^^ Was your EGR cooler replaced at anypoint? IIRC, there was a recall that involved replacing the EGR valve etc.

Strange follow on
 

Retrieved the car from the dealer who claimed the EGR cooler and DEFMU need changing and called the dealer who sold me the car (this one is less convenient to reach from my office and I didn't like the way they handled the alternator bolt recall).

They offer to look at it. When I get there the car flashes up "199 miles to no start"..... Now I am wondering if it is simply out of DEF and the first set of super stars never bothered to check the level. It is a bit strange that the CEL come on before the DEF warning but who knows.... I thought that the DEF refill lasted more than 9000 miles but maybe not, or maybe it was not actually refilled before I bought it, service records notwithstanding?

Trying to read threads on other people having issues with DEF. My car does not smell of diesel fumes and seems the EGR cooler may have been a red herring. I'll see what this set of guys comes up with on Monday.

I have a complete history of the car and it seems to have run without needing the parts swap. It seems that the EGR equipment replacement was a voluntary campaign....

Virtually all recalls are "voluntary"...this has nothing to do with whether or not your car (vin) was one of the cars affected by the recall.

If I had to guess, I'd say your issue is not, simply, "low DEF"...

All recalls apply to a certain range of serial numbers and vehicle configurations. Just because there is a recall on a 20xx model yy, doesn't necessarily mean all the models built that year.

Mandatory recalls involve safety systems. Parts are either replaced or inspected, depending on the situation, ie if an inspection can determine if they are in fact ok.

Other recalls are often classified as "after failure". The manufacturer may have had a small batch of bad parts or potentially bad parts that they can't narrow down to having been used on a specific serial number vehicle, and it isn't safety related. In that case, as soon as there is an owner complaint or failure, they do the campaign. Owners often think that they should get the new parts automatically, but it is entirely reasonable IMO that if, for example, 100 components missed an inspection step and may be good or bad, and they were used on 100 out of 100,000 vehicles but the manufacturer doesn't know specifically which ones, that they wait to see if the part fails. It is all a judgement on positively impacting owners of failed parts (by catching it in advance) vs negatively impacting a much larger population of owners who won't have any failure. And then there is the cost issue. Sure, the manufacturer can suck it up and give everyone free parts to protect their brand. But we end up paying for that in any case, in price increases.

When a manufacturer decides to do a campaign on a full range of serial numbers (ie before failure) it is because there is a high impact of the failure occurring (ie consequential damage) or it is easy to do (ie at time of scheduled service) or there is a clearly identifiable population of impacted vehicles (ie the cause or failure mode is specific enough that all or most vehicles built in a certain date range with a certain configuration will have the issue)

To all of the above, add in dealer competence. Did the dealer check the VIN, did they do the campaign they should have, and did they do it correctly. Lots of variables.

I almost think this could have been a DEF tank level sensor issue. Normally you get more than 199 miles before no start. Most get 900 plus miles when the warning comes on to give you some time to deal with needing to get it refilled.

If the sensor was faulty, it would make sense it was not giving you a warning until 199 miles. Roughly 11,000 or so miles will pass before a refill is needed for our X5, as an FYI.

There are voluntary recalls and involuntary recalls: one is issued by the MFG, the other by a governmental agency. Same recall, just if it is being done willfully by the mfg....The other distinctions you cite above are not related to THIS aspect of a given recall.

The OP citing "voluntary" recall seems to indicate that he thinks somehow his car may have needed this but just didnt get it becuase of the 'voluntary' aspect- this is incorrect. An emissions systems recall is voluntary, yet is mandatory for every VIN affected by the recall. An owner may refuse a recall (but will have a painful time getting smog at the next inspection in many states) but the dealer cannot decide not to do it.

IMO

A

Yes, but.... how does a DEF tank level sensor cause his other CEL issues???

Agree that emissions issues will also trigger an involuntary recall.

I interpreted the word 'voluntary' as used above to imply optional, or discretionary. My comment was that the 'discretionary' items are not so much discretionary as they are simply not applicable in all cases.

good point.