hitting the rev limiter when using the kick down.

[Lena]

Does anyone else have this problem?  It has only done it a couple of times, and very embarrassingly, just as I was overtaking a numty in a slow car. ( They have a lot of them in Wales!!)  Could this be a sign of a gearbox on the way out?  Ours is a 2003 X5 3.0d 120,000 on the clock, and already had a gearbox exchange when we bought it.  Any ideas?  Also, has anyone had a complete no start situation, even though it had been running 10 mins before.  Cranks over well, plenty of battery, full of fuel, but no start.  Mine has gone to a main stealer to sort it out.  AA man (using that term loosely) thought it wasn't getting any fuel.

[X5Sport]

2003 saw both pre & Facelifted versions.  Which one have you got?  5 or 6 speed auto?  The production date (Month/Year) is on a label in the engine bay.

Assuming all the servicing is current and filters have been changed then the no start could be caused by a failing relay.

My 2004 build E53 did this and it turned out to be the relay in position 1 on this diagram.  The relay is on the back of the front fusebox above the glovebox.  Diagram.  The car will crank but not fire.

Not sure about the rev limiter issue.  Could be a number of things, including needing a fluid & filter change in the gearbox perhaps?

Richard

[Lena]

Hi Richard,
Ours is a 53 plate, first registered in November.  Can't tell you any more as it is at the main stealers.  All the servicing is up to date, but I assume that doesn't include a gearbox oil change.  With regard the non starting, it did it last year a couple of times, but seemed to fix itself.  Can't understand it doing it again this year.  I will find out over the next couple of days from the main stealer and post the results.  Thanks for your help.

[moar]

For the rev limiter it could be so much, sensors, relays, torque converter, valve body, solenoids so the dealer will come up with something.

If it is something very difficult then I may be called in 

[Steamyrotter]

I had intermittent starting when hot..
Had a couple of injectors up the duff and needed refurb.

starts like a dream every time since (Even if the rest of the car is the nightmare!!)

[Spartanx5]

Is it bouncing on the limiter or just going into to the red?

[Lena]

Hi All, sorry for the delay in answering.  Regards the rev limiter, we were bouncing, not red-lining.  After reading all the posts everywhere about dodgy gearboxes, and only lasting 60,000 miles, I asked the main dealer to change the oil and filters whilst they had it for the non-starting.  Our X5 has already had a replacement gearbox at about 68,000 miles and we are now at 120,000.  They said that the oil was quite black and the filter definitely needed changing.  As regards the non starting, wait for it, it was:-
Relay at £10, Pressure sensor at £160, Montage kit?? at £9, 6 Int. manifold at £15, another 6 Int. manifold at £19.  The whole bill came to £990, with £250 of that for the oil change.  Not exactly a cheap fix, but runs beautifully now.  Apparently they said that the pressure sensor had to come from Germany, so they had the car for 10 days.  The job can take up to 9 hours to do, so lots of labour costs.  Just going to sit in a dark corner and cry now.  Thanks for all the replies.

[X5Sport]

Sounds like they just went on changing things until they found what the real fault was!  I've experienced that with BMW and refused to pay the bill.  They didn't like it but I made it very clear they were not to play that game and needed to justify why the parts were used AND supply me the used parts so that I could verify they really were faulty.  I was not paying for their 'Technicians' lack of ability to do proper fault diagnosis.

If they changed the inlet manifold parts twice....why?  Should they not have got it right the first time?

Richard

[Lena]

Hi Richard,

I feel exactly the same as you.  I couldn't understand why the inlet manifold things were a different price for the second lot.  Every time I go there I feel that I have been ripped off.  They usually phone a few days later with a survey to see how your visit was.  So far we haven't given them any good feedback, because each time something happened that pissed us off.  They haven't phoned this time, so perhaps they know whats coming.  We also discovered today that one of the roof bars has a big scuff on it, at the very back end of it.  Never noticed it before, so we wondered if they jacked the car up and hit it on something.  We have never carried anything on the roof bars, well who would with an X5!!  Anyway, enough ranting, thanks for the sympathy.  Everything good in the world of X5 now.

Lena