| Components - Details | |
|---|---|
| NHTSA Complaint Number: 004293337 | Incident Date: Jan, 22 2004 |
| Consumer's City: CHICAGO | Consumer's State: IL |
| Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO | Manufacturers Name: BMW of North America, LLC |
| Model Name: X5 | Model Year: 2002 |
| Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No | Component's Description: Engine and engine cooling |
| Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No | Persons Injured: 0 |
| Vehicle's VIN#: 5UXFA53542L | Date added to File: May, 25 2021 |
| Date Complaint Received: Aug, 15 2004 | Complaint Type: IVOQ |
| Incident Reported To Police: No | Purchase Date: Aug, 28 2002 |
| Was Original Owner: Yes | Anti-lock Brakes: Yes |
| Number of Cylinders: 6 | Date of Manufacturer: - |
| Was Vehicle Towed: - | Description of the Complaints: My wife was driving her x5 on a very cold day in january. she heard a loud bang as if she had hit something. she stopped the car but saw nothing so she drove another 1/4 mile home. as soon as she stopped the car fumes started billowing from the engine. on opening the hood we found a shattered valve cover. she took the vehicle to the dealer who was very good about explaining what had happened and fixing the problem. apparently, bmw decided not to insulate part of the oil separator valve for some of the x5 engines. in cold weather the valve can stick open or closed causing either engine failure or, as in my wife's case, a high crankcase pressure which explodes the valve cover. the vehicle was about 17 months old and had about 5 thousand miles on it when this happened, so the repair with replacement of the inadequate part was done under warranty. bmw knew that this problem could occur, they had already sent a bulletin to every dealer letting them know about it but have decided against issuing a recall.*ak |
