Other engine problem on the 2008 BMW X5
5 fires 5 of the 32 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2008 BMW X5 report other engine problem at a median of 90,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles, from 20 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 60,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 165,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 106,596 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 58,700 miles | 81,500 miles | 90,500 miles | 117,250 miles | 165,296 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 5 a fire is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 23 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2021, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2025 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 2011 carries the most reports, with 55; the 2008 has 32. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 bmw x5. The contact stated the windshield wipers continued to move while the engine was off, and the vehicle also stalled without warning. The dealer reset the main computer, removed the dashboard and replaced the windshield relay module; however, the repairs did not correct the failures; therefore, the dealer advised there was nothing wrong with the vehicle. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure and current mileage were 91,000. Updated 10/31/13*lj
I was driving my car under normal conditions, around 40mph and all of a sudden I started to loose the power to my car to the point that it shut down in the middle of the road. I called my husband and there was nothing we could do to start the car to move it to the side. It had to be towed to the dealership to reset some electronics and was told its a safety issue on the car. I asked them to explain to me what would happen if I was on the new jersey turnpike or staten island expressway or route 17 in nj what would happen . No explanation well I can explain it . I would probably be rear ended and cause a pile up. I think this needs to be looked into. I wonder how many times this has happened and the accidents it has caused. *tr
My bmw occasionally stalls at a low speed after a brake or in a turn. The engine is quietly off and the engine light is on. When I restart the engine, the engine light is off and it drives normal. It looks like a minor problem, but can be hazardous. At one time, my car stalled after I made a brake and started to turn. Suddenly I feel the steer wheel is locked and I lost some brake force. I almost crashed into the brick fence at the side of the road. It was really scary. I think it could be even more dangerous if it happen in certain circumstances, for example, brake before entering a highway, slow turning on a bridge. I've sent my car to the dealer and they traced no error and problems, and ask me to drive until the problem become more obvious. I wouldn't do this because with this problem the car may become a killing machine for myself and other people on the road. I do hope you can help me to contact bmw to find a solution. *tr
Also reported on the 2008 BMW X5
Airbag inflator rupture
Water pump failure
Fuel pump failure
Overheating
Parking brake failure
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 32 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other engine problem happen on the 2008 BMW X5?
Across 20 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 90,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2008 BMW X5?
32 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.5 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed