Other engine problem on the 2009 BMW X5
2 fires 2 of the 17 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 2009 BMW X5 report other engine problem at a median of 85,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 45,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 145,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 98,040 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
9% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44,960 miles | 70,000 miles | 85,000 miles | 119,750 miles | 143,000 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, 2 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 2009 has 17. 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.
This issue is for a 2009 bmw x5 3.5d (diesel) SUV. When slowing down to a near or rolling stop at approximately 2 MPH and then attempting to accelerate quickly while turning, the vehicle continues to roll without power for up to 3 seconds. Scenario: pull up to an intersection for a right or left turn, slow to a near stop, then accelerate. The vehicle just rolls forward when crossing traffic or attempting to pull away quickly. Meanwhile, traffic is approaching you at speed and an accident could easily occur. Volkswagen diesel vehicles had a similar problem with their dynamic stability control (dsc) system recent. The key factor may be operating under these conditions while attempting a turn, which invokes dsc. I have experienced this several times since purchase of the vehicle in august 2009. *tr
Driving through the neighbor hood after some rain, ended up driving through a few inches of rain water, while the opposite traffic struck the same puddle, it caused the front of intake system right under the hood to suck in water causing the bmw SUV to light up multiple sensors, loose alot of power and 4x4 traction stability to act up. The rainwater that got ingested almost causing the engine to hydrolock or sieze up. The SUV became undepedable due to all the error codes acting lighting up and causing the SUV to run at low power.
Diesel x5 has a faulty passive DEF tank which illuminates the check engine light and does not provide DEF fluid to the emissions control system. Bmw will not pay for repairs and could not provide replacement part for the last 6 months due to sensor redesign. Vehicle emitting toxic emissions for 6 months. Could be thousands of vehicles affected. Health safety condition.
Also reported on the 2009 BMW X5
Airbag inflator rupture
Fuel pump failure
Other fuel system problem
Water pump failure
Seat belt or retractor failure
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 17 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 2009 BMW X5?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 85,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 70,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 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 2009 BMW X5?
17 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.9 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