Solution for throttle actuators!

[X5-User]

Originally Posted by jsimonk

Here is photos of my old oem actuators. They have vdo printed on them and both of the actuators had identical stickers except the location for the BMW part bumber looks like it was "scratched off". Like I said previous I was just happy to save 800 bucks and I wanted to share the info to others.

I bought a brand new actuator off ebay for $750 but I don't see the Siemens/VDO sticker or engraved on metal. How do I know if this is really Genuine OEM BMW throttle actuator?

[jsimonk]

I can take out my old ones out of the box and show more detailed photos later tonight. I noticed identical manufacturer stickers as well as a missing BMW Part number sticker. I will provide photos of everything later today butI was able to tell fairly quickly it looked OEM.

[X5-User]

Originally Posted by jsimonk

I can take out my old ones out of the box and show more detailed photos later tonight. I noticed identical manufacturer stickers as well as a missing BMW Part number sticker. I will provide photos of everything later today butI was able to tell fairly quickly it looked OEM.

Thanks! I will be looking for more pictures and your analysis.

[AnotherM3]

I've been exchanging emails with Matt. Seems like a legit dude, I will report back once everything is done.

[jsimonk]

Here is the stamp I saw on the actuators. The stickers on the top were identical on the left and the BMW sticker looked like it was scratched off. Sorry I didn't take pictures before I installed them.


Also ty Matt for the clarification was just tryna provide everyone my personal feedback dealing with you and at the very least if anyone had any suspicion I am sure everyone can just take the information we found at only the shafts were different.

[noremaC]

Originally Posted by jsimonk

Here is the stamp I saw on the actuators. The stickers on the top were identical on the left and the BMW sticker looked like it was scratched off. Sorry I didn't take pictures before I installed them.


Also ty Matt for the clarification was just tryna provide everyone my personal feedback dealing with you and at the very least if anyone had any suspicion I am sure everyone can just take the information we found at only the shafts were different.

When you say 'shafts' what do you mean? Are you talking about the linkage 'plates'?

And how many miles do you have on the m5 actuators? Without any faults/errors/codes thrown?

Thanks!

[aus]

Originally Posted by mattcon

Ok....so I didn't know this thread existed until tonight but it would explain the large number of texts, emails and PMs I have received over the last 2 days. Sorry in advance for lengthy post.

First, jsimonk and I are not one person, are not in any business partnership, and have never met face to face. If I/he were trying to scheme or con people I/he would have at least got my username correct in the original post. Or, if you're into conspiracies then this is just a continuation of the ruse where I argue with myself.

Second, I just want to point out or correct a few things. The drawing with the difference between the two actuator arms is mine that I sent to jsimonk so he could see the difference between the S85 and S65 which is what I determined after studying them. I was at first contemplating whether I could modify the S85 to become the S65 so I could sell them ready to install but then decided that if I'm selling them to enthusiasts on the forum there is no need to do this. Like I said in my for sale thread, I'm not sure if this is common knowledge or not. I contacted jsimonk because he had a WTB thread for them and I wanted a guinea pig to make certain they would work in an M3 as I only own an M5. The internal circuit boards have matching part numbers as well as the connectors and so I was 99% sure but I sold 2 to him with the stipulation he could return them to me if they didn't work. Also, in the interest of full disclosure I do not buy directly from VDO but rather a large well-known distributor. Lastly, I do not want to claim this is a solution to throttle actuator failure. As far as I know, BMW has not revised this part in anyway and these actuators I am selling will fail at the same rate as originals but should get you a few solid years which should, you know, tide you over until you spin a bearing and your engine blows up. Sorry, I have to have a sense of humor about that as my S85 M5 has over 150K miles on original bearings and it makes me quite nervous.

Why am I selling these?
1. Obviously to make a few bucks, although if you figure my opportunity cost, like time to go to the post office and mail these, into it (which I must as you will see in part 2) I probably lose money.
2. I have an advanced degree in economics and am mega geeky about it and I find the price discrimination (economics technical sense not the common usage) that BMW and VDO are practicing here very interesting.
3. My hobby (other than BMWs, of which I own 3, none of them super expensive or fancy) is credit card churning so buying and selling these allow me to earn sign up bonuses by meeting the minimum spending requirements on several credit cards that I would otherwise not be able to meet because I'm a cheapskate.
4. I don't like seeing people spend $900 or more for this part when it can be made readily available for several hundred less and I want to help enthusiasts such as myself and I believe I can provide the lowest price anywhere. This was born out of my own frustration after an actuator went bad on my personal M5 AFTER shelling out more than $600, as a preventative measure before any codes came about, for new gears thinking that would keep them from failing. (This was before odometer gears was an option and obviously before I knew i could get a new one for less than that. It is also why I really warn against spending the money on replacing the gears though I'm obviously biased.)

I started my for sale thread a bit early because I wanted to gauge demand for these as I needed to commit to buying quantity X for a discount of Y%. I started a list of people who have contacted me and will ship in that order when I get my next shipment which I hope will happen next week. I'm not taking a cent from anyone until I have them in my possession and once payment is made in almost all cases they will be in your hand within 3 business days if you are in the US.

Any other questions, I would prefer email to mattc2345@gmail.com, rather than the forum PM system. As long as I'm not sleeping or at work you will get a quick response.

Question about churning credit cards. How long do you keep them?
And did you get the new Chase Sapphire Reserve card?
Thanks for selling these for a fair price.
.

[JonM]

I noticed that ECS is selling both VDO and BMW (which are VDO) S85 actuators. $275 price difference, per actuator. Their pricing on the VDO ones is not as good as the numbers discussed in this thread though. They are not listing the S65-specific VDO actuator (yet).