mike_z

Started my car like every other day perfectly fine. Was driving on a bridge and suddenly the car started running really bad, the CEL popped and everytime Id step into the throttle the loss in acceleration was vividly worse. Had a bit of traffic on the bridge and I was idling at 400-500 RPM! The car was vibrating bad and my gf panicking next to me wasnt helping.
Anyways I ended up pulling over on the side, turned off the car, popped the hood and pretended I knew what I was looking for. I moved around the cold air intake and maf hoping it's a small issue with the air intake system. Anyways, got back in the car and all is well no CEL or anything.
My first thought was that this was because of the filter, although it was said that it should be cleaned every 8000 miles, it was in for more than 15000 without being touched. It's an AFE stage 2 cone filter. My first reaction was to order s new filter since this one looks beyond cleaning, thought the car wasn't getting enough air. I also cleaned the MAF sensor upon returning.

Later today I drove my parents and I noticed when I plant my foot slowly the car kind of jerks and vibrates with decreased acceleration, when I plant it harder it ran fairly the same but no lights popped. (Thankfully) anyways, any of you know what it is? I saw suggestions of tune up aka spark plugs and coil packs. I don't know much but the car seems to start fine! Please help thank you!

twh

Need to pull the codes. Could be any number of things.

seven11

what engine?

its probably a misfire, they disappear after restarting the car and will come back when accelerating.

i say its coils.

twh

Codes will tell you. I'm betting misfire also, but you really want to know which one. Wife's X5 acted this way. But, she also had some VANOS errors. I changed the Vanos solenoids and the complaining ignition coil and it hasn't come back.

seven11

same thing here

had the misfire and the car would shake, freaked me out at first since it was day 2 of ownership, but then after pulling the codes i saw it was a misfire and a vanos code

changed all the coils and plugs. i changed them all because i was going to mod the car, more boost. Then the vanos solenoids were changed also, i could have cleaned them but didnt want to do that since i always try to do it right the first time.

mike_z

Sorry forgot to mention this, it's a 528Xi N52 engine. I'd also like to mention that the car no longer has the CEL light but jolts mildly when accelerating. I've had 3 people in the car and they all felt the jolts.
Will I be able to pull the codes without the check engine light?
As I said I don't know a lot so I thought since the light is gone, there would an issue reading those codes. Please correct me if I'm wrong Id like to go to a shop and get this fixed as soon as possible!

Thank you so much for your input. I've done a little research and some sites indicate to it being spark plugs? To my knowledge they've never been changed and the car is nearing its 100k milestone. The VANOS issues you guys are mentioning are throwing me off that idea, cause I'm worried it might be that too?

twh

mike_z, you need to pull the codes. There are many many codes that can exist without the check engine light. I hook up both my BMW's couple times a year just to see what's stored. I've never had a CEL that stayed on, but there were plenty of codes. Many are just transient and not to worry about. But, I've also had forewarning of my failing water pump, found a burnt out turn signal (the ones on the front fender), found a failing e-box fan, found vanos solenoid complaints, the bad coil and more just by checking the codes.