My 2008 550i 4.8 liter V8 engine hesitates and shutters when cold. When you first put the car in gear to go forward you can feel the engine hesitate or miss for the first mile or two until the engine warms up. Car has just over 52,000 miles. I did not have this issue when the car was newer. Niello BMW Shop Forman confirmed my compliant and said this was the normal warm up procedure for this engine, he found no engine codes. All okay at this time. This is unacceptable, this car did not have this issue for the first 40,000+ miles. Has any other owner experienced this problem and if so how did you fix it or do you still have it. Is there a BMW Tech Bullentin concerning this issue? Is this BMW's answer or just the Shop Forman answer?

 

My wife's 2007 550 did this for two weeks every morning at start up. I filled up with gas and took it to Dealer, they could not make it do it for two mornings. Asked my wife about fuel, she had not put Shell or Chevron fuel in it the last time she fueled up. There is a difference for our car. Has not done it since, that was about a year ago.

 

I have the exact same problem. I took to the dealer several times and was told this was normal warm-up.

 

I have the same problem, my car when cold hesitates, and lags for a couple of stop lights until warmed up. The dealer as well as a indy shop said it normal until the engine is up to temperature.

 

Really, my car starts up smooth as silk, gets even smoother after warm up...

 

 

For Fuel I use Chevron Supreme and last September the Dealer replaced the Spark Plugs just before we drove this car from California to Texas. The trip to Texas and back went very smooth and we used Chevron Supreme all the way there and back. I have another BMW a 98 M3 with 110,000 miles and it does not hesitate or shutter or miss when cold. I know and understand that when an engine is cold it lacks full power until it warms up. What I am talking about is with the engine under very little load when cold (in 60 degree weather)it hesitates or misses for the first mile or two. Once it has warmed up it runs fine. Remember I did not have this issue for the first 40,000+ miles however I am suppose to accept it now? I it seem to me that may be the engine mapping needs to be changed and/or the engine idle checked out. Before fuel injection we would say the automaic choke needed adjusting to increase (more rich)the fuel to air mixture until the engine warmed up. This 550I does have the sport package with the 19" M Wheels, Exhaust, Paddle shifters, however I do not think any engine mods are part of this package. Everything is as shipped from the factory. And my wife drives it most of the time in and around Sacramento, CA and sometimes to the Bay Area and she is not a sprited driver, I would say moderate driver.

Any helpful suggestions from anybody would be appreicated. And is BMW USA or in Germany aware of this (common) problem with this engine? Thank-you inadvance for any light or repair you can offer to remedy this issue.

 

+1

I'm surprised that both dealer and indy are saying that this is normal.

 

My '07 550 runs a "little" rough at start-up during cold weather, but with the amount of Ethanol in even the "best" brand gas (Shell, etc) during the winter here in CO, I am chalking it up to the crap fuel.

 

This is b/s. My 20 year old Camaro has EFI and idles fine in both open (cold start) and closed loop (warm). I've witnessed this problem and noticed that when the rough idle occurs the exhaust smells like the engine is running rich (too much fuel). Once the car warms up it idles fine. The cause is either a faulty sensor or bad programming and since there are no error codes BMW can get away with saying its "normal"

I'd bet any money that a brand new F10 doesn't do this.