I bought 2006 550i in August this year with 4,800 miles on it. It is a wonderful vehicle except two problems. In the morning when I start the car the engine shakes and rocks for a while. It goes away after a while. If the AC is on, it stays. The second problem is the steering wheel has a vibration and does not go away. I don't like this 'message' like vibration. The dealer checked everything and says that it is a normal for V8 engine. My question to 550i owners is - is this really normal? Thanks in advance.

 

Is the shaking and rocking you describe only happen at certain RPMs? If yes, at what RPM does it happen? At what outside temperatures?


For the steering wheel issue, does it happen all of the time or only when braking?

 

It sounds like the engine has too low of an idle speed. What does the tachometer indicate when the engine is idling (and rocking?)

As far a the steering wheel vibration, it sounds like one of the front wheels is not balanced or there's a bad tire...

 

The V8's are rougher than the I6's, but it should not make your steering wheel shake. Has the car been modified? Are the original tires still on?

 

The car has not been modified. The dealer has already increased the idle to 1,000. The shaking in the steering wheel which I am speaking of is felt when the car is idling. The engine rocks, bumps, and shakes the steering wheel. When the car is idle at a red light the engine starts to rock and bump with a steady vibration from the engine. Turning the A/C on makes it worse at times. If you are reading in the car you will notice you can?t read the paper well because the car will start to rock and bump.

The dealer has tried to reprogram the car twice with new software and it has not solved the issues I am having. Do you think it could be the rockers inside the engine?

 

Now I understand. Clearly, this is not something normal. If the dealer insists that it's normal, have him show you how another V8 on the lot does it. If you don't get anywhere with that approach, find another dealer!

As far as what could be wrong, it could be a million things, I guess. If the engine runs well at speed, it might just be a faulty electronics module -- maybe one that controls VANOS or something. I don't know what else to say except that it should be fixable under warranty...

 

if they had to raise the idle to 1000rpm in hopes of fixing the problem, id tell them that they dont know what they are doing. The normal idle is around 500rpm, and no car should have its idle raised 100% to try and fix an engine issue. mine is only rough upon the first morning startup, in 30 seconds, it smooths out

 

Rudy is correct in that it could be anything and since you did not have the car since new, you don't know everyting that its been through. Could be a motor mount of the car was in an accident, could be a defective or clogged fuel filter, etc. Ask the dealer to get the regional tech involved, BMW will do a PUMA case that pulls in factory resources.

 

I agree with both of the above posts.

Good luck getting things sorted out!

 

It sounds like the engine is not running on all cylinders at low RPM. I'd escalate the issue if the dealer can't solve the problem.