I am in the market for a used 2008 M5 and today i found one that has a low mileage on it and they were giving quite a good price.

When i went to see the car today, i went to start the car up. During the first 30 seconds after i press the engine button, the rev was going up and down between 1500rpm and 500 rpm.

I asked the dealer, not a BMW dealer, and the sales guy told me that it was normal because the car has not been warm up for quite sometime.

My question is, Is it normal and if it is not, any suggestion on what i should do?

I'm very very new in BMW world.

Anyway, this is the link for the car. anyone know about the story behind it or anyone has done business with them before? inputs are greatly appreciated.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?ct=u...&cardist=14

 

M5s certainly do rev quite high when you start them cold. They are actually quite load when you first start them up as the 1200 - 1500 rpm range seems to produce quite a lot of exhaust resonance. Mine dies down after a minute or so to a steady idle around 700 rpm, very quiet and civilised. If that's all you saw then everything should be OK. If the revs were increasing and decreasing multiple times, especially if it seemed random or uncontrolled, that's not something I'm familiar with.

I doubt there are any real issues here, but if there are you are looking at a 2008 car and the warranty is still good for years yet.

 

hi and welcome.
i experienced this on my e60 545i just before i exchanged it with a dealer for my M5. i'd say it's certainly not right and would personally make me rather wary of the vehicle. on my 545i, after a few weeks of this occuring, the engine fault light came on. BMW diagnostics couldn't find anything wrong with the car, reset the ecu and gave it back to me. after a couple of days (and the engine continuing to idle rough as you described this one to be), the engine light came back on again. as it went back in to the dealer for another check, that's when i spotted the M5 and swapped the car. so i don't know what the fix was for the issue in the end.
on my M5, and all M5's as far as i've seen, the cold start revs high, and does so for probably a minute or 2 then settles down. BUT, it's a constant rev, not one that wobbles above and below 1k. for me personally, there seems to be plenty of cheap used M's out there, and i'd be tempted to look elsewhere for fear of hefty bills.

p.s. they haven't even got the colour (color) description correct. Lt Blue????? It's Silverstone II.

 

It's interesting that this M5 found its way to a high line reseller so quickly. '08 M5's are not so plentiful and can be a drawing card.

I'd take the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) to an area BMW Dealer and get a friendly Service Adviser to check out the car's service and maintenance records for you. While the original warranty and BMW Service Program will follow the car you should do some research before spending your hard earned money.

If this is your first venture into "BMW Land" you're definitely entering the road in the "fast lane"! Good luck!

 

Mine may go to 1000 rpm on initial start up for a second, than it settles in at 700 rpm steadily.
Have them check it out. Has anyone modded the intake / filters?

 

Now, i got mixed reaction. some people said that it happened to them for a couple of times when they start their engine cold.

I have owned different cars for quite a number of years now. To my experience, no cars suppose to rev up and down even during cold start up. I believe that cars suppose to rev up high and slowly settle down to the idle rev range. I don't believe that a supposedly healthy or well-maintained car is going to have this problem.

I will go to the dealer one more time today and i'll bring the VIN to a local BMW dealer and we'll see what it said.

They were non-bmw dealers, the car was sitting in a back lot of an audi/Porsche dealer here in Bay Area. I dont think they are familiar with the color of the car.

 

What you describe is NOT normal for the M5

 

yeah the idle shouldnt fluctuate like that... it should rev slightly high then settle down smoothly and stabilize. considering the mileage is low, there shouldnt be any carbon buildup to the throttle body and intake, which can effect idle. so it can be a sign of something else... but most likely minor. definitly get the maintenance history from bmw. how did the car drive? good luck!