Strange Issue After Cold Start

[amn3sia]

Hey all! I posted this is another forum, but I want to see of any of you can possibly shed some light into an issue that I have had with my new to me E90 M3.

Ok, so first off - I cannot reproduce this issue 100% of the time, it seems like it it ~50/50. When I cold start my engine (in 60F Seattle weather), everything seems to be normal with the RPMs and I do not hear any sounds that I would consider to be unusual.

If I give it some gas when idling in the first minute or two, it will not rev up cleanly .. it almost seems like it is flooding the engine and it doesn't fire smoothly. When this occurs, I cannot seem to rev past ~2500-3000 RPMs.

After a good two minutes, I can get on the pedal from idle (while parked) and it revs just fine.

I have been doing some research and cannot find an exact match to this problem that I am having. I haven't inspected the spark plugs, my intuition tells me to change them (I have several service invoices and do not see anything that shows that they were ever replaced throughout its 63K mile history).

Any thoughts on what this issue could be? If you need more information, let me know

[amn3sia]

Also, I will mention that there aren't any fault codes firing that I can see at least with Carly + my Gen2 BT module..

[Rat3d ///M]

hard to tell without seeing what it is doing in person but nothing you describe sounds too out of the ordinary. the car won't rev too high when cold because of the variable tach and with the secondary air pump running it will likely not seem to rev smoothly and will run "rough". Not saying you don't have an issue but it's hard to tell if what you experience is normal or not just based on your description

[Tracyis300]

That's a odd thing to happen?
But the good news is that the 65k service is drawing near.(wouldn't say it's good news because if you don't have a warranty, that shit is expensive! Believe me)
Ether you have a warranty or not? When you take it in, be sure to make that a statement to your SA

[NashvegasR]

not normal btw - definitely have it chked out

[amn3sia]

Originally Posted by ||||||||||

hard to tell without seeing what it is doing in person but nothing you describe sounds too out of the ordinary. the car won't rev too high when cold because of the variable tach and with the secondary air pump running it will likely not seem to rev smoothly and will run "rough". Not saying you don't have an issue but it's hard to tell if what you experience is normal or not just based on your description

Thanks! yeah, so basically I do cold start > floor the pedal > not much of a response from the motor (it will only hit 3K RPMs max).

Originally Posted by Tracyis300

That's a odd thing to happen?
But the good news is that the 65k service is drawing near.(wouldn't say it's good news because if you don't have a warranty, that shit is expensive! Believe me)
Ether you have a warranty or not? When you take it in, be sure to make that a statement to your SA

I bought the "comprehensive" warranty option from the (non-BMW) dealer. I am also currently in the process of piecing together the bits of info for the unofficial service schedules, comparing what others recommend in relation to the service work that has been done on with my vehicle recently (I have a small stack of invoices).

Originally Posted by NashvegasR

not normal btw - definitely have it chked out

My instincts agree, I'm not going to leave anything to chance and will get it checked out soon!

[Rat3d ///M]

I would never floor the car when the engine is cold. if you start the car from dead cold and immediately floor the car the oil pump hasn't even sufficiently allowed for proper oil distribution throughout the engine yet so you are putting unnecessary strain on an oil starved engine. not good. sorry if I am misunderstanding but I still don't see an issue based on what you are describing? my car won't rev passed a certain point when cold either. it's designed not to to protect itself.

and what 65k mile service are we talking about again?

[roastbeef]

maybe check your intake/tubes and see if any are cracked/etc. tell us more about your mods/mileage/etc.

[scrammer]

For all I know my car could have the same issue ... But since I start my car and let it complete the entire "cold start cycle" before I move it or even touch the throttle ... Who knows.

Try starting the beast and then chill for a minute to enjoy the sound and wait for the end of the procedure before you floor it!

[amn3sia]

Originally Posted by ||||||||||

I would never floor the car when the engine is cold. if you start the car from dead cold and immediately floor the car the oil pump hasn't even sufficiently allowed for proper oil distribution throughout the engine yet so you are putting unnecessary strain on an oil starved engine. not good. sorry if I am misunderstanding but I still don't see an issue based on what you are describing?

This wasn't a case of me cold starting the engine and just flooring the pedal. To clarify, I drove my car to work (an hour behind the wheel) one morning. An hour / hour and a half later, I was showing the car to a coworker and started the engine.

Without touching the pedal, the RPMs sat at ~1100-1200 for a good half minute. After that half minute, it dropped down to ~700 and I gave it some pedal gradually until the RPMs climbed to ~2500. It revved a little rough, after that I hit the gas a little harder and it would stutter and only peak out right around 3K RPMs.

A minute later and everything is fine.

Originally Posted by ||||||||||

my car won't rev passed a certain point when cold either. it's designed not to to protect itself.

Is that by design? (Sorry, your statement was a little ambiguous)

Originally Posted by roastbeef

maybe check your intake/tubes and see if any are cracked/etc. tell us more about your mods/mileage/etc.

Thanks! I checked and everything looks good thankfully. My car has 63K miles, 100% stock with the exception of some light suspension mods.

Originally Posted by scrammer

For all I know my car could have the same issue ... But since I start my car and let it complete the entire "cold start cycle" before I move it or even touch the throttle ... Who knows.

Try starting the beast and then chill for a minute to enjoy the sound and wait for the end of the procedure before you floor it!

Yeah I apologize if I made it sound as if I just*floored it after starting it. It's tricky for me to explain, but I hope what I wrote above clarifies things a bit.

[JHFW89225]

Originally Posted by amn3sia

Hey all! I posted this is another forum, but I want to see of any of you can possibly shed some light into an issue that I have had with my new to me E90 M3.

Ok, so first off - I cannot reproduce this issue 100% of the time, it seems like it it ~50/50. When I cold start my engine (in 60F Seattle weather), everything seems to be normal with the RPMs and I do not hear any sounds that I would consider to be unusual.

If I give it some gas when idling in the first minute or two, it will not rev up cleanly .. it almost seems like it is flooding the engine and it doesn't fire smoothly. When this occurs, I cannot seem to rev past ~2500-3000 RPMs.

After a good two minutes, I can get on the pedal from idle (while parked) and it revs just fine.

I have been doing some research and cannot find an exact match to this problem that I am having. I haven't inspected the spark plugs, my intuition tells me to change them (I have several service invoices and do not see anything that shows that they were ever replaced throughout its 63K mile history).

Any thoughts on what this issue could be? If you need more information, let me know

I think I have the same issue...

[amn3sia]

Originally Posted by JHFW89225

I think I have the same issue...

Hmm, again I am wondering if this is something that is there by design. I haven't found anything yet, but I will be asking my SA soon!

[IIAp3x]

Originally Posted by amn3sia

Hmm, again I am wondering if this is something that is there by design. I haven't found anything yet, but I will be asking my SA soon!

It's the cold start cycle... The cold start cycle uses preset a/f ratios based on the ambient temp, coolant temp, and oil temps until the temps reach a number that is suitable for proper engine operation and then switches back to the wideband o2, MAP, and IAT for operating values..

Let it idle for 1 minute and then go! Keep the revs under 3k until the oil temp hits 190-200... These cars run like shit during the cold start cycle, but then again, so does every other supercar I ever had... It's just the nature of a high strung motor...

[amn3sia]

Originally Posted by IIAp3x

It's the cold start cycle... The cold start cycle uses preset a/f ratios based on the ambient temp, coolant temp, and oil temps until the temps reach a number that is suitable for proper engine operation and then switches back to the wideband o2, MAP, and IAT for operating values..

Let it idle for 1 minute and then go! Keep the revs under 3k until the oil temp hits 190-200... These cars run like shit during the cold start cycle, but then again, so does every other supercar I ever had... It's just the nature of a high strung motor...

Thank you VERY much for explaining that!!! I was hoping that there was something such as this happening under the hood during cold starts, this makes complete sense now.

I usually let my vehicle warm up until the idle drops to normal levels, this is the first one that I have owned that actually exhibits this behavior hence I had posed the question.

Thanks again!!!

[jrs_66]

I think goosing the throttle after a cold start is a twisted idea.

[amn3sia]

Originally Posted by jrs_66

I think goosing the throttle after a cold start is a twisted idea.

The same for commenting before reading the fine print!

[FramingLogic]

Hey buddy! Hahaha, i remember this from when I had my M3, I want to share:
I had a very similar issue, I always though it was because I did a 4.6 bore on my 4.0, but i know thats bs. Anyways, when I started having some high milage on my M3 i noticed that when I would rev my engine after a little on cold oil it would sputter a bit as it went back down on rpms. It was perfectly fine after it warmed up, and i think it gets worse as the engine climbs in miles, but I almost can promise you that you don't need to worry at all. Give your car some more warm up time! My new F82 actually has a feature now that it will not let me rev past a certain rpm until she is warmed up, that is how serious that has got. So that tells me it based this from a pre-condition on the e92. I hope that supports anything that was said on here!

[amn3sia]

Originally Posted by FramingLogic

Hey buddy! Hahaha, i remember this from when I had my M3, I want to share:
I had a very similar issue, I always though it was because I did a 4.6 bore on my 4.0, but i know thats bs. Anyways, when I started having some high milage on my M3 i noticed that when I would rev my engine after a little on cold oil it would sputter a bit as it went back down on rpms. It was perfectly fine after it warmed up, and i think it gets worse as the engine climbs in miles, but I almost can promise you that you don't need to worry at all. Give your car some more warm up time! My new F82 actually has a feature now that it will not let me rev past a certain rpm until she is warmed up, that is how serious that has got. So that tells me it based this from a pre-condition on the e92. I hope that supports anything that was said on here!

That definitely falls in line with what I now understand to be the cold start cycle. I'm relieved now that I have a logical explanation