# E92 330d 2007 - Lumpy cold start diesel



## jamesprjones (Jul 7, 2015)

Hi. My first post will be a long one. Sorry.

I have an E92 330d 2007 with the M57 engine and have had it a year putting 21k onto the clock now standing at 124k. Everything was running really smooth but it came up for the major service and I took it to a Dealership. This included changing the fuel filter. It may be coincidence but 3 weeks later my car spluttered a couple of times over a few days and then started spluttering permanently and the car shaking. There were no warning lights on but took it to the same Dealership and they diagnosed it and the computer said glow plug. They replaced it and said all will be fine. 
Unfortunately, their diagnostics now said an injector was outside the tolerances and required replacing. Was this dirt causing the issue? They said the glow plug must have masked the problem. Once replaced they said all is good. I paid hundreds of pounds, went onto their forecourt to pick up the car, started it and it spluttered as before. They said run it for a few days to see if it settles down. The warm running spluttering/shaking had gone but on cold starts it is very lumpy for a few minutes. The longer the car has been standing the worse it is. When you accelerate at around 1300-1600 rpm there is a very noisy clacking noise which goes away above and below this rpm range and when the car is warm. I took it back for further analysis (for free this time) and they said it needed a software update. The next day after about 4 hours they phoned and said it didn't need a software update? and they couldn't find any issues or error codes so told me they were 95% sure it needed decoking for the small sum of £2k. 
I thought the engine got clogged up with soot usually from continual town driving. The year i've had it and the 3 years prior with the previous owner it had done about 70k miles of motorway driving. Only a small proportion of town driving. It also went from very smooth to very rough in 3 days.
I've now taken it to an independent specialist after a good recommendation from a friend and they have confirm nothing is wrong from diagnostics. They also say it is a very clean running engine with respect to nothing untoward comes out of the exhaust. 
They still have the car and are going to check the dpf tomorrow from back pressure tests between hot engine and cold engine but I have a feeling they may not be able to resolve it either.
I've researched on the net but their are so many things that it could be I feel it may never get resolved unless I keep running it until it either goes away or gets bad enough to cause a light to come on.
Has anyone on here had a similar issue or know what's going on. Should I spray EGR cleaner in the air intake, take the EGR off and clean it, etc... I need to start with the things I can do for cheap and then move on to things a garage can do for cheap.
It still has the swirl flaps but nothing i've read indicate it could be them and this engine isn't a popular swirl flap breaking car hence why i bought it.
There's also a faint putt putt sound coming from the engine which has been there ever since i got it and not got worse. A rattles has just started over the last week audible on idle only and getting worse.
Could it be that the inlet manifold wasn't replaced correctly and a bolt is coming loose causing the rattle. Air gets in when cold but as the engine warms it expands over the gasket, seals it and then runs fine? Clutching at straws i know. Or could it be the injector leaks making it run rough until excess fuel is burnt off? The issue started after the Dealership did some work on the car so i'm thinking it's something to do with it. They didn't say anything about coding the new injector to the ECU - is this necessary?

If anyone has any ideas please let me know.
Many thanks
J


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## tim330i (Dec 18, 2001)

I think you'll have better luck in the diesel or E9x forum. Thread moved.

Tim


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## YozhDzl (Mar 5, 2014)

Your first option of course should be the dealer that fubared your car. Carbon build up will cause rough running engine but you will most definitely see error codes. In US injectors had been fairly robust despite BMW tendency to replace them in carbon build up situations. European may be different. Check realoem. Glow plugs should not cause rough running, not in the summer at least. And they usually will throw an error code. The fact that you do not have any error codes is strange. Get your own set of diagnostic apps and learn how to use them. 

Now, onto a fuel filter. If your are handy, it's easy to check the install. Make sure done right and no kinked lines. And the most unpretty thought, it's your HPFP.


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