Engine shutters when cold, CEL flashes, steady then drives fine

[Bouchedag84]

Hey guys,
Here I am again, unfortunately, so I have my alternator/regulator replaced by and indy shop when I got the transfailsafe code. Everything seemed fine, drove around fine for about a week.
Went to run an errand and started the X and it shivered and shook a little bit, then the check engine light came on and stayed on. Drove around a bit and it remained on but the vehicle drove fine. Hooked up my laptop and bmw software and this is what I got.




I cleared the codes and went for a test drive. Drove the X around for the remainder of the day without any shivering or warning lights. Start it up this morning and same thing, it shook a bit this morning and it subsided rather quickly, the CEL stayed on til the end of my short street and it turned off and the vehicle drove fine. Drove around doing errands and all was good. The vehicle is now parked and I don't know what to do.
I have googled and lots of people say it's the oil seperator causing a misfire? What are your thoughts? I really don't know what to do. It's scheduled to go in on Monday to the Autobody shop for the front quarter panel/bumper being fixed for about a week or so. The indy is literally next door to this Autobody shop. Do you think them changing the alternator caused anything? What can I do today/tomorrow (Saturday/Sunday) before taking it and leaving it at the autobody shop for a week?
Thanks in advance,
Also, the temperature is not cold, it's like 0C, it was probably even closer to 8C when the shaking happened initially

[Whitecat]

From what i've experienced (ps there is a lot of infos on that site - type misfire) intermediate lever issue is quiet something often discussed for that issue. Personnaly i had oil in the sprak plug from different leaks starting with valve caver gasget to cam sensors- i still experienced some SES light when temperature goes down to -25 or when humidity is very high at 0 degree - X sleep in a heated garage that help too. Batterie - spark plug changed also helped - most of us shut off and re start the car and indeed often help the problem....

[LVP]

Might be the intermediate lever issue. What I've found is that is isn't necessarily the ambient temperature, but how cold the engine got over night. I've started up in the plus C ranges but overnight it had dropped into the negatives and still had the misfires. I shut it down, wait a few and restart and the misfire usually goes away. Less frequent now with the temps we're seeing where I am.

I don't drive it if the light is flashing. Usually it means a cylinder has been shutdown and it runs like crap to boot. So, restart yours and see if it clears.

[Bouchedag84]

Originally Posted by LVP

Might be the intermediate lever issue. What I've found is that is isn't necessarily the ambient temperature, but how cold the engine got over night. I've started up in the plus C ranges but overnight it had dropped into the negatives and still had the misfires. I shut it down, wait a few and restart and the misfire usually goes away. Less frequent now with the temps we're seeing where I am.

I don't drive it if the light is flashing. Usually it means a cylinder has been shutdown and it runs like crap to boot. So, restart yours and see if it clears.

Yeah I wouldn't think it has anything to do with temperature changes. It's been really seasonally warm and hasn't varied more than 10C over night. It ran just fine when it would be -15 then plus 5..
So scared. I've got way too many expenses right now. And semi laid off

[Whitecat]

In my case it does...only during winter season, maybe something different though...

[Bouchedag84]

So, I took one spark plug out and there was quite a bit of oil on the plug on the end towards the engine. I am guessing this is not normal and something is very wrong, thoughts? It was too cold out to check any of the other plugs. Car goes in first thing tomorrow morning for autobody repair

[fraserp]

Check your Ignition coil boot/plug boot for cracks,burns ect. Had similar problem with my car.

[PropellerHead]

I had this problem for nearly three years during the winter. Fearing it was the levers after all of the talk on this board, I did nothing about it until last month. It would also happen if I had a *really* short trip- like moving my car in and out of the garage to wash.

I took it to the Indy and they caught some codes like yours above. Based n their research of the codes and the fact that an engine module handled the same outputs as the codes thrown, they replaced a ~$130 engine module. The problem is gone on cold mornings and short trips.

Stop fretting. Take it in to a trusted indy who is good at diagnosing codes and aligning them to engine mgt modules.

By the way, I was also getting a hard 1-2 shift when cold outside. VERY hard. Fearing it was the transmission, I also waited. They dropped the transmission and replaced a common part- small black gasket looking thing. They also added new fluid- I had replaced the fluid and filter at 30k miles about 18 months ago.

X shifts great. No transmission needed. 65k miles now.

Given the fears of levers and a new transmission after reading here, I was relieved, and happy, even to pay $770.

[upallnight]

Is the undervoltage DTC not deletable? There's 41 occurrences of undervoltage recorded. Since you just had the alternator replaced I would bring it back to the shop that did the repairs and ask about the undervoltage conditions.