SES Light On.... Misfire? [help from the pros please]

[StanF18]

Hey Simon, Mike, Weasel, TLeong:

I would like to proudly join this "E53 Mis-fire Club" as of yesterday, 4:58 PM, Eastern Time.

Thermometer showed 29F, not what I would call inordinately cold. However my 2006 4.4i begged to differ, and gave me quite the scare when I turned the ignition. Substantial bucking and stuttering of the front end, with a flashing "Service Engine Soon" light. Naively I hoped against hope that this would stop as the X warmed up, but it continued for the next 2 minutes. I put it in Drive and slowly rolled about 100 feet. Problem was not going away! I stopped, put it in "Park" and turned off the engine. I waited a good 30-40 seconds in the gloomy silence. Turned the ignition back on, and everything was back to normal. No bucking. No engine light.

Everything went well today also.

Weasel, assuming this is a 1-time deal, any possibility that engine can be damaged somehow during that 2-minute nightmare? Is this only an E53 thing, or does it happen periodically on other Bimmers? And finally, any action I need to take after the fact, or just pretend like it was a bad one-time deal?

[mrbmwx5]

Originally Posted by StanF18

Hey Simon, Mike, Weasel, TLeong:

I would like to proudly join this "E53 Mis-fire Club" as of yesterday, 4:58 PM, Eastern Time
Thermometer showed 29F, not what I would call inordinately cold. However my 2006 4.4i begged to differ, and gave me quite the scare when I turned the ignition. Substantial bucking and stuttering of the front end, with a flashing "Service Engine Soon" light. Naively I hoped against hope that this would stop as the X warmed up, but it continued for the next 2 minutes. I put it in Drive and slowly rolled about 100 feet. Problem was not going away! I stopped, put it in "Park" and turned off the engine. I waited a good 30-40 seconds in the gloomy silence. Turned the ignition back on, and everything was back to normal. No bucking. No engine light.

Everything went well today also.

Weasel, assuming this is a 1-time deal, any possibility that engine can be damaged somehow during that 2-minute nightmare?Is this only an E53 thing, or does it happen periodically on other Bimmers? And finally, any action I need to take after the fact, or just pretend like it was a bad one-time deal?

Ohoh Time for new X5M.

[Tleong]

I hate to say this.... but no one knows a clear answer to this. Amongst other future problems that could occur... I've been very tempted to get rid of the X.

[StanF18]

Originally Posted by mrbmwx5

Ohoh Time for new X5M.

Might need a better excuse for CEO X5//M approval than a cylinder misfire. Perhaps I can tell her the tranny is starting to go....

[StanF18]

Originally Posted by StanF18

Hey Simon, Mike, Weasel, TLeong:

I would like to proudly join this "E53 Mis-fire Club" as of yesterday, 4:58 PM, Eastern Time.

Thermometer showed 29F, not what I would call inordinately cold. However my 2006 4.4i begged to differ, and gave me quite the scare when I turned the ignition. Substantial bucking and stuttering of the front end, with a flashing "Service Engine Soon" light. Naively I hoped against hope that this would stop as the X warmed up, but it continued for the next 2 minutes. I put it in Drive and slowly rolled about 100 feet. Problem was not going away! I stopped, put it in "Park" and turned off the engine. I waited a good 30-40 seconds in the gloomy silence. Turned the ignition back on, and everything was back to normal. No bucking. No engine light.

Everything went well today also.

Weasel, assuming this is a 1-time deal, any possibility that engine can be damaged somehow during that 2-minute nightmare? Is this only an E53 thing, or does it happen periodically on other Bimmers? And finally, any action I need to take after the fact, or just pretend like it was a bad one-time deal?

UPDATE: Problem has not recurred. Had it in the dealership for an unrelated maintenance, and the SA ran the code history. They confirmed the mis-fire and said it is a "no action" item.

Let's see how the rest of the winter goes....

[StanF18]

UPDATE 2: OK, spoke to soon

Problem is back. Had another mis-fire at 18 degrees F! The usual shaking and bucking up and down.

Had to turn her off and re-start. She started OK the second time, but now the SES light is lit up all the time. Steady light. How much $$damage$$ are we talking assuming it's the oil separator? Will the $tealer take an arm and a leg?