Bad Gas?
 

Hello all I've got an '01 4.4 with 61K, I live in NY. I was in NJ yesterday I had 1/2 a tank of gas and decided to top off the tank, the prices in NY for BP 93 are about $4.27, in NJ the BP station I passed had it for $3.87 no brainer. Drove home no issues, today I started out and about 20 min into the ride the car started sputtering, almost like it was coughing, when I would come to a stop. I thought it was the trans but it kept happening when I put it in neutral or park but not as bad. Called my mechanic and he said it might be you got some bad gas, he advised I put in a bottle of Techron and 8 oz of Marvel Miracle oil. Took about 1 mile of driving and the coughing totally went away upon stopping, but when I would really give it some gas it felt bogged down and my service engine soon light started blinking and then went away, this happened once before and I needed to replace the coil on cylinder 8. After the blinking SES went away the car felt fine but every once in a while it would happen again when I stepped on it. Bringing it in tomorrow any thoughts.

I got a batch of bad gas in an Endeavor a couple years back. It acted just as you described only worse. I thought the engine was going to break off its mounts. I thought engine was a goner. Towed to service dept, they cleaned the fuel rails and replaced fuel filter. Ran like a champ. It so happened the fuel I got was from a station that rarely sold premium fuel and it was old, dirty, and had moisture. Now that I have two German vehicles, I researched (and interviewed) a couple Shell stations in town and found one that goes though an entire tank of premium a week. He fills on Wednesdays so on Thursday morning or Fridays I fill them up :-) Both idle and purr like kittens. The X is the smoothest idle I've ever owned.

Good luck

One more thing. My cousin put a tank of ethanol in his 5 series E60 and is currently experiencing same problems to a lesser extent.

Did your SES blink then go away as well.

It didnt have an ses light but the check engine light did come on.

Thanks

Similar experience with my 2004. Filled up at the local Shell station where I've gone for years...car starting running like crap, dying in traffic, surging. Took it to BMW and they drained the gas tank and found 16% ethanol instead of 10% (pumps are labeled as no more than 10%). We have very few 100% non-ethanol stations here and that is where I fueled next time and it was much happier.

Interesting. Obama wants to increase ethanol requirements to 15%. Sorry to change topic. Carry on...