04 X5 4.4 98K BAD COLD STARTS
 

First off my car has bad valve stem seals, so it lets off white smoke if idles for too long.

New problem. When I start the car after it has sat all night and it is below 20 degrees, the car starts very rough! loud and the engine makes the whole car shake back and forth. It literally sounds scary to my kids and dangerous. Also the check engine light comes on and blinks for a minute or two. sometimes the CEL stays on for a while or turns off before I pull off. After 5 minutes or so the car is fine and drives great. Any direction or help as to what it can be would be great thanks!

It seems that your spark plugs have been fouled by the oil that is being sucked into the cylinders past the leaky valve seals. Change the spark plugs and it should run much better until they foul up again. You really need to fix the leaky valve seals though.

Chuck

Easy solution: As long as the CEL doesn't stay on ALL the time, it is fine. Once the light stays on. get a piece of black tape and cover it up. Warm the car up before the kids come out.

Oh, how DID you diagnose the 'valve stem seals'???

Any thought t

1. Your car is an E53.
2. I have the same car, 04, 4.4 with 106k miles. I have had the dealer look at it 3 times, with 3 lever rebuilds. The problem is getting worse. That's why I am on the E70 board, about to trade it in on a 2012 5.0.

Do a search on the E53 board, you'll see my post and many others on the problem.