My '98 740il (89,000 miles) has begun to sporadically die after startup. It start perfectly every time with no gas pedal work, but sometimes RPMs will drift down to 0, requiring a restart. Currently, the worst case involves 2-3 restarts and a tiny amount of gas pedal after initial start. Once started, I've experienced no noticeable problems. Any thougts appreciated. Mike R
Any warning lights or check control maessages? Any smoke on startup (probably have to have someone else start the car to notice)? My first thought would be an injector leaking down. But it's just a shot in the dark from your description. Does it occur after every startup or only after sitting, say, overnight?
Thanks for your quick reply. I do receive the CHECK ENGINE after a dying episode and the message clears in about 24 hours. No noticeable smoke of any kind. Seems to occur on a totally random basis, perhaps once in eight starts. Again thanks.
I would at least take the car to someone with BMW diagnostic capabilities and have them pull faults. It may be something smaller than you think.
Sounds like a dirty or failing idle air control valve. This is exactly the symptoms I experienced on my 97 328iC before I replaced the idle control valve. The engine would die unpredictably when it was cold. Once warmed up, it ran fine. After months of this, the valve failed completely and then, the engine would not idle at all. It is a challenging DIY job on the inline 6 cylinder engine. I have no idea how hard or easy it is with the V8 engine. The valve is under the intake manifold on my car.
