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Car violently shakes on startup, but settles..eventually

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8.5K views 15 replies 12 participants last post by  catso  
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#1 ·
I tried searching. All the results of a car shaking are during a driving scenario, but not on startup.

On a rare occassion, my car shakes violently when I start the car. This morning in Los Angeles, where the weather is typically warm, I started my car. Immediately the car shook like it was 7.0 earthquake. It shook like this for a good minute. It felt like someone was outside trying to lift the car. It was very violent. Lots of smoke coming from the exhaust. It was gray smoke and it had a foul smell not like a skunk though. I just let it run and eventually the problem goes away.

This happened before. I startted the car in the am. to move it 10 feet. Later that evening about 7 hours later, I started it again. This time it shook heavy with the same gray smoke coming out of the tail pipe. The only common denominator is car engine is cold.

My car has 77K miles. It is a 2002 BMW 325i. It runs perfectly otherwise. Idle is great, runs great with no other symptoms. This is my daily driver and is driven on freeways frequently.

Thoughts anyone?

Many thanks.
 
#3 ·
Pull the plugs after the car has sat all night. I`m betting you`ll find some oily deposits on them, probably indicating the need for a CVV replacement.
 
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#8 ·
Many thanks to all of you. I am so grateful for your time and expertise.

This morning the car started as normal with nothing out of the ordinary. It is garaged parked. Same great weather, not cold or too humid. The car idle was perfect and it warmed up nicely. No excessive smoke out of the tail pipe unlike when I get the problem of violently shakes which is rare, but scares me badly.

About two months ago, I did the CVV replacement. There were some great writeups out there in the wiki. Changing the CVV aka oil separator valve wasn't too difficult of a task, but I do have years of mechanical experience. For those who haven't done it yet, view the wiki page and search for cvv. I followed the Lbert write up. I just read the first post and went to work. If you want the parts list I ordered, PM me. I purchased my parts from RMEuropean.com for about $170. Parts arrived next day with normal shipping fees. Since the cvv change, the car is running fine..same as always. Nothing different really, except the first few time I took the car out for a drive, the idle was a bit high.

Again, I was surprised the violent shakes still occurred after doing the CVV work. I don't know what else it could be. Again car runs perfect as I can tell otherwise.

From what I learned from this post, here is what I will do.
Hook up my code reader tonight to see if there is an error. My check engine light is NOT on. In fact, I have never seen it lit.


Do I still need to pull the plugs to see if there is oil on em?
MAF possiblity as SolidJake mentioned?
Oh, I use Mobil super unleaded gas religiously. Not sure if this matters

thoughts, ideas? Many many thanks...
 
#9 ·
This should have been an eliminating process starting with the smallest neglected maintenance parts to the greatest. Your starting point should have not been the CVV. If these had not been changed lately, you should have started with air filter, sparks plugs, valve cover gasket, fuel filter, then CVV. Also it's good to check the intake boot for cracks.

The items I listed are normal maintenance items.
 
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#10 ·
AlboBMW said:
If these had not been changed lately, you should have started with air filter, sparks plugs, valve cover gasket, fuel filter, then CVV. Also it's good to check the intake boot for cracks. QUOTE]

Thank you Albo. The air filter, spark plugs, fuel filter are all fairly new. Valve cover is original. I will do a thorough inspection of intake boots and change out the valve cover gasket. It surprises me the valve cover can be a culprit since it only occurs on startup. This is easy enough to change out...many thanks

other thoughts? Love to hear em.
Click to expand...
 
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#12 ·
you should definitely replace the Valve Cover Gasket because it is in need of replacement. But I doubt that will fix your problem.
Definitely do check your spark plugs and see if they need replacement/if they have oil on them.
I replaced my spark plugs at 100k, then at 112k i replaced my VCG and my CCV.... the plugs had LOTS of oil on them and they need to replaced ASAP due to corrosion or something. My car has not-so-happy cold morning starts as well, but only if its really cold like 20 and below. I blame it on my sparks because I know they are ruined and I have had my VCG replaced, my CCV system replaced, my intake boots replaced, and my MAF is completely fine... my air filters have been replaced too... but not my fuel filter.

My cold morning starts are not AS bas as yours though... just some slight hiccups that lasts 10 secs. I woud check your intake boots as well... but check them thorouhgly because its hard to notice the cracks.
 
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#13 ·
Cylinder Coil Packs? ... think they call them?
... the problem you are describing .... is sorta like what I had ... felt like an eruption/earthquake in the car

In saying that ... these boys above ... sound like the know what they are on about
... I'm just a weekend warrior

Hope it helps!
 
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#15 ·
well i had the exhaust emissions level have deteriorated on dashboard sign, and it is still on, similar symptoms, well just the one, rough at startup then fine after, no power loss or drop in mpg.s or smoke, so i dumped stp total fuel system cleaner in the gas and filled her up, problem gone, but dont know why the exhaust emissions level amber symbol won;t go off?
 
#16 ·
Emissions related lights usually indicate a code in the memory. I doubt you solved the real problem. Have the code read and figure out what caused it, erase it, and try to solve your problem.
 
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