BMW 318i cold start performance

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Wed 26 Mar 2003 07:38
BMW 318i cold start performance - kal
My BMW 318i auto when cold is jerky and tends to have an acceleration flat spot around 1500 - 2000rpm (at least I think) or somewhere the gear change point. BMW say the car when cold is designed to hold the gears longer during the warm up phase. When hot the gear changes and acceleration are smoother. Air filter and plugs are Ok as well as petrol quality (I recently used a tank of premium unleaded), the exhaust after a good motorway run is grey/white in colour, and m-way mpg is 37 at 70-80 mph with a/c on, in town it sinks to a low of 22-25mpg.

When stationary and cold if you rev the car on and off between 1500 rpm and say 2500 it tends to make a slight exhaust popping sound as if the car cannot breathe properly.

Is there a fault or is it my driving style of perhaps holding the accelerator at the change up point? Or is this a caracteristic trait of the car when cold.

Any advice would be welcome. Thanks
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Wed 26 Mar 2003 13:07
BMW 318i cold start performance - JOHN 2002
My 320 auto (1994) is the same. Revs up to 3000+ before changing up for the first half mile or so.
I switch it to 'snow' mode on the 'box, start off in second and change manually for this half to one mile then switch to 'E' after that it's fine.
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