[MMVI]

Hi there...

First post on this forum and I am reading this thread with dismay.
I have a 520d m-sport with sport auto on order for end of September delivery. I presently drive a e92 325i manual sport coupe which has been fine but my previous e90 325i had a hesitation which drove me up the bloody wall. The dealer could never fix it and I only found that it did not do when 1. after a service when I could feel that the throttle had been reset (very interesting element of this thread) and 2. for a while when Tesco had 100 ron unleaded. However this of course could not be kept up as it was too expensive.

I dearly hope that this is resolved as my change to a bigger car (always been a 3 person) an automatic (rude not to) and diesel (really not happy about this but got no choice, tax, cost, residuals etc) will be undone by the revisiting of a fault I have already served 3 years putting up with.

Worried..

[itf joegun]

Subscribed!

I wish you all good luck that the problem can be clearly identified by BMW and solved on your cars! Hope also, it was solved until I get my F11...

[22andcounting]

Update: spent all morning in the car up and down the m1 with the technician and the car wired up to all sort of control unit readers, it looked like a spy shot of the inside of a development car. The car dutifully did it's thing, jerky jerky. BMW had asked them to take readings from the efficient dynamics controller of the alternator to see if this was cutting in and placing a load on the engine causing the subtle loss of power feeling - readings taken to be sent to BMW today.

So after analysis of the data pre-today, the current focus is the engine and not the gearbox, or the chassis ie Dct etc. The technician told me that there are plenty of problems similar to mine logged all across the country and that BMW is taking this pretty seriously.

The car is now staying with the dealership all next week in order to provide further data or to try resolutions. Me, I am off to Italy for a week :-) happy holidays fellow beemsters

[Z4C_luvver]

22, thanks so much for keeping us updated.

Good luck and happy holidays!

[Krill]

Yes thanks a lot for the update! And have a nice holiday!

I have an appointment with my dealer next Thursday...

[blaz]

hi all - don't even have mine yet - never had a BM but 5 more sleeps though so not long now...

..and I'm reading too much for my own good but my hypothesis as follows...

I say it's the brake drying function. The car knows via the rain sensor whether to dry the brakes - hence it is noticed when wet outside - and feathers the brake to clear any water ready for when the brake is needed. It is hill related as the brakes have less effect downhill and you don't notice it.

Maybe some feather too much.

Thoughts?

[ATLANTA F10]

This is interesting...I have a new 550i M Sport coming this next week.

Right now I'm in a F10 528i base model non-sport loaner car with 22K miles and I gotta say the transmission is indeed pretty jerky...seems to have a dead spot at times accelerating from a stop and hunts for gears as well. Has me kinda worried what the 550i transmission will be like...do you guys with 550i Sport transmission have any problems or are you happy with it?

The brand new 550i M Sport I test drove seemed ok but it was only a 10 minute drive.

[Z4C_luvver]

Originally Posted by ATLANTA F10

This is interesting...I have a new 550i M Sport coming this next week.

Right now I'm in a F10 528i base model non-sport loaner car with 22K miles and I gotta say the transmission is indeed pretty jerky...seems to have a dead spot at times accelerating from a stop and hunts for gears as well. Has me kinda worried what the 550i transmission will be like...do you guys with 550i Sport transmission have any problems or are you happy with it?

The brand new 550i M Sport I test drove seemed ok but it was only a 10 minute drive.

I think your problem is unrelated. I've read other threads about Autobox hesitations etc. Do a search and you'll find there's a reset procedure that seems to fix this issue.

[SilentHawk]

Thanks 22, and have a great holiday.

Mine's been with the dealer since Tuesday morning, hooked up to the diagnostic kit like yours and no doubt many others. It's been a case of excluding the most obvious factors first I suspect - BMW got them to try a forced DPF regeneration as the backpressure in the exhaust was higher than expected (but well within normal limits) but this didn't solve it. So, they're still testing and checking, and testing and checking, and testing and checking......hopefully the sheer mass of data that must be building up has got to lead somewhere soon !

Perhaps re-mapping the ECU to 240hp will fix it, so I'm going to suggest that

[Z4C_luvver]

Originally Posted by SilentHawk

Perhaps re-mapping the ECU to 240hp will fix it, so I'm going to suggest that

I have NO doubt that this will surely fix the problem!!!

[shiner]

My car 520D F10 Mid April 2011 has this problem as well - a manual. 1700 rpm under slight load uphill and jerk, jerk, hesitate..... Change down and it goes away. Thing is I should not have to change down - the car should pull fine at that speed. It does feel it is pulling fine albeit with this jerking.

Definitely a problem. Will watch this thread carefully from now on.

[SilentHawk]

Originally Posted by kirkster

My car 520D F10 Mid April 2011 has this problem as well - a manual. 1700 rpm under slight load uphill and jerk, jerk, hesitate..... Change down and it goes away. Thing is I should not have to change down - the car should pull fine at that speed. It does feel it is pulling fine albeit with this jerking.

Definitely a problem. Will watch this thread carefully from now on.

Kirkster, I spoke to the dealer today and they're still awaiting feedback from BMW Technical. Following your post I mentioned that the problem seems to exist on some manual transmissions, too. I know that 5er_luvver has this and has already reported it to their dealer, so if you can as well it will give BMW more evidence and an extra good nudge !

[blackeye741]

.....well may be I am, but at least I'm not imagining the judder and loss of power.

I got my manual 520d in early June and within 5 days and with less that 500 miles on the clock experienced daily juddering and loss of power for about 4 days on the trot. Always the same driving scenario cruising with a constant throttle posistion with revs between 1700 and 2000 (happend in gears 3 through 6) when you start to go up an incline but don't increase the pressure on the throttle.

Typically my local dealer couldn't get the car in until day 6 and could not replicate the fault after having the car all day, and neither could I when I insisted that the technician accompany me on a 30 min test drive. The dealer had said this was the first they had heard of the issue, and asked me to keep an eye on it.

Since then I've just been living with the intermittent issue and just been gunning it up hills if the traffic will allow, but when it doesn't the issue reappears. To be fair to the dealer they have offered to switch cars with me for a week so they can investigate, but I've been reluctant as it tends to happen on longer motorway journeys where your cruising a lot more and I didn't think the dealer would replicate that scenario.

Any way since finding this thread I've sent it on to my dealer and asked them book my car in again. Fingers crossed, some one, some where will come up with the solution.........failing that like SilientHawk I'd be happy for 240HP ECU remap!

[Krill]

I just took my 520d in to the dealer for this issue. They´ll be keeping it for a day or two for some tests and what not. I´ll post here as soon as I have news!
Thank god my car juddered and jerked when the tech took it out for a test drive, otherwise I would probably have lost it haha...

[Krill]

Got my car back and the jerking is said to be caused by a fault in the engine management software. Something about the EGR valve not operating correctly.. BMW will release a software update in September which will fix the issue. So I´ll have to keep jerking until September

[SilentHawk]

Originally Posted by Krill

Got my car back and the jerking is said to be caused by a fault in the engine management software. Something about the EGR valve not operating correctly.. BMW will release a software update in September which will fix the issue. So I´ll have to keep jerking until September

Thanks for the update Krill. Does seem logical it would be something like that since we're seeing the problem with manual transmissions as well as autos. I had a Citroen C5 a few years ago and that car had no end of EGR problems (in fact there was a general recall it was that bad).

Mine's going back in on Monday for one or two days as I believe BMW want to carry out two software updates - one is a standalone new version update that can be carried out by the dealer and the other is a patch that has to be done whilst the car is directly connected by internet to BMW.

They don't know for sure this will solve the issue, but at least we're getting somewhere - and maybe this is the software that your dealer mentioned ? I do know it's not my 240hp remap though....

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by Krill

Got my car back and the jerking is said to be caused by a fault in the engine management software. Something about the EGR valve not operating correctly.. BMW will release a software update in September which will fix the issue. So I´ll have to keep jerking until September

Interesting, I commented in an earlier post that emissions and EGR could be a possible cause. I suppose they are saying the EGR strategy is not totally suitable, and there is a tipping point of values in the rev/load range where this jerking takes place.

HighlandPete

[mrbenyong]

Hi I just had my enginen software updated / downloaded by my dealer. Lots of jerkiness is gone. From crusing or when rolling at carpark speeds, the jerk has been reduced like 90 percent.

Your cars should be still under warrenty so it's advisable to do it ASAP.

[22andcounting]

So while I was away on holiday my dealer called to say that BMW had a software fix for the problem and were updating the a from Germany. A subsequent dealer technician road test is claimed to have cured the problem. I am picking it up tomorrow and will do my usual 320 mile journey Tuesday and report my findings. They didn't say what the fix addressed - I will find out tomorrow and post all details tomorrow

[SpikeUK]

Originally Posted by Krill

Got my car back and the jerking is said to be caused by a fault in the engine management software. Something about the EGR valve not operating correctly.. BMW will release a software update in September which will fix the issue. So I´ll have to keep jerking until September

I am looking forward to the delivery of my 520d Auto in September so I really appreciate you guys providing data and fix in advance.

Krill - not sure what our American friends make of you jerking until September

[22andcounting]

Picked up my car today from the dealer. BMW and not the dealer has upgraded the software in the car to the version which will be on general release from the dealer network in September. In the new software version is a planned fix for the 'jerky/hesitation' on the balanced throttle on hills problem. My car is a bit of a guinea pig owing to the very extensive data collection they have done from the car - some 80 miles or so now.

BMW think the problem is caused by the efficient dynamics software allowing power to be taken from the engine to recharge the battery (as it does on overrun or braking) at the incorrect time. This causes a momentary very small loss in drive power which is felt as a mild hesitation or little jerky feeling.

This is their theory and so over the next week or so I will test this theory out in my car with the revised software. So fingers crossed everyone that it works

Off on my 320 mile trip tomorrow so I will report back with good or bad news!

[blackeye741]

Looking forward to your trip report!