Bmw 325xi stalling a bit in the cold

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

I have a 325xi with 43k miles on it. I have done only oil changes to it-- 3 times I think, and bmw recently said, see you at 50k, all is good. But it’s been really cold lately and it stalls out until properly warmed up, but only at leaving from a stop sign a short distance from my house and the road tilted downward. Going the other way (just a bit upward) seems not to produce the stall.



I’m not hugely concerned. Should I be? Are injector cleaners possibly helpful? A terrible idea? A higher rated gas (I fill with regular)? thanks

2

At only 43k miles, injectors should not be dirty. Gas octane should be irrelevant. Possible that you got a bad batch of gas somewhere.

What year is the car? Have you ever had the spark plugs replaced? Could be time if you still have the original plugs.

3

sorry meant to mention, its a 2004. has had nothing done other than replacing wiper and changing oil (synthetic oil every 15k miles)

4

Check your manual for spark plug replacement interval. I’d pull 'em right now and take a look.

5

hoss, just so you don’t spin in circles, your intermittent stalling has nothing to do with your sparkplugs.With BMW first thing (after a good visual inspection) is to check TSB’s or as BMW calls them “Service Information” there are a couple dealing with stalling if the visual does not turn up anything.

6 
I suggest getting your owner's manual out and read it cover to cover.  Read the maintenance schedule several times.  Now get all the maintenance that may be behind done.  Don't relay or BMW to do this for you.  Unless BMW is doing the work for free, you likely would be better off having a local INDEPENDENT mechanic do the work for you.  Not that dealers are all bad or even mostly bad, but they do almost always charge more and are not by nature better. 

I would add one thing that is not likely on the list in the owner's manual.  Assuming you have auto magic transmission, have the transmission fluid changed,  [b] not flushed[/b] and the filter replaced or cleaned, now before you suspect a problem.  

As for stalling, how long has it been doing this?  Is it weather related?

Several ideas:

Plug wires (use OEM brand and type only)

Plugs (use OEM brand and type only)

Do you have a fuel filter? If so replacing it might be a good idea if you might have gotten a tank of bad fuel. Try to buy fuel only at busy stations. Premium or regular as recommended in your owner’s manual. Premium is NOT BETTER, it is different and more expensive. Use what your owner’s manual recommends.