Code P1350, rough start only when cold.

Just happened this morning, started my car, immediately thought " what the heck", as i'm sitting there shaking. It ran like this for probably about a minute, and then ran perfectly the rest of the day. The only code thrown was a P1350, which is misfire cylinder # 5.

I'm puzzled by this, if the problem persisted throughout the day I would just replace the coil, but I dont know why it would only do it at cold start. I plan on swapping the coils and seeing if the misfire code moves, but I was wondering if there was a common problem that causes this.

I have searched, but all other cold start issues appear to have multiple codes thrown.

Thanks in Advance

ah oh. the single cylinder misfiring misery.
many have suggested compression test.

Originally Posted by jasonbimmer

ah oh. the single cylinder misfiring misery.
many have suggested compression test.

that is not what i want to hear

unfortunately it makes sense given the symptoms. Aside from this though, i've had no indication of low compression( I.E. oil consumption, poor fuel economy, poor performance, rough idle etc)

Originally Posted by RG5384

that is not what i want to hear

unfortunately it makes sense given the symptoms. Aside from this though, i've had no indication of low compression( I.E. oil consumption, poor fuel economy, poor performance, rough idle etc)

could also be a injector problem if it goes away when warmed up.

My plan of attack will be:

1st see if it ever happens again, if it does: 2 swap coils from another cylinder with number five, if it moves with coil then replace coil, if not then: 3 swap injectors with another cylinder.

After that if it still persists on number 5 I will compression check, if that checks good I will be stumped.

also check SAP. It only runs first few minutes when car is started. check to see the blower motor turns on, check the check valve ,and also the vacuum hose. i had similar problem and it was cracked vacuum hose.. could be as simple as that, then you wouldn't need compression check,ect. sometimes its the little stupid things that drive us crazy

I definitely will check all of those when/if the problem re-occurs. I did just remember something though, the only use the car got over the weekend was the following: Move 15 feet into garage, shut off. Move fifteen feet out of the garage, shut off, 15 feet back into garage, shut off. And finally, out of the garage again so I didn't have to move my wife's car to leave in the morning. (she gets garage during week, I get it during the weekend, not having a two car garage blows.....)

I remember from past experience my car gets very grumpy when treated like this. Here is hoping after a 75 mile highway run home today that tomorrow morning she starts up like a champ!

edit: also highly doubting a problem with compression. I've owned the car for about 17k miles now, done 3 oil changes in that time, and it has never overheated. Hottest it has ever gotten was 104* C when bleeding the cooling system after replacing the water pump before it failed.

The car started up perfectly today in the morning, and after a 10 hour work day. Purred like a kitten.

I called one of my mechanic friends about it, and he seems to think that its either one of two things, the first is that the valve seat is bad, and when the valve turns a certain way I loose just enough compression to cause a misfire when cold. The second is if some sort of carbon or debris got stuck in the valve seat temporarily.

Either way, the problem is not bad enough for me to want to tear into the head, in fact i'd rather deal with the misfire every morning than tear the head apart for it. If it becomes a problem even once the engine is warmed up then thats another story.

Right now I have 0 other problems with this car, and it runs like a champ.

Going to drive it till she dies lets hope that is a while from now!

Suggest you read the first link in my signature below.

Contrary to what many may think, vacuum/air leaks are probably the single biggest driveability issue with these cars.

Suggest you pay close attention to the DISA, CCV lower oil return hose and SAP vacuum hoses as mentioned depending on what year you 330 is. Later model 330's do not have vacuum operated SAP air control valves.

Yes plugs, coils, coil boots and many other items can cause these type of problems, however, hold off on big effort, big money things until you have covered the basics with rubber and silicon that is between 6-12 years old.

jfoj: I have read that and great appreciate all of the information. There are a couple of things different about my particular issue though, the first and foremost being one, single cylinder mis fire. The majority of the problems listed in your link will not cause a single cylinder to misfire, you will get multiple codes.

The second item is inconsistency, if the DISA had failed I would have problems every morning, not just sporadically, same with some of the other items. The car is about due for plugs anyways, so when I do the plugs I will swap around the coil packs and thoroughly inspect all the rubber components. I did just recently inspect the intake tubes and they were still soft/pliable and had no leaks.

Best Regards,

Read my thread bud, I had this happen to me today as well. Join the club! Mine's fixed though. All before bedtime too

Sweetness: I certainly hope your problem doesn't come back, but I have a feeling at some point it will rear its ugly head for both of us again. I don't see turning over the ignition too quickly being a viable source of this problem, unfortunately.

Mine ran perfect today as well, and I too cleared the code when I got home last night. Time will tell, I will keep the thread updated. I'm sure as hell going to try a coil and plugs first when it returns, and then only pull the head if it starts to act up even when warmed up.

Originally Posted by RG5384

Sweetness: I certainly hope your problem doesn't come back, but I have a feeling at some point it will rear its ugly head for both of us again. I don't see turning over the ignition too quickly being a viable source of this problem, unfortunately.

Mine ran perfect today as well, and I too cleared the code when I got home last night. Time will tell, I will keep the thread updated. I'm sure as hell going to try a coil and plugs first when it returns, and then only pull the head if it starts to act up even when warmed up.

Thinking like that logic, all things will rear their ugly heads when given enough time!

This happened to me in the Winter, and went away after a short drive to warm everything up. My mom also moves my car around in the morning, and she instantly gases it upon start up.

New Plugs, New Coil, New Fuel Filter and you'll be set

RG,

The issue is EVERYONE thinks that single cylinder misfires cannot be caused by vacuum leaks, but this can in fact be the case. Normal logic would say differently, but this is what I keep trying to hammer home, check and repair the easy stuff first before getting ready to pull a cylinder head!

The other comment was pretty much replacing maintenance related items, which I always assume are checked and up to date, but on a forum sometimes it is like pulling teeth to get the answers.

I have no idea what year your car is and how many miles it has, but I can tell you for sure you may have problems with rubber hoses and silicon seals if you have an E46. My wife has a '06 E46 Vert that had intermittent cold start misfire problems a few years ago, car was still under 48/50 warranty. The DISA had to be replaced at 40k miles!

The DISA failures are usually more the main large silicon seal. The get heat compressed and do not spring back when cold and cause vacuum leaks only at times during cold start. And they can be intermittent on how problems show up. If you car had more than 80k miles, I can almost guarantee that the DISA is getting close to a full replacement and the large O-ring has been leaking vacuum for some time now.

I have seen intake manifold gaskets leak causing single cylinder misfire, there are certain vacuum ports under the intake that can cause specific cylinder misfires as well.

You could also have a combination on problems where a vacuum leak will push something to the edge to misfire, but maybe questionable plugs and a vacuum leak. Maybe if the plug for the cylinder is questionable, it take very little leaning of the mixture to cause a misfire.

You may in fact have a bad coil coil boot or bad plug.

I can tell you there is no problem with a valve seat in your cylinder head, if you have a valve problem, it will be a burnt exhaust valve, however, I would not go down this path until the easy/maintenance issues are addressed.

You say your intake boots are fine, they may be for now, but many times they are ready to go and they appear good. My suggestion is to plan on replacing many of the problem items if you want a reliable car.

As I say, you can replace then parts on your schedule or the cars schedule. Just keep in mind the cars schedule will never agree with yours and it is not a question of if when when all the rubber needs to be replaced on these or any other car.

Good luck!

jfoj: You are 100% correct, there is no arguing that fact. The car is totally up to date maintenance wise, although plugs will be do here in short order. With modern day plugs it is very few and far between that will actually wear to the point they will cause a misfire anyways.

The more I think about it and researched it, I think it was a lifter sticking. For some time now it will randomly tick at startup. Fresh oil seems to help things for some time, and then after about 3-4 k miles it will start that tick again(only while cold, mind you). I have found that if I drive short distances, or only start the car for a minute and shut it off, the problem is much much worse. I can alleviate it totally by revving the engine to 3k for about 15-20 seconds and then immediately shutting it off at the end of a trip. On the day it misfired I had literally started and stopped it about 4-5 times to move it in and out of the garage over the course of the weekend, and then it sat for about 24hrs. My thought is that the hydraulic tappet was totally unpressurized when I started it, and therefore the valves were not closing all the way until the tappet pressurized properly.

I at any rate hope this is the problem, because if so it isn't a big deal just something i'll deal with as the car ages.

When I do this next oil change(due according to the computer in about 10k, but i'll do it in 2.5), I will add seafoam to the oil right before I change it and see if that helps.

Best Regards and thanks for the insight!

http://www.auto-rx.com/

RG5384

Did you every figure out what ended up being the problem? I have the same problem.

Thanks!