E30 316i 1988 suttering issue

[tisler]

Hello,

I've had a stuttering problem in my 316i (m40b16) for a while. If the car is cold and I start it, it stalls within seconds and when I run it again it stutters really hard like some of the cylinders aren't working. If I start to drive during this time, the accelerator pedal is unresponsive and car hesitates to accelerate, but then it smoothens out after like thirty seconds of idling and the engine is really stable.

When the car is at operating temperature and I stop it for longer than ten seconds and start it again, it stutters for about fifteen seconds and then idles perfectly fine.

I've changed the fuel pump, fuel filter, checked for vacuum leaks, changed intake gaskets, swapped from 98 to 95, changed a few vacuum hoses, even swapped the maf. Not sure what to do anymore. The TPS clicks fine when exiting idle revs.

[TobyB]

In your driveway, get it to run badly and shut it down right away, while it's still misfiring.

Then pull the plugs- if any of them are wet,
sniff/taste to see if it's gas or coolant.

Coolant would be head/headgasket,
fuel would indicate a problem with the cold start routine (engine temp sensor, etc)

hth
t