Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
alijanjan

E90 white smoke advice

Recommended Posts

Hi guys

Having trouble with my E90 N46b20 engine. It blows whitish (maybe with a blue tint) smoke if the engine is warm and idling and then i give it a blip. Doesn't seem to smoke under load. Doesn't seem to be consuming oil. Oil indicator still shows full after about 2k of driving. Looses some coolant but I believe it has a leak somewhere in the system as I can smell coolant from under the bonnet and driver side but not from the exhaust. Also few times i have seen few drop of coolant on the ground just under the catalytic convertor which I am trying to figure out what it is. The water on the ground is only if i drive it for about 20 min to work and then leave it there for few hours. After driving for about 2k, i probably only added a quarter of litre of coolant. would a leaky head gasket not cause more coolant loss?
This link shows info on what might be the leak

http://upgr8s.blogspot.com.au/2012/0...lant-leak.html

I was also reading on some forums where people were mentioning they had lots of condensation in their exhaust, few litters of water coming out of the old exhaust when they took the old one out in order to install a performance exhaust on theirs

It is strange as i have an e46 as well which consumes oil constantly but i don't see any smoke out of the exhaust on that one on any condition, where the e90 smokes a lot but no loss of oil or much coolant,
i was suspecting a head gasket but the oil is nice and clean so is the coolant, no oil/water mix anywhere. i also talked to dealer i bought my car from and he sent me to his mechanic who was telling me it cannot be the head gasket as the engine runs perfectly fine, no misfire at all, no rough idling in the morning etc. he is now looking for a replacement second hand engine for me!!! 

The car has done 115k and i only had it for 6-8 weeks which is the reason i was talking to the dealer about it

CCV hoses seems to be all good, not collapsed and not even brittle (I had done a CCV on my e46). i was thinking maybe the valve seals but then she does not consume oil. I have also scanned it with no code coming up

any help would be appreciated, I wish i knew someone like Glenn here in Sydney to take the car to, I still suspect the head gasket but not sure. 

Cheers

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Rear water plate on the back of the cylinder will be leaking. Your smoke will be the start of valve stem seals failing

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks Glenn, 

I know these valve stem seals are very common but would the valve seals cause some oil usage as well specially if it smokes this much, 2000k and still shows full oil 

I will try to take a short video today and post it 

 

Cheers 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

And roughly what sort of costs are we looking at to replace the seals, I know it can differ but just want a rough idea in case this thing with the dealer doesn't work out and I end up doing it. His mechanic is not a bmw mechanic which worries me as well

 

Cheers 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This is a short video I just took

If it idles for 30 sec or so it will smoke as much as it does when the video just starts

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...