e39 540i lots of smoke

[yng_750 247]

ok so my e39 is confusing me

i will give as much detail as possible

1998 4.4 v8 540i nonvanos

3 weeks ago i did an oil and filter change, no flush just drained hot.

Replaced oil with castrol gtx modern engine 15w40

only did short commutes since then.

a few days later i noticed a coolant drip from the radiator vent nipple.

hasnt over heated, was still full of water. ( i checked secret function on dash and it was sitting at 103'c at idle which is normal for these.

Disassembled, took out rad, expansion tank and intake piping.

car has not moved in three weeks.

replaced radiator with new nipple installed and filled with water. yesterday

bled coolant, went easily.

this morning coolant level was good. car started nicely though idled a little lumpy which is not uncommon on this car in the past. and i drove 5 mins to work sedatly, putting in $50 of Z 95 octane along the way.

car got to 87'c according to dash function.

After work i put a bottle of rislone injector cleaner in the tank. and drove out on the open road for about 25kms just to give it a good run.

coolant got to 107'c and stayed constant the whole trip.

Car ran great though i thought the brakes felt abit spongier than normal.

gave it a couple of good bursts of acceleration to pass people.

Got home, popped bonnet with car still running, all seems normal.

turned car off, all normal still no funny noises and coolant hoses were at good pressure.

an hour and a half later, check under bonnet, all normal but notice air temp sensor is unplugged so plug that back in. car starts but idles at 1300 for 20 seconds before dropping to a relativly rough idle of 500 or so.

pull out of drive way 500 meters down the road (pulls normally, no rough running) smoke appears behind me

turn around go home with smoke following me.

Park it up, smells like oil smoke and looks blueish.

left it alone for over an hour, start it up.

Instantly white smoke comes out fairly thick, smells funny almost like burnt plastic.

havent pulled anything apart yet.

oil level is about 5mm above full mark.

water normal, no bubbling

options that occur.

1. cheap oil got rooted by temp of engine on long drive and is now burning off as its too thin.

2. something in the ignition circuit has died from sitting for 3 weeks.

3. it may be brake fluid via booster if something broke sitting. would explain spongey brakes but arent these hydraulic boosting or something different?

4. blown head gasket? but didnt overheat and it only has fresh water in now so coolant shouldnt be smoking anyway.

5. CCV valve is leaking? but why now? why just after all this?

6. injector cleaner f**king with it? but have used this stuff before with no issue

any ideas are welcome, will pull plugs tomorow see whats up.

thanks

[BM WORLD 1283]

check the pcv , pop the rear cover off it and see if the diaphram is broken

[euroriffic 609]

Did you make sure you had all the air locks out the coolant system when you refilled it? May of overheated it without realizing it.

Having the oil overfilled may have caused too much pressure in the crankcase and blown a hose off?

[yng_750 247]

ok will try to pull the rear cover off today.

if the diaphram is faulty can it be replaced or does the entire cover need to be done as one unit?

[*Glenn* 854]

You don't need to check it that way. When the car is running and playing up, release the oil filler cap and see if you can raise it of it's seal. If there is too much suction on the cap the valve is knackered and you need to replace the whole assembly. You can't buy the diaphram as a part.

Edit: If you replace the valve assembly...remember anything that ends up inside the plenum chamber when your doing this will damage your engine

Edited January 18, 2013 by *Glenn*

[yng_750 247]

thanks for the help guys.

Car isnt smoking now but still running rough.

If i pull the oil dipstick i can hear it sucking through and enough air is sucking through there that the engine almost stalls and hunts around.

So fairly safe bet to say its the CCV

Had a talk to coombes this morning, about $196 for the valve and new gasket

Not sure if thats a good price or not?

will leave it for the weekend and try to get the e34 back on the road in the mean time

[Eagle 1662]

You could save yourself $100 ordering from pelican if you dont mind waiting 1 week.

or Gavin @ euroitalian might be able to do one at a better price than coombes

[yng_750 247]

have sent gavin an email will see what he says monday

pelican parts end up being $163 NZD

saving $30 isnt worth the wait IMHO

will have a look on ebay but at this stage will prob go with someone in NZ

[BM WORLD 1283]

last one i brought at bmw was about 140-150 had to ask hard for that price

[yng_750 247]

yea not too bad as far as parts prices go to be honest

at least after this more or less everything that goes wrong commonly with this car will have been done.

gearbox rebuilt. radiator, waterpump, thermostat, headlight adjusters, CCV valve list goes on

[yng_750 247]

Bit the bullet and got a valve and gasket send down from coombes johnston hamilton.

should get it tomorow but not sure when i will get a chance t put it in.

Will try to take pics and document the process abit.

Also on the off chance someone takes advice from this thread. dont buy the half price aftermarket valves.

They seem to be very low quality and almost always need replacing within 6 months.

Go genuine.

[*Glenn* 854]

Just remember this when doing it :

"Edit: If you replace the valve assembly...remember anything that ends up inside the plenum chamber when your doing this will damage your engine "

[Allanw 1071]

Just remember this when doing it :

"Edit: If you replace the valve assembly...remember anything that ends up inside the plenum chamber when your doing this will damage your engine "

I think perhaps that is what happened to my mate -

ended up as a $7k bill.

[yng_750 247]

Just remember this when doing it :

"Edit: If you replace the valve assembly...remember anything that ends up inside the plenum chamber when your doing this will damage your engine "

sounds like the ideal time to test out the new inspection camera.

[*Glenn* 854]

Its the very small items that will catch you out...a small washer, a small screw, a broken clip, a old "O' ring, a small piece of cloth. a button of your shirt sleeve. Get containers, place and account for every thing you undo and remove and watch out for crap that others may have lost and left around the work area

[yng_750 247]

just got the parts delivered looks great, love OEM quality.

Also just bought some 316 stainless hex drive m6x25 bolts to replace the crappy factory bolts.

Cost $132.23 for the cover and $15.84 for the gasket so not too bad

Prob wont get a chance to play with it until saturday though.

[yng_750 247]

gave it a good go yesterday.

couple of minor stuff ups.

firstly the hose that connects the big fitting on the cover and the brake booster will never ever come off.

Had to cut it and even when i had it on the bench it has bonded to the plastic and took 10 mins to munch it off with side cutters.

3/8 fuel hose is tight but just fits on as a replacement.

Secondly as most importantly when i pulled the cover the pipe that runs to the front of the manifold came with it.

It could have been avoided by sliding a screwdriver down in line with the top center screw but i didnt know about that before hand.

The front of the pipe connects into a slot at the front of the manifold, i had to take the throttle body off the manifold to put it back in place.

which was handy as it allowed me to soak up the liter or so of oil sitting in the manifold at the same time.

i went along with what every DIY thread so far has told me which is to buy m6x25 stainless bolts to replace the old ones unfortunately i found out when trying to reinstall that they are bigger than m6

incase anyone was keen to know i found this horribly basic looking tool from supercheap.

works perfectly, right length, magnet to hold the bit in, perfect length to clear everything

http://www.supercheapauto.co.nz/online-sto...id=222418#Cross

[kiwi535 538]

gave it a good go yesterday.

couple of minor stuff ups.

firstly the hose that connects the big fitting on the cover and the brake booster will never ever come off.

Had to cut it and even when i had it on the bench it has bonded to the plastic and took 10 mins to munch it off with side cutters.

3/8 fuel hose is tight but just fits on as a replacement.

Secondly as most importantly when i pulled the cover the pipe that runs to the front of the manifold came with it.

It could have been avoided by sliding a screwdriver down in line with the top center screw but i didnt know about that before hand.

The front of the pipe connects into a slot at the front of the manifold, i had to take the throttle body off the manifold to put it back in place.

which was handy as it allowed me to soak up the liter or so of oil sitting in the manifold at the same time.

i went along with what every DIY thread so far has told me which is to buy m6x25 stainless bolts to replace the old ones unfortunately i found out when trying to reinstall that they are bigger than m6

incase anyone was keen to know i found this horribly basic looking tool from supercheap.

works perfectly, right length, magnet to hold the bit in, perfect length to clear everything

good to see you are into it usng the knowledge that the interwrbz brings us for your benefit

Edited January 27, 2013 by kiwi535

[yng_750 247]

Yea had a great day.

everyone just left me alone to sit in the nice sunshine playing with my car.

made better seeing as my house is perched over the boat harbor on lake taupo all i could hear all day was 1000s of horsepower roaring around the lake courtesy of the offshore powerboats doing their thing.

Perfect weekend

[*Glenn* 854]

3/8 fuel hose is tight but just fits on as a replacement.

It needs to be vacuum hose or it will collapse under vacuum

[tangalife 1]

Yea had a great day.

everyone just left me alone to sit in the nice sunshine playing with my car.

made better seeing as my house is perched over the boat harbor on lake taupo all i could hear all day was 1000s of horsepower roaring around the lake courtesy of the offshore powerboats doing their thing.

Perfect weekend

hey man have now read your thread about the ccv cover!

How were the hoses, in that video link you gave me on my thread they look like they came off easy, infact that guy ran into no troubles whatsoever. Anything else to watch out for when doing this?

[timetodrive 6]

Have had a similar thing happen to my e38 yesterday,(1997 735il with 200k on the clock) went somewhere and car was running fine, left and went to go home and was followed by a huge amount of smoke, got home and stopped car, restarted and no smoke. Got up this morning started the car, no smoke drove to work (15 min)with a bit of stop start and there was a tiny bit of smoke when I got to work.

I took it to my mechanic who seems to think that it is valve stem guides.

Would valve stems not be continious smoke / under load and develop over time?

I will try the cap / dipstick test and see what result I get.

Cheers

[yng_750 247]

valve stems usually smoke after sitting at idle and startup

CCV smokes usually at startup only

But yea dipstick or oil cap is best test.

[yng_750 247]

It needs to be vacuum hose or it will collapse under vacuum

i doubt it will, the hose is fairly thick and its only about 10mm in length at most between the ends of the two plastic connections

hey man have now read your thread about the ccv cover!

How were the hoses, in that video link you gave me on my thread they look like they came off easy, infact that guy ran into no troubles whatsoever. Anything else to watch out for when doing this?

not too bad, the big hose was near on impossible and had to be ripped apart to get off.

the small vacuum hoses were easy the yellow rings slide down to lock them on so you pull those off (reuse on new ccv) and the hoses come off no prob.

the hose setup is a little different to some you see on the american videos but still pretty basic.

[tangalife 1]

i doubt it will, the hose is fairly thick and its only about 10mm in length at most between the ends of the two plastic connections

not too bad, the big hose was near on impossible and had to be ripped apart to get off.

the small vacuum hoses were easy the yellow rings slide down to lock them on so you pull those off (reuse on new ccv) and the hoses come off no prob.

the hose setup is a little different to some you see on the american videos but still pretty basic.

what replacement hoses did you use? also Im not getting any smoke or rough idle, which seems like one of the probs associated with bad cvv...