smoke everywhere... - BMW Forum

carguy13 · 11-01-2009, 04:44 PM

ok, so my POS has a valve cover leak that i've been wanting to fix...

today, after finishing rolling my fenders

i was watching the back tires through the side mirrors and i see a huge puff of smoke.

so i started watching a little more...it seems as though every time the car is stopped it starts smoking out of the exhaust.

not when driving, or anything else, just when idling or in neutral.

would this have anything to do with my valve cover leak?

johnnyBgood · 11-01-2009, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carguy13

ok, so my POS has a valve cover leak that i've been wanting to fix...

today, after finishing rolling my fenders

i was watching the back tires through the side mirrors and i see a huge puff of smoke.

so i started watching a little more...it seems as though every time the car is stopped it starts smoking out of the exhaust.

not when driving, or anything else, just when idling or in neutral.

would this have anything to do with my valve cover leak?

Hey....carguy! What color smoke & what does it smell like coming out of the tail pipe?

jb

carguy13 · 11-02-2009, 03:51 AM

it's white, it smells like extreme exhaust...

CanadianWraith · 11-02-2009, 06:33 AM

did you check your oil? white smoke usually indicative of water in combustion chamber. hope you didn't blow a head gasket

carguy13 · 11-02-2009, 06:35 AM

ah fuck, i'll check. i still have lots of power...either way i was about to change my valve cover gasket...i won't be too much extra work to replace the head gasket...

the only thing extra i have to do is run a engine flush / radiator flush right?

my water pump isn't out...the temp is fine.

CanadianWraith · 11-02-2009, 06:45 AM

yeah good long flush with HOT water, get all that oil out. gl with it

carguy13 · 11-02-2009, 07:07 AM

it's cool...i probably needed to do it anyway...i didn't trust my engine.

i want to completely build up this motor and then pull it out of that car and put it into a car with an awesome body but crap engine...

my current body / chassis is not worth modifying

i want to build a weekend racer...eventually

qualicas · 11-02-2009, 05:37 PM

Before tearing into the engine, make sure the head gasket is leaking. Does the water level go down? Do a compression test. If water level goes down and compression test is uneven, then the gasket probably is leaking. If water isn't going down and compression test is uneven, squirt some oil into the low cylinders. If the compression comes up, the rings are shot. If no change, then your valve seals/guides are bad. he smoke when you rev it up would indicate it might be valve guides/seals. If it blows smoke on starting it is almost certainly guides. Thing is no matter what is wrong, the head would have to come off anyway. Hope the rings are okay, although if engine has lots of KM, probably best to rebuild entire thing.

carguy13 · 11-03-2009, 03:52 AM

hmmm....not sure this engine is worth rebuilding.

i bought the car for $500 i think i'll start looking into buying a new e36...hmmm

maybe a 5er...i dunno holy shit, tax season is coming...maybe i'll get a e46 m3.

jmo69 · 11-19-2009, 10:06 PM

I've never done one on a BMW, but a head gasket is not an easy job like a valve cover gasket. You have valve timing to set and it would be a good time to change the timming belt that I think the 4 cyls have.

AlpineSixAndSeven · 11-20-2009, 01:32 AM

^ your car = sex

Yeah be sure that the headgasket is actually blown....

carguy13 · 11-20-2009, 03:03 AM

my inline 6 has a timing chain, but i'm sure it would still be a pain in the ass...

i don't think my car is worth it...i would probably sell it and buy another one.