Can anyone help! My check engine light is on and am expericing white smoke from my left tail pipe and it seems to be getting worse. Can anyone tell me what is the cause?
if most likely will be due to water getting in to a cylinder from a bad gasket, cracked block or a cracked head.
it usually means that you are burning antifreeze.
has it went low on coolant? any leaking out of the reservoir tank while running?
sometimes when the head gasket goes it will produce a passage for the antifreeze to pass from the capillaries into the combustion chamber.
if you have an air compressor you can easily check
remove one of the rear sparkplugs and the radiator cap.
fill the radiator and then push some air into the sparkplug hole (get a good seal in case a valve is open).
repeat with all the cylinders and watch for air bubbles coming up into the radiator.
if bubbles come up or fluid is pumped out, the head gasket is blown and must be replaced.
the reason you start from the back of the engine is because its a lot more likely to go bad since it is farthest away from the fan and therefore gets less cooling.
Also check your oil for discoloration. if it is a brownish color it could mean your oil and antifreeze are mixing and has the potential to damage your bearings
Yes When I start the car and after it warms up, when I drive off and hit the gas I get a bid cloud of white smoke, and also when I am at a light and start to pull off.
from what he describes it doesnt sound like valve stem seals at all since it doesnt go away.
well if you had an air compressor available to you i had instructions to diagnose it in my first post but everything said points right to the headgasket
well i tried to find a price range for repair costs but i couldnt find anything. it wont hurt to call the dealer or indie shop to get a quote.
if it doesnt go away most likely its coolant. very rarely it would be oil since oil wont burn white. does exhaust fumes almost smell kind of sweet? if so it is coolant and you should get it fixed as soon as you can
then its coolant. so it should be pretty much either a blown head gasket or cracked head. more often then not a blown head gasket. price depends, are you planning on fixing it yourself or taking it to a shop?
If you have a puff of white exhaust after idling for a few minutes when the engine is warmed up it sounds like what I had.
Valve stem seals.
32 of them.
$5,500.00
BMW covered $3,000.00
out of warrenty
Sounds like a few people have this problem if you search the net.
Our car: 2006 750i sport 48,000 babied miles car well taken care of.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
BimmerFest BMW Forum
11.4M posts
753.1K members
Since 2001
A forum community dedicated to BMW owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about Bimmerfest events, production numbers, programming, performance, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more! Bringing the BMW community together.