2002 4.4 8 cyl x5 smoking exhaust help! (vid included)
 

Hey all

Seeking some help on this issue. Today i fired up the car and all was well. Was driving for about 15 mins then had to stop at a red light. after taking off again heaps of smoke came out the exhaust. It billowed out for about 20 seconds then only small amounts were coming out while i was driving around back streets checking it out. This happened for about 10 more mins, then all seemed to stop. I left it running and jumped out and nothing.... then continued the drive to work(had more stops at lights and seemed to be no smoke) with no more issues.

I started worrying about it then went outside to check after about 30 mins of the car being off. When i turned it on it puffed out some smoke then dies down. When i hit the gas it would spew out abit then die down again.

Here is a vid of when i went out to check after 30 mins of being off:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-laE...ature=youtu.be
(just remove the spaces, wudnt let me post the link)

Was thinking valve seals?
Havent noticed any increase in fuel consumption or oil (although this just happened today)

We have had alot of rain here in QLD, Australia but i dont think its condensation issues.

Any idea how much this would be to fix?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Regards
Nic

Forgot to mention: Car has 170,000kms but has been running as smooth as a baby with regular servicing every 3-4 months

also no overheating or idling issues i could see/feel
power seems normal aswell

Could have been a clog in the Crank Case Ventilation system and you started sucking oil into the intake manifold. Ever had the CCV valve service or the oil separator?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBy0tRn2xLw

Thanks for your reply upallnight. I have no idea if the CCV has been serviced. Watched that video quickly and it said about a whistle noise. Now that i remember I heard a faint whistling before it blew the big amount of smoke. The whistling lasted only about 15 seconds and as the vid said i thought it was a belt slip or something (although never heard the belt slip on this car so far).

I just went down the road to a mechanic that does bmw/euro cars and he did a computer check and there were no errors. It ddint blow smoke the whole way there or back. Runs sweet as ever.

He double checked oil aswell as coolant and both were fine. His instructions were to monitor it over the next few weeks to see if oil or coolant levels go down or it starts to overheat.

He said it could possibly be a valve stem seal issue(?) which is a big ass job.
So im still sitting here confused

You can google clogged CCV valve for BMW and then decides if you should have the CCV valve service.

let the car cool down for about 2 hours then turned it on. Tiny bit of smoke came out which quickly stopped. I left it idling and opened the oil cap.

There was some suction keeping the cap down, but wasnt hard for me to lift off. When i lifted the cap off abit some oil squirted out.

With this extra info, would it be most likely ccv?

Cheers

The smoke that you have on initial start up could be residual oil that has accumulated inside the intake manifold if the intake manifold is drawing oil from the crankcase or it could be oil that is getting pass the oil seal on the valve stem. I will monitor this for a while like your mechanic instructed you.

thanks for explaining.

Today:
Started up - no smoke at all
Left it to warm up - no smoke
Drove around back streets for 10 mins to make sure exhaust is hot - still nothing!!
Did my 40 min drive to work - nothing!
Running smooth as the whole time
Bloody car! :P

If that was my X...I agree with upallnight and would check the CCV...your video looks like the classic failed membrane/diaphragm that tears/rips and allows oil to be sucked in to the intake...which then results in the oily smoke from the exhaust you see in the video you posted.

The video upallnight posted was for the N62 engine...which has 2 membranes on each cylinder head..which is also very easy to access since they are on top. But your X5 has the m62TU engine...and the CCV on that engine is located on the back of the engine...and is a bit more difficult to tackle.

Edwin (e38 owner from the Netherlands) who is an excellent DIY'er has a video up on youtube that shows how to simplify the CCV DIY job on the M60/M62/M62TU engines...take a look and also do the test with the oil dip stick & tube to see if you can hear the gurggling and feel the sucking from the tube:

Thanks heaps QSilver! I did try looking for a video which was like mine.
Funny thing:
Car hasnt done it since. Tried to replicate a few times since and nothing. Been running fine. From what i hear the CCV can intermittently work depending on where it has failed: hoses or the separator itself etc etc. Is this true?
I have ordered a CCV kit from the states (im in Aus) so i was going to replace it either way just to be safe as i hear they start failing at the KMs my car has. Ill test to see if anything is wrong with the current CCV and i'll post back here with the results. Thanks again all, great forum!

The good thing right now is that it's Summer down under and not Winter like the States.

Part just rocked up.... they gave me this part: http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/11151705237/ES19562/

I didnt think this part usually had any issues at all?

I was thinking i would be getting this: http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-19...-bmw-part.aspx

Could you guys confirm which part would be giving me these troubles? No idea how they sent me the cyclone one... nothing like the part number or description i gave them....

Cheers!

btw: has spewed some smoke 2 more times. Seems to happen once every week or so.

Question: Is it possible for there to be a tear in the rubber diaphragm and oil to be sucked in occasionally? lets say under high load etc?

My problem is only happening every couple of days and never on start up. Its only after the engine has warmed up (about a good 15-20 mins of my 40 mins morning drive) that it seems to be happening.

I took this into account and have been driving like a granny (rarely going over 2k revs). Since driving like this it has only blown smoke maybe once a week and usually on a wednesday (i do about 150kms of complete highway driving).

So does this still sound like a ripped/torn rubber pcv diaphragm? Maybe a very small rip?