E30 Zone

What does white smoke mean? Its only intermitent, but noticed it just once today. Hasnt smoked before, and now it doesnt. Will run the car fro longer to see, but I saw it, stopped, got out and saw white wafty smoke coming out.. kinda like when its cold and you start the car. Turned it off let it sit while I tried to muscle the carpet out, then started it again and guess what.. no smoke! not even a little plume.
WTF??? Can anybody shed some light on this? if its a head gasket, what am I looking at to fix? Would I be better off rebuilding it? or doing a 2.7 swap?

White smoke is generally a head gasket failure, or so I've found in my experience..

check for mayo under the oil cap when the engine is stone cold

is it constant?

Well.. no mayo, but low oil! Very odd!

When do you get the smoke ? if it;s on start up on a cold morning then you can expect it as you've probably got condensation built up in the exhaust system , if its continuous then get the cooling system pressure tested , not expensive

its intermitent atm.. Not at start up, but about 20-30 mins on the journey. I'll know for certain later this week when I get some time off to drive it properly!!!

my 320 and 25 touring are doin the exact same thing
ive found if you take them for a good thrash upto about 90-100
it stops
but when you stop the engine and leave for abut 10mins and start it up again the smoke reappers

When most people get white smoke they seem to find the head gasket is going or similar.

Hey Chud. Does yuor disappear then come back at idle?

If it is the head gasket, how hard is it to replace?

Can anybody shed some light on this?

hi oze30,

sorry i have never done a head gasket so cant say, but some zoners have and it seems straight forward it seems, and not expensive. White smoke usualy means burning oil, and head gasket is the first thing to look over i would think. Can be a piston ring or something, but i would expect not. Is it getting worse, and has adding more oil to engine made it worse?

Paul

White smoke = water
Blue smoke = oil
Black smoke = excess fuel.

Does your car use coolant?
Does your car use oil?
Does your car use excess fuel?
What colour is the oil?
What colour is the coolant?
What colour is the underside of your oil filler cap?
What colour is the underside of your coolant cap? (The plastic)

Sorry mate, but blue smoke means you are burning oil. White smoke normally indicates the gasket has gone across a water jacket, and is basically steam. Same as when you start your car from cold and the steam evaporates from the exhaust. Doesn't make any odds really, gasket still needs doing. Anyone know how much a gasket set is from GSF? No idea on labour either sorry....

oops your right, blue smoke is oil. I had a blonde moment! Half asleep! Try your local garage for a quote.

If it is the gasket, what elswe should i replace at the same time? Head bolts..??

Also, can tappets go bad?? If so, can you just change the lot of them without undoing the cam bearings?

oze30 wrote:Hey Chud. Does yuor disappear then come back at idle?

If it is the head gasket, how hard is it to replace?

no wen there hot it stops smokin all together
but it can upto about 5-10 mins to stop

Ok it has just got really cold - but my 325 has been throwing out a lot of white smoke - not so much immediately on start-up, but more when it is warm. I do about 2 x 50min trips a day, through town and country so it gets a good thrash. Haven't got any oil cap mayo but the oil is a bit brown and smells slightly of petrol, and the temp gauge strayed over 1/2 way in traffic yesterday for the first time. Have got a double steel exhaust, and am finding myself sat at lights looking at everyone elses to see if there's are doing the same (some new bm's are!) Cracked gasket or paranoia? I am not the best under the bonnet, and can't get my car to the garage for the forseeable future (teacher's holidays are crap when they co-incide with garages) so any suggestions gratefully received.

on start up the engine will still be running cold.. u will start to see heavier "smoke" after about 10 mins or so.

this will probably carry on fo a good 20 mins or so.


There is no mistaking head gasket white smoke, it is solid thick and doesnt whisp away.

it will hang for ages and will "james bond style" all the way down the street after you, so stop paniking

But... this doesnt mean dont be wary, or stop checking for it

Was there any resolution of the periodic, random white smoke? I have just bought a 320i touring which does exactly what oze30 describes. What happened next? Was it sorted if so how?

is it heavy smoke fella? as in serious clouds following u or is it just a noticable plume whilst standing at the lights?

Just light wisps then nothing then random reappearance.no oil or water loss. Any ideas?

dont panic fella ;) its only the engine generating steam/condensation from burning the fuel off. nothing to worry about but u will notice it more in the winter than the summer anyway so if its still going/getting worse towards summer then mabey u have an issue

check your water level/condition and your oil level regular. also your temp guage. if all is well it should hover around the half way after about 15 mins of driving

Many thanks

put it down to being in a tad colder climate than I'm used to.. and the exhaust condensing.. it still does it, but you should see it when i start the car and drive off 1st thing in the morning.. It looks like my tailgate is on fire!

i was just sitting in que at the MOT station a few days ago, and starting the car running it for 15 mins then turning it off. the temp gauge needle was in the middle. i've noticed that when white smoke is comming out, also water is dripping out of the exhaust.
after it's been properly warmed up and the engine is running for a long while then the white smoke disapears and no more visual smoke. my guess is that this white smoke is just condensation.

oze30 wrote:put it down to being in a tad colder climate than I'm used to.. and the exhaust condensing.. it still does it, but you should see it when i start the car and drive off 1st thing in the morning.. It looks like my tailgate is on fire!

Try one running on LPG in the winter. Can't see a thing behind except self generated fog for the firsr half mile or so!

Thought the 325's head gasket tended not to blow.....just honeycombs/cracks straight at the head (between 5/6 cylinder??)...or is that only my experience??

Had my wheels/tyre's checked over the other day and mentioned slight smoking, the guy said that you get 3 or 4 pint's of water from a gallon of petrol. Don't know how true this.

3 or 4 pints of water in petrol???????? i think he better stay with tyres

alan325i wrote:3 or 4 pints of water in petrol???????? i think he better stay with tyres

Yes he should! - He has underestimated the amount of water by many times!