E30 Zone

Hi my 325 touring while on tick over starts to smoke, soon as you start to drive even on hard acceleration everything seems normal,
but once on tickover after 15 seconds or so it does the same, any ideas to what it could be.

it's normal once cold weather appears... all 6 cylinder cars "steam" from the exhaust in winter until they warm up

e30topless wrote:it's normal once cold weather appears... all 6 cylinder cars "steam" from the exhaust in winter until they warm up

hi but this was doing it once it was running at normal temp

If it is smoke, rather than steam, then it's probably oil being drawn down the inlet valve stems as a result of worn seals.

adamh325 wrote:

e30topless wrote:it's normal once cold weather appears... all 6 cylinder cars "steam" from the exhaust in winter until they warm up

hi but this was doing it once it was running at normal temp

It takes quite a while for the whole exhaust to warm up. Just because the engine temperature gauge is near normal doesn't mean that the exhaust isn't still cold at the rear.

If the exhaust is cold the water vapour in the exhaust gasses cools down and appears as white smoke.

Ben

Not confined to 6 pot E30s - happens with 4's as well. Happens with all makes of car, but does tend to be more of a problem with 'quality' cars like BMWs, because their exhausts tend to contain a lot more metal to heat up than the rubbish brands.