E30 Zone

Hello all

i have a 1987 325i convertable everytime i drive it hard and stop i can smell oil burning.ive looked all ova but cant see any oil leak.

It started since i washed under the car with a jet wash the other day

Thanks

has your rocker blown off mate and slowly dripping onto the zaust?

thats what someone else said to me.ive checked rocker cant see any oil.

Sounds like you've moved a bit of oil onto the exhaust with the power washer,should burn off in time.

it only smells when i drive it hard then stop eg at lights or junction.no oil on drive way so theres no leak think i will try changing the rocker cover gaskit and see.

Is the oil level on the dipstick dropping much? sounds like the oil may be getting burnt in the combustion chamber..usually if you have a leaky rocker or sump gasket or even a loose dipstick,the engine wont idle smoothly.These M20 lumps use a system of positive crankcase ventilation (pcv), it's basically a hose that runs from the top of the rocker cover to the left hand side of the throttle body.This hose feeds all the "blow by" gasses from the combustion process back into the engine to be re burned thus,reducing emmissions.The downside of this is that all the mucky crap fron the combustion blow by gases gets dumped into the throttle body and will run down the inlet hose onto the air filter, it can also gum up the throttle butterfly and the idle stabiliser not to mention the airflow meter flap!!When the engine is idling the vacuum in the inlet manifold is high and this can cause the oily residue to be sucked into the engine and cause the burning smell you've described.Check your pcv hose for leaks and cracks while your at it.Hope this helps.

thanks for the info i now can try the next thing.ive done the rocker gaskit still that oil burning smell will try the pipes next and check the sump gaskit as it all started after washing underneath the car.oil level is still the same to.

ive changed the rocker gaskit changed the vacume pipe from the rocker cover as the old one was cracked from both ends checked and cleaned all the vacume pipes still burning smell once driven hard and then stop.any other ideas? please anyone?

I had this problem after my rocker cover gasket was replaced. The problem was that the nuts that hold the cover down weren't tightened properly, and oil slowly was seeping down the side of the head onto the exhaust manifold gasket. Tightened the nuts, worked a treat!

thanx dude will try that and lets see hope it works