[N54B30A]

So for the past year or more my car has been dumping smoke every once and a while. Just yesterday I turned the car on to leave a friends house and immediatly the exhaust just kept dumping white smoke. When I do WOT pulls there is no smoke but other than that I creates legitemate clouds and I already have new turbos on the way and a whole new valve cover. Im not sure whats causing this problem i dont think it is turbos since both tips are smokeing and the turbos are still boosting without leaks. The car can no longer idle on its own. Ill try to upload a vid

[PSEE]

check your coolant level.

a coolant leak into the head (combustion chamber) will result in steam getting
discharged out the exhaust system.

the net result will be a loss of coolant.

[VMRWheels]

^^ agreed. From my knowledge, white smoke is burning water/coolant while black smoke is burning oil. Since you recently changed the head, maybe bad gasket?

[avocet]

Head gasket would be my guess. Overboost puts alot of pressure there.

[N54B30A]

coolant levels fine

[neilvosko]

i changed my PCV per recommendation, but still smoking.

so you are recommending a head gasket replacement?

is there a beefier aftermarket version?

[gzim335]

Originally Posted by VMRWheels

^^ agreed. From my knowledge, white smoke is burning water/coolant while black smoke is burning oil. Since you recently changed the head, maybe bad gasket?

u get black smoke when u run rich.oil burning is not black

[Deep_Blue]

Find a mechanic a Borescope and see if you have carbon buildup around your valves or oil in your intake manifold.

[N54B30A]

I used my boroscope and all 6 pistons had carbon buildup so did the valves, intake manifold, charge pipe, and even the spark plugs were submerged in oil. I changed the entire valve cover, the car runs much better, stopped misfiring, but there is still white smoke im now certain the oil seal in the turbo went out and im taking it to bmw to get it changed under the extended turbo warranty

[335BBS]

Originally Posted by sahyoun

I used my boroscope and all 6 pistons had carbon buildup so did the valves, intake manifold, charge pipe, and even the spark plugs were submerged in oil. I changed the entire valve cover, the car runs much better, stopped misfiring, but there is still white smoke im now certain the oil seal in the turbo went out and im taking it to bmw to get it changed under the extended turbo warranty

White smoke is not oil.....its coolant.

[N54B30A]

Originally Posted by 335BBS

White smoke is not oil.....its coolant.

my coolants full, Im thinking it may be both cause it has a blue tint to it and smells of burning oil

[33beto]

Originally Posted by 335BBS

White smoke is not oil.....its coolant.

Constant White VAPOR is coolant.. White thick smoke, is oil. (two stroke engine exhaust)

[W.WCherry]

Originally Posted by sahyoun

im now certain the oil seal in the turbo went out and im taking it to bmw to get it changed under the extended turbo warranty

Keep us posted on what BMW says; I thought the "extended turbo warranty" only covered the turbos if the damage was caused by wastegate failure. Should be interesting to see what they say.

[335BBS]

Originally Posted by 33beto

Constant White VAPOR is coolant.. White thick smoke, is oil. (two stroke engine exhaust)

? Two stroke exhaust is blue.

[gds52]

One of the reasons of White smoke, if you smell oil, can be due to piston rings gone bad, which shouldn't be happening so soon.
Another reason is bad quality of fuel, which can be very rare in US. But if the gas(petrol) quality is bad (for whatever reasons), it will throw out white smoke with unburnt oil.
I would say, use your gas tank and then get it refilled from some other good gas station.


good luck.

[Wires]

You can get thick white smoke, and it being oil. I've seen cars that had an issue and started sucking oil from the transmission (via a vacuum line). Generates giant plumes of white smoke (until the tranny blows of course! )

[Pappy]

Originally Posted by VMRWheels

^^ agreed. From my knowledge, white smoke is burning water/coolant while black smoke is burning oil. Since you recently changed the head, maybe bad gasket?

I think it's;

White = coolant
Blue = oil
Black = fuel

[SubzeroVR4]

Originally Posted by Pappy

I think it's;

White = coolant
Blue = oil
Black = fuel

^^^ +1

[N54B30A]

I got the diagnoses from BMW yesterday. Apparently my bank 1 turbo is bad and is leaking and caused the bank 1 o2 sensors and cats to go out the bank 2 turbo/cat/o2 are on their way out. Dealership contacted BMW NA and requested turbo replacement under the new warranty even though I am 1000 miles past

[osukf09]

Kind of an old thread, but figured I'd add a +1 on this. I've had excessive white vapor from both tailpipes after car is warm (in warm and cold weather). Coolant level's fine. Took care in yesterday and they're replacing the bank 1 turbo too. Same situation as OP it sounds like (under CPO)

[SoGood]

Originally Posted by neilvosko

i changed my PCV per recommendation, but still smoking.

so you are recommending a head gasket replacement?

is there a beefier aftermarket version?

You have a green bimmer? Post a pic, i wanna see hulk

[neilvosko]

green machine