[jameshigg23]

Hi everyone, apologies if there's already a thread for this. I've also crossposted as I put this in the UK forum but not sure how active that is as a newbie.

A week ago I bought a 325i e92 which despite its age (2006) only had 60k. Had been owned exclusively by an older gentleman who could no longer drive. Car seemed perfect, had it serviced straight away as even though the oil only had a few thousand miles on it hadn't been serviced for a few years due to lack of driving.

Yesterday I was WOT on a lively b road near me and I got a CEL for about a minute which disappeared then came back. Pulling onto the drive the car seemed to be running very rough. I restarted the car and it sounded normal, CEL had gone so I took it slowly around the block. Similar symptoms, intermittent CEL and was running very rough and transmission seemed to be struggling to get in and out of gears. At this point I ran an OBD2 (cheap one) and got a p0306 code. I was pretty calm about this as was going to chnage the spark and coil packs anyway. However this morning I went to check out the car and got some white smoke, very rough idle and the smoke seemed to get worse if I applied any throttle. Bit of a fuel smell, but smoke seems to smell like burning coolant (although I may be imaging this - I hope!). Coolant level also is also low when checking reservoir (but I've had no lights on this or any overheating light).

Could this all be caused by a dodgy spark plug, coil pack or fuel injector or would you think, like I now do, that my head gasket has gone?

Thanks,
Jake

[Keith325i]

Originally Posted by jameshigg23

Hi everyone, apologies if there's already a thread for this. I've also crossposted as I put this in the UK forum but not sure how active that is as a newbie.

A week ago I bought a 325i e92 which despite its age (2006) only had 60k. Had been owned exclusively by an older gentleman who could no longer drive. Car seemed perfect, had it serviced straight away as even though the oil only had a few thousand miles on it hadn't been serviced for a few years due to lack of driving.

Yesterday I was WOT on a lively b road near me and I got a CEL for about a minute which disappeared then came back. Pulling onto the drive the car seemed to be running very rough. I restarted the car and it sounded normal, CEL had gone so I took it slowly around the block. Similar symptoms, intermittent CEL and was running very rough and transmission seemed to be struggling to get in and out of gears. At this point I ran an OBD2 (cheap one) and got a p0306 code. I was pretty calm about this as was going to chnage the spark and coil packs anyway. However this morning I went to check out the car and got some white smoke, very rough idle and the smoke seemed to get worse if I applied any throttle. Bit of a fuel smell, but smoke seems to smell like burning coolant (although I may be imaging this - I hope!). Coolant level also is also low when checking reservoir (but I've had no lights on this or any overheating light).

Could this all be caused by a dodgy spark plug, coil pack or fuel injector or would you think, like I now do, that my head gasket has gone?

Thanks,
Jake

I recently bought a 2008 325i with 60k miles. Same issues, coolant was low, oil was low. White smoke from the exhaust also. I got p0305 for misfire from cylinder 5. I changed the oil and coolant, and the coil for cylinder and it fixed the misfire. I have been monitoring the coolant and it hasn’t dropped in 4 months so it’s not burning coolant. I think after 15 years there was some coolant evaporation.

I would switch the coils to see if the code follows and change the coil if it does. Flush the coolant or top up and monitor if the coolant drops. These engines seem to smoke anyways especially when it’s cold.

[jameshigg23]

Thanks Keith, that's reassuring. Was going to change the coil and sparks myself but when I noticed the smoke and potential fuel leak I thought best get a mechanic look at it so someone is collecting on Friday to have a look. Fingers crossed it'll be a coil pack, new sparks at best and an injector at worst! I'll post an update

[gavinm002]

Originally Posted by Keith325i

I recently bought a 2008 325i with 60k miles. Same issues, coolant was low, oil was low. White smoke from the exhaust also. I got p0305 for misfire from cylinder 5. I changed the oil and coolant, and the coil for cylinder and it fixed the misfire. I have been monitoring the coolant and it hasn’t dropped in 4 months so it’s not burning coolant. I think after 15 years there was some coolant evaporation.

I would switch the coils to see if the code follows and change the coil if it does. Flush the coolant or top up and monitor if the coolant drops. These engines seem to smoke anyways especially when it’s cold.

Is the smoke coming from the exhaust or from the engine bay? Light smoke from the engine area could be the valve cover gasket going out. My car had very similar symptoms to yours and it turned out to just be a bad coil. Light smoke continued occasionally and led to me just doing the VCG which solved it! I hope this helps and good luck sorting it out.

[Jimmypwa1]

I had alot of white smoke coming from my 330i N52 with a cylinder 3 misfire. They do smoke alot when they arnt used much. The car probably needs a good drive. Reset your codes and see if the problem persists. Diagnose the issue before doing any work. Swap the coils and plugs around too if the misfire issue persists. If your coolant drops it's more likely a coolant leak than a blow head gasket as you're only on 60k.
The most common coolant leak is the main coolant hose from the front of the engine block by the solanoids. It's very difficult to see the leak but it will leak onto your belt.

It's a great car to work on yourself and learn 👌

[jameshigg23]

Thanks everyone, changed coil pack for misfiring cylinder and spark plugs and problem seems to have been fixed. For now!