[Declanmorg]

I recently bought a 2009 135i n54 and unfortunately got too exited and didn't check it out well enough before purchasing. a little bit after owning the car i got a low ccolant and low oil warning and i checked my coolant and it was mixed with oil, i then checked my oil cap and it had some creamy oil coolant mixture on it. i did some research and most things lead back to the OFHG so i replaced that and the oil cooler gasket as well as flushed my cooling system a few times and an oil change. I drove the car for about a week or 2 after that and everything seemed to be fixed until the other day i started my car and got a low coolant warning, i checked and my coolant tank was almost empty and the residue was back on the oil cap, i filled my coolant back up and drove around for a while and then inspected again and it doesnt seem like theres any oil in the coolant but there was quite a fair ammount of mayo on my oil cap. My car is bone stock other than intakes. Anyone have any ideas on what it could be?

[HondaRC51]

Head Gasket, Cracked Cylinder Head, Cracked OFH,or the OFHG pinched/rolled when you installed it and is leaking internally again. Need to pressurize the cooling system and see if you can visually see any leaks.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

How bad is the oil cap? Sometimes some cream can be due to condensation. If you go for a really long drive, like drive until it is at operating temp, and still drive for another 30 minutes, if you then look again at the oil cap is it all clean or still very creamy/mayo?

[Declanmorg]

gonna try this. would actually make sense because normally all my drives are only 5-10 minutes. if its clean after a long drive am i all good? other than a coolant leak.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by Declanmorg

gonna try this. would actually make sense because normally all my drives are only 5-10 minutes. if its clean after a long drive am i all good? other than a coolant leak.

Should be a good indication. If there's nothing at all on it I'd say it was condensation. Do you have any pictures of the cap with the substance?

Although you do mention you lost coolant which is a sign of head gasket or OFHG but sometimes I had to add coolant after driving the car post coolant work even bleeding few times with the electric pump before hand. Could be that for the coolant. Have you had to add more since?

[Declanmorg]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

Should be a good indication. If there's nothing at all on it I'd say it was condensation. Do you have any pictures of the cap with the substance?

Although you do mention you lost coolant which is a sign of head gasket or OFHG but sometimes I had to add coolant after driving the car post coolant work even bleeding few times with the electric pump before hand. Could be that for the coolant. Have you had to add more since?

after doing my coolant flush when i went to refill it only took about half the capacity of what it should have. just refilled yesterday and hasn't gone down since. i'm new to using this forum and i cant figure out how to upload a photo.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by Declanmorg

after doing my coolant flush when i went to refill it only took about half the capacity of what it should have. just refilled yesterday and hasn't gone down since. i'm new to using this forum and i cant figure out how to upload a photo.

Did you run the water pump bleeding procedure back then? Or not at all?

To upload pictures into your post, you need to first upload the picture to a image hosting website like Imgur for example, then you can use the insert image button or instead, just put the Imgur link directly. I think it will auto embed it.

[Declanmorg]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

Did you run the water pump bleeding procedure back then? Or not at all?

To upload pictures into your post, you need to first upload the picture to a image hosting website like Imgur for example, then you can use the insert image button or instead, just put the Imgur link directly. I think it will auto embed it.

Yeah i did the bleeding procedure. working on getting an image 1 second.

[Declanmorg]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

Did you run the water pump bleeding procedure back then? Or not at all?

To upload pictures into your post, you need to first upload the picture to a image hosting website like Imgur for example, then you can use the insert image button or instead, just put the Imgur link directly. I think it will auto embed it.

View post on imgur.com

let me know if that works

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by Declanmorg

Yeah i did the bleeding procedure. working on getting an image 1 second.

Hmm ok. I remember to when I did a flush once, bought the full capacity and don't think I had used it all. Some will stay in the block and there is no drain plug on the block for this engine.

But yeah that is why I run the bleed procedure at least 3 times. If you still have a bit of air, it will auto bleed as you drive and could be why you had to add some.

Originally Posted by Declanmorg

View post on imgur.com

let me know if that works

Is your picture from today after like doing a long drive or from before? If before, IMO I'd say that's condensation. How does it look if you look into the hole like in the valvetrain? That is how you can usually tell further, if you see like oil poling and it's milky colored VS darker/golden colored and well coolant that always goes down.

Here's pictures of mine right now, it's been sitting for an hour after a ~ 30 min drive, you can see a bit of yellow stuff. I assume it's also somewhat cold in BC (less than 10c) right now like me here which makes it worse. I'd say to check if the coolant keeps doing down over time.

[Declanmorg]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

Hmm ok. I remember to when I did a flush once, bought the full capacity and don't think I had used it all. Some will stay in the block and there is no drain plug on the block for this engine.

But yeah that is why I run the bleed procedure at least 3 times. If you still have a bit of air, it will auto bleed as you drive and could be why you had to add some.



Is your picture from today after like doing a long drive or from before? If before, IMO I'd say that's condensation. How does it look if you look into the hole like in the valvetrain? That is how you can usually tell further, if you see like oil poling and it's milky colored VS darker/golden colored and well coolant that always goes down.


Here's pictures of mine right now, it's been sitting for an hour after a ~ 30 min drive, you can see a bit of yellow stuff. I assume it's also somewhat cold in BC (less than 10c) right now like me here which makes it worse. I'd say to check if the coolant keeps doing down over time.

No this photo is old. im gonna go on a long drive today and ill take another photo. if i look into the hole the oil looks fine, its only on the cap that its milky but i guess we'll see after this drive. thanks a lot for the help man. gonna post a picture later today after my drive.

[Declanmorg]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

How bad is the oil cap? Sometimes some cream can be due to condensation. If you go for a really long drive, like drive until it is at operating temp, and still drive for another 30 minutes, if you then look again at the oil cap is it all clean or still very creamy/mayo?

Heres a few photos from tonight after driving for about 45 minutes. what you think?

View post on imgur.com

View post on imgur.com

View post on imgur.com

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by Declanmorg

Heres a few photos from tonight after driving for about 45 minutes. what you think?

Looks better. That said it does seem, like there is a yellow/cream film on the camshaft tray in the hole but from the picture it could just be varnish. If you try and look at the same angle I took my second pic, you should have oil pool up there. If that oil is the same color as my pic I would say you are good.

[whyzee125]

IMO your head gasket/head is likely fine. VERY rare to have a head gasket issue on an N54 though OFHG is a daily issue. I'm on my 5th at 102k miles and it's starting to seep again (shops always use aftermarket junk. DIY'ing with OEM this time). Still need to address where it's going though, even if they're both leaking into each other, BOTH shouldn't be low. My guess is that was mostly condensation since it burned off and you've got a few leaks to address.

[Jaronbwall]

GEEZ! You had me stressing! Your second photos look completely normal. You're good dude. I've seen way worse oil/coolant sludge in engines before. If you haven't already bust out the VCG. It's really not a terrible job. My valve cover was leaking like crazy at 115k miles and started dripping on the down pipes! Smoke coming out the hood at stop lights. Scared the s**t out me.