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Chasing blue smoke
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05-19-2019, 02:17 PM | #1 |
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Chasing blue smoke
Hi!
As the title says, I've been chasing the cause of blue smoke from my 07 335i. It all started about 6 months ago with the typical coming-to-a-stop smoke, so I decided to replace my turbos with a pair of upgraded hybrids. This removed 90% of the smoke, but I still hade some "passive" smoke which seemed to come and go randomly. I didn't bother since it was really minor. 1 month ago the smoke started getting worse though. It's pretty much smoking all the time, except for when it's cold. It also seems to go away after idling for a while (about 1 minute). I replaced the valve cover gasket, which didn't solve the problem. I then continued by blocking the pcv ports in the head and installed an external PCV system, but it's still not better. I've also done a compression test which seemed to be fine, around 170psi on all cylinders. The smoke is blue, and it's also using alot of oil. My next step is to double check the turbo installation since I didn't do it myself, to make sure that the oil return lines are fine. Any ideas since I'm running out of them myself? Thanks! |
05-19-2019, 11:57 PM | #2 |
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While newer, i'd check the front turbo. Remove the front inlet -- pull it away from the turbo -- & feel if you can pull the compressor wheel in & out of the turbo. When mine were smoking before replacing last summer with maintenanced/upgraded rb's (newer uprades from when I purchased originally), the front was bad & it excessively moved forward & back. The rear was solid and didn't do that.
I'm not sure if I had any phantom smoke or if it cleaned up right away after turbo replacement, I don't remember. It seemed pretty fixed when I got it together though & no issues since - knock on wood. Flash tune & I try to be pretty easy on her before temp gauge moves. -- Pre fix: Turbos would smoke coming off the freeway to a stop, coming to a stop at a light, later moved on to a great fog behind me as people assumed my car was on fire from so much smoke. It was eating oil like crazy. |
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05-20-2019, 10:54 AM | #4 | |
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You could try and solve your problem with a oil additive. Liqui Moly Stop Smoke is a great additive. You will need to change your oil & filter & add 1.5 to 2 bottles of this stuff, which = 20oz. Then add 6 qts 12 oz of oil. It will take 500 miles for it to fully kick in. Some reviews say it takes two treatments and to not go WOT until you get 500 miles on the engine treatment. If after 2 treatments it doesn't work, then unfortunately your only other option is to physically replace the seals. |
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Bimmer_Engineer1043.50 |
05-20-2019, 11:49 PM | #5 | |
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Thanks for your input! I'm not sure how to quote all replies, but I'll make sure to check the turbos while I'm already checking the oil return lines. Though there is smoking equally from both exhaust tips, so I guess it has to be both turbos then. I don't think there is a leak on the intake side since there is no oil in IC / charge pipe.
The valve stem seals were not checked at turbo installation. (At least I don't think so, since a shop performed the installation) Quote:
But I'm also leaning against the valve seals. I didn't find any liqui moly additive over here, but I found something called Omega 917 which seems to be the same. I'll give it a try if the oil return lines looks fine since I already ordered some fresh oil and a filter. Hopefully it can fix it until the winter when I have time to tear the engine apart. I'll make sure to update the thread if I do any findings, since that was my biggest issue when searching the forum. There are alot of threads about the same issue, but not many updates about the actual cause. |
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05-21-2019, 05:09 AM | #6 | ||
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05-21-2019, 01:27 PM | #7 | |
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I ordered 2 bottle of liqui-moly stop smoke from germany off of ebay and a liqui-moly 0W-40 oil change kit off of FCP...I'll report back in a few months on the results... |
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05-22-2019, 06:45 AM | #8 |
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I checked the turbos today, no oil in sight on the exhaust side. I realized that the oil line bolts are a mess to reach, but I guess I should be able to rule out the turbos without checking the lines? The charge pipe / IC pipings are dry aswell.
Leaning more and more against the valve seals. Edit: I managed to remove the oil return lines, and they are completely fine. Last edited by kulxio; 05-22-2019 at 07:35 AM.. |
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05-22-2019, 07:53 AM | #9 | |
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05-22-2019, 09:25 AM | #10 | |
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Are you suspecting that I may be getting blowby past the piston rings? I kinda figured the smoking is mostly because of the valve guide stems since it stops after a minute or two... |
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05-22-2019, 10:30 AM | #11 | |
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Are the plugs black/ashy from burnt oil? Oil can only get into the combustion chamber so many ways. Rings, guides, or the charge pipe/intake manifold (blow-by or turbo). |
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05-22-2019, 10:50 AM | #12 | |
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05-22-2019, 11:50 PM | #13 | |
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I'll also inspect the cylinders with a camera later this week. I do have equal amount of smoke from both banks, but I guess 2 cylinders could have problems at the same time. One thing I noticed while checking some logs is that I probably have one or more leaking injectors in the second bank. No symptoms other than the AFR being lazy on throttle lift up in the logs though. Other than that, the car has 99 000 miles on it. And I've been pushing it pretty hard with FBO and hybrid turbos, boosting 22psi tapering to 20. Thinking it could be relevant to know. |
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05-24-2019, 04:01 PM | #14 |
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I had an inspection camera in the cylinders today, but I didn't see any damage. One of the plugs had a little bit of ash though. I'm guessing that's the cylinder with a leaking injector. I also added some fresh oil and some oil additive, no result yet but I didn't drive that far. I almost feel like the smoke got worse when I tapped the PCV ports in the head, but I don't see how since I'm just venting everything to atmosphere. There is no pressure from the oil cap (at least not on idle). I also noticed that there is no smoke when reving in neutral, there is only smoke after driving and coming to a stop (or just lifting the pedal). The smoke then disappears after idling for about one minute. |
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Bimmer_Engineer1043.50 |
07-13-2019, 04:58 PM | #15 |
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I've spent the last couple of weeks tearing the thing apart to change the valve stem seals. Started it up today, but still lots of blue smoke... What's good though is that it seems to run much smoother after cleaning the valves/ports. I don't know what's up next, the cylinders looked fine and all compression tests have been good. I noticed that there is slightly more play in one of the turbo axles, but there is no oil in any turbo piping or exhaust side of the turbos. |
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07-13-2019, 07:10 PM | #16 | ||
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07-13-2019, 07:48 PM | #17 |
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I have an RB pcv and actually have a external pcv kit with a mishimoto catch can. I tried to install the external valve a few weeks back but I kept cross threading it. Rather than force it I decided to just wait since I’m gonna have to take off the valve cover to fix a vcg leak I noticed.
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07-31-2019, 03:05 AM | #18 |
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I removed the turbos, and there was oil coming from the valves still after seal replacement. My idea was that maybe the brand I used was bad, or maybe I did something wrong like damaging the seals. So I ordered new ones from a more reputable brand and teared the thing apart once again. The new seals felt alot better than the old, and I was really cautious when installing them. It didn't seem to help though since it's still smoking. Could worn valve guides cause the valves to leak oil even with new seals? |
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12-26-2023, 05:10 PM | #19 |
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From what I have seen it will be turbos, Theres no need to be oil if seal are leaking it can burn off... I have same problem and also got wastegate rattle, MHD wastegate fix set to 80% minimal lag. fixed it partially, so it has something to do with waste gates not fully closing/opening, don't know why it happens.
But this is my best theory and also lot of people fixed this when they replaced turbos, I will be replacing mine fot viv 19t V4 and index 12 injectors (bank 2 is leaking) |
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