[moton001]

Hey guys,
I had my radiator changed on my E92 in May as well as the upper radiator hose. After I left the shop I still had a coolant leak. Took it to one of my friends to change the water pump and thermostat as I thought this was the issue. While he was changing them he found a “plug” wasn’t fully pushed in the radiator and said this was the cause of my leak. My car drove fine for about two weeks then started overheating again. He checked the plug and that wasn’t the problem he also did a pressure test through the coolant reservoir and said there was no leak. I took the car to another shop and they did another pressure test and found no “EXTERNAL” leaks and are trying to charge me $500 to remove the spark plugs and do a pressure test for “internal” leaks. There’s also white smoke coming from my exhaust. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what the problem might be?

[e90yyc]

White smoke usually means you’re burning coolant. In other words, you have an internal leak.

The “typical” cause of this is head gasket failure, but that’s relatively uncommon on these engines. It can still happen though.

Curious to hear some other opinions.

[moton001]

Originally Posted by e90yyc

White smoke usually means you’re burning coolant. In other words, you have an internal leak.

The “typical” cause of this is head gasket failure, but that’s relatively uncommon on these engines. It can still happen though.

Curious to hear some other opinions.

Thing is my friend changed my valve cover and one of the VC gaskets wouldn’t stay in the VC so I’m leaking oil as well so I’m not sure if the smoke is coming from the oil being burnt or from coolant being burnt. How would I go about finding out if it is the head gasket without paying $500?

[e90yyc]

Burnt oil will produce a blue-tinted smoke with a characteristic odor. Coolant also has a distinctive odour when burned.

You might have a smell of burning oil, but it’s important to determine whether it’s coming from the exhaust or not.

An improperly installed valve cover gasket should not result in oil entering the cylinders and burning. What generally happens is oil will drip down the side of the engine and fall onto the exhaust manifold where it burns.

I’m not sure what you mean by “one of the gaskets.” The VCG is one piece, but there are other gaskets that seal the spark plug tubes. If oil enters here it should just pool above the spark plugs. There are also two other gaskets for the Valvetronic motor and ESS plug. Unless you’ve got a really bad leak from either of these it isn’t likely that oil will drip down onto the exhaust.

You haven’t mentioned mileage, history, etc. Knowing this would help.

I would recommend starting with a compression test. This does involve removing spark plugs and inserting a tester (like a screw-in anal probe for your engine) into one cylinder at a time and then cranking the engine. This shouldn’t cost $500. It’s possible the shop was planning to do a more comprehensive set of tests including a leak-down test.

If you are losing coolant, have white exhaust smoke (that smells of coolant), and have no apparent external leaks, then you probably have an internal leak and unfortunately none of the possible causes are easy or cheap to fix. BTW: When your car would overheat, did you receive the yellow or also the red warning? Did you shut it off immediately?

But start with a compression test.

[Mantraxalos]

Does the white smoke only appear when you first turn on the car? Or always?
Go sniff it. If it smells sweet, that's a bad sign.
If the smoke eventually just disappears that would probably be condensation.

I'm trying to understand what "plug" was pushed in. Pictures would help.

[e90yyc]

Originally Posted by Mantraxalos

Does the white smoke only appear when you first turn on the car? Or always?
Go sniff it. If it smells sweet, that's a bad sign.
If the smoke eventually just disappears that would probably be condensation.

I'm trying to understand what "plug" was pushed in. Pictures would help.

My guess would be the radiator adjustment screw, or just the vanilla drain plug if aftermarket or non-Genuine rad.