white smoke. help needed

[helalo]

hello guys
im getting white smoke from the car exhaust at random times when i turn the car on, sometimes it lets out white smoke for 2 seconds and sometimes it doesnt.
and when i change my car oil at the shop, A LOT of white smoke comes out for like 5 minutes straight then it stops. sometimes i get oil indicator icon flash in the car for 3-6 seconds and goes away at random times.
how can i find out the problem ? please dont tell me its gonna be expensive to fix ?

[Adamski]

Are you experiencing loss of power or overheating?

When you lift the oil cap in the engine bay is there a load of white gunk on and around the cap?


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[TimG_Z4]

Hello

A little white smoke on start up is normal, but depends on the air temperature.

Normally:-

White smoke - Coolant being burnt in engine

Blue smoke - Oil being burnt in engine

Is the car using any oil/water, have the levels dropped at all? Sometimes if you overfill the engine with oil you can get white smoke and flickering oil light, so check the engine oil level first.

At the very worst case it could be head gasket failure, but I would check the oil/water levels first.

Goodluck

[Hunter]

White smoke usually has nothing to do with oil, (thats usually blue smoke). White smoke on start up is quite normal..but white smoke for a prolonged period is a sign that the head gasket is not intact and coolant is being burnt within the engine. This is usually accompanied with a hot running temprature and your heater blower will start to blow cold even when turned onto the hot setting. I hope its just condensation being blown out though mate..good luck.

[helalo]

Are you experiencing loss of power or overheating?

When you lift the oil cap in the engine bay is there a load of white gunk on and around the cap?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

nah man, no loss of power or overheating.
i never lifted the oil cap to check for any white gunk but ill check when its not raining outside.
i got my oil icon light up in yellow yesterday on the screen. my oil was changed 2 month ago, even less.
i also noticed and this maybe wrong and unrelated but, when its very warm outside, i tend to get more chance of white smoke at start up..might just be random. i dont know.
the 2 guys that commented above me might be right, but if white smoke has nothing to do with oil, why is the oil icon the only one showing up in the car screen ?
how much would a headgasket cost ? 2003 2.5i z4.
if its gonna be expensive to fix i swear i will sell the car to a car dealer and get an e46 lol.

[chrisj900]

ive had the same problem as you all through winter, most other cars have smoke but we have larger engines which = more. i have the gunk but thats from doing some super short journeys and the smoke has normally gone after 20 min. my oil light came on yellow aswell, just put the tiny bit in i had left over from my oil change in september and all good. was half way on the dipstick and now its almost at the top of the safe range.

[bcworkz]

It could be the white smoke is unrelated to the oil indicator, two unrelated problems? Everyone talks about white or blue smoke, but the difference is not that obvious. Oil smoke is fairly white with a bluish tinge. The main difference is oil smoke drifts away and only slowly dilutes. Water 'smoke' is vapour which tends to disappear into the atmosphere before it gets too far.

The big smoke after oil change is odd. The only explanation I can think of is if they did a compression test and put oil directly into the cylinders, but that would be way beyond the call of duty for an oil change. Another remote possibility is they use some sort of oil treatment additive that just gets burned off.

[MEV Z4]

HI!

White smoke is not necessarily a problem.

Yes it's true that white smoke in the exhaust can be caused by a failing Head gasket allowing coolant to be burnt - but when that happens you can normally smell the Anti Freeze being burnt in the exhaust fumes - and if it IS the head gasket then the white smoke will get worse and worse until a ludicrous amount of white smoke comes out (Particularly on start up).You'll also see an OBVIOUS drop in coolant level with no apparent leak. As things progress the engine will start to splutter as it tries to burn water and then eventually the engine will Hydro-Lock. (Which means so much the water has leaked into the cylinders that it can't be compressed and then the engine will not even turn over, you only hear the starter solenoid clicking. (If that happens then remove the plugs and turn over- if water sprays out then it's a Head Gasket).

I have found that KSeal actually DOES fix a blown head gasket if you use it correctly and you're fixing a water blown gasket not an oil blown gasket. (Mix with 2 litres of water, shake well, pour directly into the a hose leading to the block, do two or three heating / cooling cycles without going over 1000- 1500rpm . ie car idling on drive). K-Seal has glass particles that melt if they get into the combustion chamber and seal up the leak. (Fixed my 1998 E36 2.5 beautifully after a heater hose came off and it cooked the Head).

A more likely explanation for your intermittent white smoke is simply that the car is not being used regularly and I assume you live in cold climate (England?) and have a car that's standing OUTSIDE for long periods. If so then condensation builds up in the exhaust and when the car is started it turns to steam. You'll get a MASSIVE / UNBELIEVEABLE / RIDICULOUS / UNFATHOMABLE amount of steam & white smoke from the even the smallest bit of condensation (Steam Volume is x1500 times the volume or water - Or something like that). It will also take a REALLY LONG TIME - Like a week or two to completely dry out the exhaust.

I started my mums Volvo after it had been standing for 4 years - It was a Smoke machine. This is normal and is absolutely nothing to worry about. The engine temperature / heater on it were fine, no boiling / gurgling and no loss of coolant. The white smoke diminished over the following 2-3 weeks as it dried out the exhaust with use.

If you're still worried it could be the Head Gasket - Put some K Seal in (Or similar) and like DO IT NOW.

[MEV Z4]

For got to to say- The Oil Level Sensors on BMWs are not just very good (Simple as that). They get clogged easily and throw up the oil warning light. That's not related to white smoke.

[enuff_zed]

MEV Z4, if you are starting way back in 2012's posts I'm not entirely sure you'll ever quite catch up with what we're doing up here in 2024.

[pvr]

MEV Z4, if you are starting way back in 2012's posts I'm not entirely sure you'll ever quite catch up with what we're doing up here in 2024.

He will be lifer in 2014

[buzyg]

MEV Z4, if you are starting way back in 2012's posts I'm not entirely sure you'll ever quite catch up with what we're doing up here in 2024.

He will be lifer in 2014

Seem to be a flurry of old tthread revivals of late.

I think white smoke means we have a new pope.

[pvr]

Last white smoke was in 2013. He hasn’t got there yet

[buzyg]

Last white smoke was in 2013. He hasn’t got there yet

Good point.

[MikeyH]

Poor sod is doing what I did when I joined You need to check the post date Forgot to say welcome to the forum and thank you for taking the time to explain the white smoke repair.