vini545i

Hello fellow e60 owners,I dont post too much but i read ALOTT here, but havent found anything useful on this topic. I didnt work today so thought id go get my 2004 545i 105k miles inspected. Ive been noticing a large amount of smoke coming from exhaust lately, its a greyish smoke it only happens sometimes, when i reverse out of my drive way I can see it then when put it in drive and go smoke comes out then goes away when i hit about 10 mph. My friend drove behind me and said sometimes when im goin at a steady speeds he sees smokes too, sometimes when im idle waiting for car to warm up I also notice alot of smoke. SOOO with that being said they failed me for (visible smoke) not emissions...I spoke to my indy about it he said alot of 545 and x5 are doing this. He said something about valve guides ?? 30 hours of labor or something ridiculous, I also hear a loud rattle when at idle sometimes up to like 1k rpms then its gone till I stop again, it comes from front of motor...a pulley ?? . 3 weeks ago SES light went on he checked out ( secondary air system ) he checked airpump said it wasnt working, then testd again b4 gettin new one and said it worked fine, he cleared codes, i drove about 340 miles and it was fine now when I left the inpection facility it went back on.

I had car since 86k didnt have any problems other then small oil leak from a dried rubber ring.
Now im lost because i dont know too much about these motors and how they work so any help on y it would be smoking that much would be greatly appriceated.

THANK YOU !!!!

jaycal3

I may be way off here and I am sure someone else with more knowledge can and will correct me if I am off base, but have you checked your engine oil and or coolant levels... My understanding is if coolant and oil mix it will produce white smoke. There is a tube that runs through the middle of the engine block carrying coolant and it has been known to spring a leak... does your oil look contaminated? It could just be a valve/piston/ring issue... I dont know - just thought I'd throw stuff out there based on other posts I have read.

pukka

Something is getting into the cylinders and burning - either oil or coolant. Check your fluid levels to see if something is constantly getting lower. You most likely have a bad seal somehwere (valves, cylinder heads).

Sure hope you got some $$$ set aside or some kind of warranty. This doesns't sound like a cheap fix.

pukka

One more thing - check your exhaust tips. If they are covered in black soot then your car is running rich (too much fuel/not enough air). Normally this condition will throw a fault code I'd check it anyway since you mentioned you had an AIR pump fault

vini545i

Inside the exhaust tips are indeed black, but i dont think it has to do with the air pump or smoke, my indy said the air pump is only on for about 30-50 secs when engine is very cold to send more air into engine to level out the air/fuel ratio until engine is warmer temp. As far as the smoke I can drive for hour straight on highway then stop at a light that (SOMETIMES) i can visibly see smoke then even more when i take off then its gone, some times i stop at the light and there is no smoke at all.

Thank you guys for tips so far, ANY information on this topic will be extremely apreciated

pcy

do you have to add oil between oil changes?

kane1111

Dude I hate to say it but I hope you have mechanical breakdown warranty; because it sounds like its the valve seals leaking oil. The same thing happened to me, and it cost the warranty company 5 stacks plus to fix. The dealer fixed it, and its all good now. Mind you my car has 65k on the cluster. My boys 750 is doing the same thing, and he's about to take it in. Bro good luck, but that's definitely not a good sign.

John@Motorcepts

please stop by Motorcepts so we can diagnose it for you free of charge. We are located near JFK. Address is listed on the left.

jaycal3

John you rock!