e60rider

Hey, i am getting a weird smell from my e60 exhaust when the car is warmed up. Kinda smells like ammonia or glass cleaner (the spray bottle type). I have not been losing coolant, so i was wondering what type of smell would a coolant leak produce if head gasket was bad. Also i live in a cold place (-16 Celsius today) and only drive a maxium of 3km to and from work. Could this be because of short driving, and old fuel (haven't fueled for like 3 weeks)?

KyleB

Look inside of your coolant reservoir after the car is cooled down. Does the coolant look like a chocolate milkshake?

IF YES - you possibly have a failed head gasket and/or cylinder head

IF NO, and you are not losing coolant - you definitely need to drive the car more than 3km. Take it out on a good 100 to 150km drive this weekend. BMWs run like shittake when they are cold. Always have and likely always will. Your car is not getting anywhere near proper operating temperature with a 3km drive.

Coolant typically has a very sweet, syrup like smell to it.

dezifresh19

Yea it has a sweet smell to it.. Take a whoff from the exhaust pipe.. If it's sweet smelling like coolant, you have a blown head gasket.

e60rider

Id say the exhaust smells more like glass cleaner or kinda like bleach? So that wouldn't not be coolant right? (fingers crossed) head gasket repair are damn expensive

dezifresh19

Pick up a pressure kit, fairly cheap, and pressure test it. Garages usually charge around $50 to pressuer test it. Quickest way to find out if you have an internal coolant leak. I got quoted 10-12 hours labor for Headgasket.

e60rider

10-12 hours at bmw dealer or indy? Also do you mean test the pressure per cylinder or like the cooling system?

KyleB

likely not coolant.

you need to take that car out and flog it for a good 30 minutes or so, minimum. the only cars that don't mind being driven 3km at a time are golf carts.

6825786

hi there, my buds M3 had a really potent amonia smell coming from the exhaust as well. I did some research for him and diagnosis was pointing to the catalytic converter. Worth a shot. He never did worry about it as he barely drives it 1000km/year

dezifresh19

10-12hr at dealership

ncsugrad2006

Which model do you have?