Hi guys,

I'm having an odd problem. I have a 2004 530i with 170,000 miles on it. It started blowing what appears to be white smoke a few days ago (a few times while accelerating at speed, while sitting at a stop light and at startup after sitting for about two hours). Obviously not a good sign, but the engine sounds perfectly fine. I thought that it might be related to moisture or coolant from my air conditioning system, so I turned it off for a day and drove 170 miles with no sign of smoke. At first I thought the worst, like a head gasket, but I'm not so sure anymore. Any idea what could be going on here?

Many thanks.

 

White smoke = Coolant leak
Black smoke = Excess fuel mix
Blue smoke = Burning oil

Good luck. Hopefully it was just morning condensation.

 

Where is the smoke coming from ? Under your hood ?
Make sure you dont have oil leak at spools.. If you have leak there it will drop oil into your exhaust manifold = smoke

Hope you understand what was my point..

 

Well, I'd say that's not a problem - that's an achievement



Assuming your white smoke is coming out of the tail pipe, I'd say your best bet is to have the car diagnosed by a BMW technician. If you can't find a trustworthy dealer, search for someone who works for BMW and moonlights fixing cars. This car - too many variables and they are all so damn expensive - you just don't really want to go by solely what people tell you on the forum. But assuming you don't have a 4-20 stash under that hood, and the smoke is coming from the tail pipes, it's likely a serious issue, could mean your engine block developed a microfracture, which is allowing coolant to mix in with oil. Could be water vapors in your gas tank from bad gas... I mean, just have the thing looked at by someone who will not rip you off. That's what I'd do.

Good Luck! Hang in there
And sorry I wasn't much more help.

 

It is coming from the tail pipe and it's definitely not morning condensation. This happens when the engine is hot. What I can't figure out is if it's a blown gasket or a cracked block, why would it stop when I turn off the air conditioning? I will be taking it to a technician. I'm just looking for what the possible causes might be.

Thanks again for the replies.