I will find out once my SA calls me

 

It's steam. Happens to me all the time. Don't worry.

 

+1 - if it was steam probably just water residue from the wash - do check your radiator level too as the car was running the entire time and it could have been hot and venting? If you smelled smoke - that's not a good sign...I've seen this when an engine with a slow oil leak - usually around a seal or oil cap - the oil eventually runs down to a hot part of the engine (exhaust manifild, pipe, etc.) gets hot (which would happen with an engine idling for 30 minutes) then the oil starts to burn off - white smoke.

My father in law had a Chevy V8 and it was notorious for leaky valve cover seals...if not changed every 10K miles they would allow oil to seep down the engine to the exhaust manifold and he would get white smoke. You could generally smell the oil burning long before it would smoke though.

Good luck

 

okay you guys i just got my car back and it was just water steam. i don't know how that water got to the engine, but it's all good now! thanks.

 

Whew...That's why I love forums, there's always someone else that's experienced a problem before hand. I too... just this morning noticed steam coming from the front grill. Got out and smelled it... nothing burning and did not smell like anti-freeze. Just a weird occurrence I guess, but still, know one likes to see smoke , steam coming from their car UNLESS its from the RMR mode!

RUBBER MEETS ROAD!

 

On a side note, you state you left the car idling for 30+ minutes. I have heard that it is not good to let the car idle for a long period of time. Can anyone confirm? I thought it had something to do with the Valvetronic. Again, nothing to do with your steam issue. Glad to hear all is well with your car!

And I do agree, this Forum ROCKS!!!!!

 

I bet no one is even active on this thing. I believe I am having the same issue. Soap burning or something like that. It was smoking after a wash. But I got the wash immediately after making it in to dallas from new orleans so the car was hot. Not overheated, but hot. I looked under the car this morning and there was dried water. In various under the car. I'm sure that's what it is.

 

Hmm, let's see: non-BMW owner jins a BMW forum, and dredges up an 11 year old thread just to say this? Epic.

 

This whole thread was a shrine to prima donnas....lmao "my car "smoked" after a wash" (in a whiny girl voice) what is it? I wonder sometimes if some people should even own a car. The OP actually took it to a SA? OMG, no words...

 

Just today I needed to restart my Mustang because the battery had gone dead after not driving for two weeks… On vacation. So I started it up and needed to wash it and I kept it running and sure enough there’s a clicking and lots of smoke! This form was exactly what I needed to discover that, hopefully, is just steam or soap on the engine.