Hey pcb5,

After my initial posts, I did experience a few puffs of smoke. I do say puffs because they were exponentially smaller in scale than the ones I had previously experienced...and I had to try to make it happen. Recently, I have eliminated those puffs of smoke by replacing the driver's side valve cover gasket, upper timing cover gasket, and vans solenoid o-rings...I had a massive coolant leak that "inspired" me to do that job.

Anyway, no more smoke...even when I try to make it happen. More importantly, no more oil being sucked into my intake!

When is your 545i smoking?

A.) Immediately after a cold startup - the first startup after a prolonged period of the engine being off, like sitting in your garage over night?
If so, valve stem seals could be your issue; but I believe this to be a limited failure only seen in the early 745i.

B.) Or, like mine, does the smoke appear as an embarrassing cloud of shame - typically after accelerating from prolonged idling, like sitting at a really long stop light or stop and go traffic...?

Cause of A.)Valve Stem seals only leak down, meaning they have to sit for a long time and be cold (small) enough for oil to slowly drip past them; theoretically, it could deteriorate to the point where would leak all of the time, but you’d see the smoke issue as a constant factor, rather than just when the engine is warm. When valve stem seals get warm, they expand. The expansion would reseal the path the oil was leaking through until the seal cooled to the point where it was small enough for oil to seep past. This is why failing valve stem seals can cause smoking at startup - oil has dripped past, collected in your cylinder, and then gets burned off the next time the car starts….and the smoking stops when it gets warm…only to return the next time your car has been sitting and is cold.

Cause of B.) is caused, essentially, by a vacuum leak that prevents the PRVs from sealing...drawing oil into your intake.

Grab a powerful flashlight, expose your throttle body, and peek past the throttle plate. Look for signs of oil...any sign of oil, especially wetness. Oil means that you have a vacuum issue. A vacuum issue (can be an oil leak) is the cause of your smoke.

More to come...

__________________
2005 X5 4.4L - 130K
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