Engine smokes... need urgent help!!!

[king_julien]

Hi I have X5 4.4i 2001 model runs on both Petrol and LPG. I have quite a few problems with it. Bear with me... :-(

Problem 1:
Aux fan does not cut in at any time. I fitted new coolant output sensor, re-gas the air-con... the fan is good. I tested the fan by bridging the connector on the coolant output sensor and the fan cuts in.

Problem 2:
Transmission shifts to 'emergency-fail-safe' mode only when I'm stuck in traffic for more than half an hour. Although the 'fail-safe' message doesn't show on the dash. I had the AGS module re-program by a dealer and they didn't find any fault with the transmission. I assume the Aux fan has caused the fluid to warm up beyond the limit and therefore gearbox sensor senses a problem with the gearbox and as a results it shift to disengage.

Problem 3:
Today I was driving on a carriage-way at 50mph then I realized there were cloud of white smoke coming from the rear of the car. Stopped the car, inspected it, checked the hood and found nothing obvious. Then checked at the rear and saw a little amount of white smoke coming out from the exhaust at idle speed. I turned the ignition off for half an hour waited for everything to cool down. Then I tried starting the car, after several cranks, then I made my way home. On the way, by miracle, the car drove fine. NO SMOKE AT ALL. Please bear in mind, the car was running on petrol not LPG.

Problem 4:
The car takes couple of cranks before it fires up... Brand new spark plugs been fitted a week ago due to this problem but it hasn't solve anything.

Problem 5:
There is an oil leak from the left side of the car where the oil filter housing fits. I replaced ROCKER GASKET, VANOS SOLONOID SEAL, OIL FILTER HOUSING 'O' RINGS but the damn thing still leaks...

Well guys as you can see there's sooooo manyyyy problems with, MY PRECIOUSSSSS.... I'm growing grey beards and hairs everyway... Lost interest in life and spending all my wages in new parts and garage bills. Sometimes I feel as though the car is haunted and cursed.

Please oh please somebody help me... with any info to rectify the above problems or even at least 1 of my problems... Thank You in advance

[NIGHTMAREuki]

i can only help with one Q, white smoke usually means coolant in the cylinder, so probably bad Head gasket, cracked block or a cracked head..

did you overheat the engine at any times?

[king_julien]

Originally Posted by NIGHTMAREuki

i can only help with one Q, white smoke usually means coolant in the cylinder, so probably bad Head gasket, cracked block or a cracked head..

did you overheat the engine at any times?

Unfortunately the fan doesn't work for some reason (that's one of my problems as well). Recently I had the engine light coming on and it showed a misfire on cylinder 5 & 8. I was just thinking about the Head Gasket a while ago but not really quite sure. Do you know is there anyway to determine which Head Gasket is gone? BTW the white smoke was not a continuous smoking but intermittent. One minute it was there and the next it was gone.

[GmX5]

The white smoke could be due to an overfill of oil (that happened to me in an old mustang i had). Too much oil, i believe, can mess with the spark plugs and could account for a missfire..I hope you get everything squared away. I have the same year and model and everthing seems fine. I did recently replace the whole cooling system and aux fan, as well as some other upkeeps. What the mileage on your X? are you the first owner?

[Weasel]

If the smoke is while with a blueish tint and has that burning oil smell, it could be a failed oil separater valve. The aux fan is controlled by the DME and is affected by ac and engine temps, and is operated under various speeds depending on what the need is.

You said you put a new coolant temp sensor. Which did you replace, the one on the engine or the one at the lower radiator hose?

Also check whether your X5 is using more oil than usual or more coolant than usual.

And I don't know what kind of difference it makes between petrol and LPG because we don't have that option here in the states...

And for the oil leak also check the hoses/lines and various other components in the system. As you can see in the link, there are many different components under full oil pressure.

Good luck! Hopefully these turn out to be simple problems!

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...21&hg=11&fg=30

[king_julien]

Originally Posted by GmX5

The white smoke could be due to an overfill of oil (that happened to me in an old mustang i had). Too much oil, i believe, can mess with the spark plugs and could account for a missfire..I hope you get everything squared away. I have the same year and model and everthing seems fine. I did recently replace the whole cooling system and aux fan, as well as some other upkeeps. What the mileage on your X? are you the first owner?

The oil level is correct and there's a misfire on the 5 & 8 cylinder though all the plugs are all brand new. I have changed the cooling system but not the aux fan. The mileage is 100,000 miles on the clock and no I'm not the 1st owner. I'm the 9th owner

[king_julien]

Originally Posted by weasel56

If the smoke is while with a blueish tint and has that burning oil smell, it could be a failed oil separater valve. The aux fan is controlled by the DME and is affected by ac and engine temps, and is operated under various speeds depending on what the need is.

You said you put a new coolant temp sensor. Which did you replace, the one on the engine or the one at the lower radiator hose?

Also check whether your X5 is using more oil than usual or more coolant than usual.

And I don't know what kind of difference it makes between petrol and LPG because we don't have that option here in the states...

And for the oil leak also check the hoses/lines and various other components in the system. As you can see in the link, there are many different components under full oil pressure.

Good luck! Hopefully these turn out to be simple problems!

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...21&hg=11&fg=30

The smoke was WHITE but not quite sure whether there was any blue tint but definitely there was a burning smell. Will check the oil separator valve today. The aux fan is definitely working but is not engaging from DME, you are right the possibilities are the ac output switch might be in fault. That I will also check today.

I replaced the one on the lower radiator hose. I've been checking the oil level and it seems to be OK. And the coolant does leak from the hose connection but only when the engine is under pressure.

Thanks so much for your help especially with the parts diagram link. Will get down to check the car now. Up-date again later.

Btw is there any possibility that due to the fail fan engine over heated and therefore created the smoke??? For your extra info, the temp. gauge on the dash did not indicate overheating.

Tasks today;

1. By pass fan control with additional ON/OFF switch until the faulty switch is detected
2. Check the oil separator valve.
3. Check water and oil level.

Thanks again.

[GmX5]

If you haven't owned the car long, and bought the car from a dealership or some sort, I would contact them about the car having a whole heap of problems; here in the states we have a "lemon" law that protects buyers from buying faulty cars. I believe your problems are fixable ( anything is fixable for the right price) but that they could be potentially pricey. Given that you've put a lot of money into the car I dont know how much more you are willing to put up. I hope I'm not giving the impression that your car is a lost cause; I just want you to get to the bottom of this and want to throw some suggestions out there for you to explore if you choose to do so .


You being the ninth owner does makes me question the history of the car. I would try to do some research on the car's history (might help with maitainace troubleshooting or the lemon law pursuit).
This is what I did when I bought my X, and maybe it will help you do some research on your precious X:

-Do a carfax (don't know if you have those in the UK)
-If the car has been serviced at any auto shop/BMW dealership it may give the location on the carfax(most definitely will for BMW dealership, mine did)
-Since you are the registered owner of the car you can request service records from BMW and the service department will print them out for you.
-The records will show you what kind of maintenance has been done at this particular dealership, even with descriptions of reason(s) previous owner(s) took the car in for. If there are multiple dealerships you will need to contact each dealership independently, since each dealership keeps their own database (there isn't a universal BMW database from what i was told).
-If you want to digg further into investigation you can contact the previous owner(s) that are named with contact info on the service record from BMW.
I didn't do that, but if you are feeling ambitious go for it ( i thought about it .

-- I wish you the best and hope your problems are more simple than they seem...Good luck and keep us updated--

Gm

Oh yeah..What is LPG? Petrol is gas (petroleum) I'm assuming?

By the way...:xoutpost:

[king_julien]

Thanks guys for all your replies.

Done more checks today. And these are what I found;

1. Aux Fan:
Taken the output sensor out, heated it up with a torch and the fan kicked in perfect.

2. Water/Oil level:
Water level is correct and same goes with the oil level.

Unfortunately as soon as I drove the car, it started to smoke. The more I rev, the more it smokes but only coming out from the RIGHT side of the exhaust. Just thick white smoke. I'm thinking its definitely the Head Gasket is gone (the right side of the engine head).

What puzzle me now is with the fan. Can somebody tell me that the lower hose on the radiator suppose to be HOT or COLD. B'coz when I touched it, it was so much colder than the top hose. I would be very much obliged if somebody has a diagram or picture to show on how those hoses suppose to be connected, especially for the ATF Coolant Housing.

BTW LPG means Liquified Petroleum Gas. But at the moment I'm running it on Petrol

[Weasel]

And if you're wondering, I'm getting these diagrams from www.realoem.com

And the lower hose will be cooler than the top one, as the lower one is the supply to the engine from the radiator, so the coolant has been cooled by it.