White Smoke, Cold weather, Oil Separator Reminder!

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It’s that time of year when temps will go into single digits and the built up water condensation in your oil will freeze in the oil separator. Most of us have had it or heard about it. Car starts fine runs great for about 15 minutes then the dreaded white smoke begins to appear as the pressure continues to build because the oil separator has more water in it than oil. Those sort trips will do it every time and if you park outside in single digit weather you will definitely get this problem.

The built up pressure will eventually blow out something, OS or hose or if you’re lucky oil will blast out the oil cap seal.

My plan for this year is to change my oil just before the single digit temps arrive (late December). On those extremely cold nights I may garage it if I decide to pull out one of the nicer cars. If I leave it out then a 10 minute warm up 1 hour before I leave will guarantee the temp inside the oil separator will go above freezing and melt and condensation that would cause blockage. The key here would be to let the engine sit off after it was started for 10 minutes. As a last precaution I pull the dip stick and only let one of the two “O” rings seal when I put it back in. If pressure builds it will force oil out of the dipstick. Big effort but if you have had the white smoke come out and then damaged your OS you know it’s worth it. Usually oil separators don’t fail on their own they get frozen and blocked, the pressure does the rest.

The X5 is like dating a super model………high maintenance. Good Luck.