Blue smoke on extended idle. 2006 4.8is.

[JCL]

Originally Posted by BigBlack48is

Oh BMW knows all about the valve seal problem that is present in all of the N62's... that's very obvious. I am surprised there is no TIS or flat out recall that is in progress to fix this...

I am surprised to see all the calls for a safety recall for something that simply isn't a safety issue. No, rapid valve seal wear isn't acceptable, but it is far from being BMW's responsibility to fix years after the warranty has expired. The seals have simply worn out. Warranty doesn't cover wear and tear, it covers defects in manufacturing. It is hard to call something that shows up 7 or 8 years after the ship date a manufacturing problem.

If it was mine, I would sell it and move on. Or do guides and seals myself.

[TerminatorX5]

Originally Posted by JCL

it covers defects in manufacturing.

it seems more of a defect in engineering design, and while it could be easily forgiven for a Lada designers, whose product falls apart the moment it is off the assembly line, it is not expected from the winners of multiple awards in engine designs, which BMW claims to be... and that "crush" of expectations is what makes people upset... made me upset when my 4.6is went belly up because of the guides... i felt betrayed... that is why people buy real rolex and not $20 fakes... well... some buy fakes... but, i would not be upset over poor quality of $20 rolex... on the other hand, if the $5000 certified genuine rolex exhibits quality issues in assembly or design - i'd be upset...

having said this, i would hope that the designers of engine would come up an "updated" part that would resolve the issue - after all, this is a BMW and not a trabant, we would expect these cars outlive their competitors and thus command premium for the new models - if you can sell 20 year bimmer with 200K miles for several thousand bucks, a brand new one will fetch top dollars too...

[TerminatorX5]

today i started the engine, it revved normal: started at 900 RPMs, down to 700 RPMS and settled at 600... i did not have a chance to wait for a period of time to see if the idle will spike, as it did before, as i had to start driving... it drove off fine, without the little stutters as it used to be for last few weeks...

as a matter of fact, today i was able to take off the traffic light as a 4.8iS should, which i have not been able to do for a long while... i have not tried the highway merge, as the I-95 is having major traffic jams today (Saturday!!!), so I did not venture out...

the blue smoke did not appear today, but i only waited at the traffic light for a limited period of time... it seems that replacing the CCV and using oil that a nad heavier have improved the smoking a little bit...

Is there a write-up on those seals somewhere?

[4.8isX5]

So new report.. I have less oil usage with the 10-40 then before, added abt a quart after 1kish miles.. Alot better then before and puts it within the highest bmw spec ive seen on here (may or may not be true) of qt every 750.

Also my oil consumption would probably be even less if i was doing 100 mile trips everyday but this is just my 2ndary car now and i only use it after work/no rain days/weekend it comes out of the garage.

[bcredliner]

Good to hear you are making progress

[TerminatorX5]

it is nice to have the power back - seems that the faulty coil on cylinder #5 caused some idle issues and loss of power on pick-up-and-go situation.. i am still monitoring the situation, as the blue smoke did not resolve, and i am not so sure that the idle and power stumble have been completely resolved - only couple of days of driving might not prove anything...

since i got the spark plugs on my to-do list, i was wondering, the RealOEM shows me this part # 12122158252 for the plug, and this website, shows this part ##
12 12 0 032 134 and
12 12 0 032 135 for the same car... the part number for the coil is the same on both sites...
nevertheless, it is my understanding, that i am looking either at Bosch FR7KPP332 or NGK IZFR6H11 - both are specified as OE(M)...

i was just confused about the part numbers, wonder if the 252 part number from RealOEM is "more" correct than the other part numbers with Bosch and NGK equivalents

[X5_E53_N62]

Originally Posted by TerminatorX5

it is nice to have the power back - seems that the faulty coil on cylinder #5 caused some idle issues and loss of power on pick-up-and-go situation.. i am still monitoring the situation, as the blue smoke did not resolve, and i am not so sure that the idle and power stumble have been completely resolved - only couple of days of driving might not prove anything...

Any progress? Any news to share?

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by TerminatorX5

it is nice to have the power back - seems that the faulty coil on cylinder #5 caused some idle issues and loss of power on pick-up-and-go situation.. i am still monitoring the situation, as the blue smoke did not resolve, and i am not so sure that the idle and power stumble have been completely resolved - only couple of days of driving might not prove anything...

since i got the spark plugs on my to-do list, i was wondering, the RealOEM shows me this part # 12122158252 for the plug, and this website, shows this part ##
12 12 0 032 134 and
12 12 0 032 135 for the same car... the part number for the coil is the same on both sites...
nevertheless, it is my understanding, that i am looking either at Bosch FR7KPP332 or NGK IZFR6H11 - both are specified as OE(M)...

i was just confused about the part numbers, wonder if the 252 part number from RealOEM is "more" correct than the other part numbers with Bosch and NGK equivalents

Fariz,

not sure about the 4.8s but I switched to the OE equivalent NGK plugs for my 3.0 over the weekend, MUCH improved performance, easier starting, better idle all around. For some reason I always liked NGK plugs better than Bosch if I had to choose between the two on my other cars I always ran NGK.

I know that doesn't help because we have different engines but I hope that helps you choose between the brands hah!

[TerminatorX5]

the car still has the power, i am able to overtake the highway merges on relatively cold engine (driving off parking lot, less than 5 minutes later, highway), idle is nice and smooth, no spikes from cold starts, no dips... the coil has resolved that issue, the MAF seems to be OK, as the engine stumbles when i disconnect it while idling...

The blue smoke... it has reduced its manifestation (can't be objective here, did not use any measuring tools), but before, I would be at my traffic light at my neighborhood, and cloud of smoke on take off (not real Formula 1 take off, just pulling from a stop light), now there is no plume of of smoke from the same light... but, there is still cloud in the rearview mirror, if i am idling too long on the highway (I-95 is a parking lot after the DC people finish their workday)...

I suspect that the "reduced" (real or perceived) smoking is due to a slightly heavier oil used, 5W40 instead of 5W30... from what i read, the racing cars use something like 10W60 or whatnot... I am not going to use that by any means, but oil grade might have something to do with reduced smoke...

Also, I have Auto-RX in the engine at this moment, do not know if the presence of that chemical alters the equation or not - could it smoke more or less because of the Auto-RX?

Next thing is, to see if using Liqui Moly full synthetic 5W40 oil is any better then using Castrol... price difference between the two $6 in favor of Castrol when Castrol is on sale, or $30 in favor of Moly when Castrol is at regular price - we are talking about 10 qts of Castrol vs 10L of Moly...

[danielsan]

I don't know about Auto-RX, not avaliable down under but i've had great results using Rislone Ring Seal Repair on my old corolla.