Blue smoke on extended idle. 2006 4.8is.

[TerminatorX5]

Originally Posted by TerminatorX5

here is some info i found in WDS:

Idle speed control




The idle speed control valve is designed as a non-wearing two-winding rotary actuator. The rotary slide valve in the idle speed control valve may only be tested by way of activation via a tester or by shaking. Moving the rotary slide valve with the finger or with a tool such as a screwdriver is not permitted. This would mean that the rotary slide valve would no longer function correctly.
The idle speed control valve is now responsible for several tasks and is therefore an important component in the intake air tract of the engine.
Small air leaks which may occur, for example, at leaking gaiters/cylinders or in the event of a varying gap in the throttle valve can be compensated up to a certain extent by the idle speed control valve.
The idle speed control valve opens a little more during the engine coasting phase and closes just before reaching idle speed. This prevents a high intake pipe vacuum and blue smoke emission (oil vapour via valve stem seals).
During engine start, the idle speed control valve enables an opening cross section that is above that of idle speed. This ensures the engine starts more efficiently.
The idle speed control valve features an emergency operation opening gap which ensures certain emergency running functions in the event of power failure.

I found this in the WDS, which clearly indicates that the manufacturer is aware of the blue smoke issue...

my question is - could it be that the blue smoke issue could be aleviated with a slight increase in the idle speed??? this perhaps could be achieved via programming?

[A B Able Truck]

Originally Posted by TerminatorX5

I found this in the WDS, which clearly indicates that the manufacturer is aware of the blue smoke issue...
my question is - could it be that the blue smoke issue could be aleviated with a slight increase in the idle speed??? this perhaps could be achieved via programming?

What's WDS ?

[TerminatorX5]

Originally Posted by A B Able Truck

What's WDS ?

wiring diagrams for the cars

WDS BMW Wiring Diagram System - X5 E53

you need java and ability to read SVG diagrams - SVG is an extension by Adobe...

[SlickGT1]

Originally Posted by TerminatorX5

I found this in the WDS, which clearly indicates that the manufacturer is aware of the blue smoke issue...

my question is - could it be that the blue smoke issue could be aleviated with a slight increase in the idle speed??? this perhaps could be achieved via programming?

wow you been busy. Nice find non the less.

[JCL]

WDS wiring diagrams are posted on this site, under the online references tab. E53 and E83.

[pezho405]

Havent checked this thread in a while, can someone give a quick TL;DR (too long didnt read) did we figure out the final solution or is it just valveseals still?

[TerminatorX5]

well, the quick run down - i did several back-to-back oil changes, with 5w-40 castrol synthetic, used engine flush before the oil changes, and used auto-rx inside the engine, and changed the filter in the middle of the oil cycle (oil filter changed every 3K miles, oil changed 6K miles)... this reduced the blue smoke a little bit and somehow improved the MPG of the car... but it did not eliminate the blue smoke...

i was wondering if that IDLE SPEED CONTROL VALVE information is of any value...

[A B Able Truck]

Originally Posted by TerminatorX5

i was wondering if that IDLE SPEED CONTROL VALVE information is of any value...

Are we talking about the same part?

Trottle Valve -
The throttle valve on the N62 is not necessary for engine load control. This is carried out by the intake valves variable lift adjustment.
The tasks of the throttle valve are:
- Starting the engine
Airflow is controlled by the throttle valve during the starting procedure when the air temperature is between 20 oC and 60 oC, .
If the engine is at operating temperature, it will be switched to non-throttle mode approximately 60 seconds after start up. In cold conditions however, the engine is started with the throttle valve fully opened because this has a positive effect on the starting characteris- tics.
- Ensuring a constant vacuum of 50 mbar in the intake manifold. The pressure control valves regulate the crankcase pressure to a low 0>30 mbar.
This vacuum is needed to exhaust the blow-by gases from the crankcase and the fuel vapors from the activated charcoal filter.
- The backup function
If the Valvetronic system should fail, the throttle valve implements conventional load control.

[TerminatorX5]

dude - you are talking about "juicy" parts of the car... to me, it is like i am a tribesman of a long lost tribe in Papua New Guinea who somehow is listening to an MIT professor - i got that deer in headlights look!!! hahaha... just point your finger and i will throw my battle ax in that direction!!!

[Rockit]

Found this on Bimmerforms if it helps....makes sense to me. The valve stem seals are usually good on these cars. See below...I know you have a 4.8.

I am working with my Son on his X5 4.4L 2005 with similar oil smoke on idle and using 1 qt in less than 1000 miles. His smokes more hot, not on start up but after sitting at street lights etc. Pulled the vacuum feeds off that go from the manifold to the valve covers. Both are coated inside with oil and if you penlight the manifold where these enter the engine you can see evidence that Oil has been pulled into the engine. Replaced the PVC in the valve covers first and had no improvement.
The PVC, positive crankcase ventilation system in these is unique; at least I have not seen this type used before. If it is not working correctly you will inhale oil.

This is the problem we are fixing. Not done yet, on second attempt to fix this oil consumption we are having issues getting the Vanos working again but I think we cured the oil issue. Old seals and gaskets leak, in this engine if a valve cover is leaking AIR into the engine you will pull OIL into the intake.
The PVC in these engines pull vacuum in the oil pan and in the valve covers if the vacuum does not match it allows blow by into the intake manifold with oil in the blow by. Any air leak into the valve covers or oil pan can cause this. A leaking Oil filler cap or leaking Oil dip stick is enough. We think this one was pulling air around the vanos seals, they were shot.
If this air leak has gone on for a period the valve cover gaskets many vents and oil deflectors can plug up. The valve cover will need to be removed and a thorough cleaning take place. The underside is full of passages that allow the PVC to work and not inhale oil. They are hard to clean out.
FYI, if you have bad valve stem seals it usually smokes heavy on START UP and then cleans up considerably while running although it can still use a lot of oil, less than 500 miles per qt is possible. Pull your spark plugs, if they all look the same it is not valve stem seals. Valve stem seals will typically dump a lot of oil in one or more cylinder and not dump any in other cylinders and you will see this in your plug reads. If you don't know how to read a spark plug go to Champion, NGK, Bosch web sites and read up or Google how to read a spark plug. ( By the way, Champion makes a great plug for the BMW in my opinion, it is Iridium plug part 9202 fits both the 6cyl and 8 cyl, Iridium's offer a 7 year unlimited mileage guarantee from Champion. I think these are cutting edge. but read for yourself and I will also mention this is not the old Champion company that supplied crappy plugs in the 80's, today they supply Mercedes on new engines and all Formula One engines, Iridium sparks with lower voltage input and will last 200,000 plus with less miss fires than any plug available, but enough of that, sorry )
My son installed New Vanos Seals, valve cover gasket and there are a few other seals involved with this valve cover, cleaned everything and re installed, I am afraid we may have installed the Vanos wrong or messed up the sensors in the Valve cover assembly while cleaning it. The car starts and idles great, revs great in park, runs perfect in 1st gear, in higher gears when you try to accelerate it DIES, obviously the electronics are not working properly but we have not traced the source yet, the problem is Load related.
Follow up to above note. Everything is now fixed and working great on the 2005 N62 4.4L X5. The oil smoke from the exhaust is gone. The engine is running good as new. The problem mentioned above was caused by one mistake, the drivers side electircal plug in was not fully inserted in the Vanos plug in. At one point we talked about taking that side apart again and my son had actually started taking that side apart by unplugging the Vanos Control. Once it was plugged back in everything purred. Without it plugged in the car would run great until you put a load on it and it would switch into limp home mode and cut the power to near zero while throwing no codes.

For all those replacing valve stem seals, please do yourself a favor and look into the PCV system on these cars. Check to see if your engine is fully sealed, no air leaks before spending money. Again, the Spark plugs will show if you are burning oil because of valve stem seals, read them before moving forward to change seals. If one or more spark plugs show heavy oil deposits those are the cylinders to look at for valve stem seals. If some are bad change them all. They typically age at the same rate in all cylinders.
If you put your car in a shop to get valve stem seals they will tear it down and end up replacing all the gaskets we replaced and in most cases fix your issue because of the new gaskets and O-rings most likely not because of the valve stem seals. I hope this saves some people money. Many on this forum have helped us fix our cars in the past so I hope this returns the favor.
My wife and I just picked up an X5 so now we have 2 X5's in the family but we sold off two really nice cars, our 2002 530i at 89 K and the 2001 525i at 150K.

Extra benefit: The MPG has jumped back to 20 + on Hwy at 75 MPH like it did years ago. Recently with the smoking exhaust and vacuum issue it would barely make 18 MPG on same trip.

Thank You for taking time to respond with great advice, we changed the parts listed except for the valve stem seals. The Spark Plugs that came out looked great, no sign of oil burning, no carbon build up, no deposits.
For this reason we ruled out valve stem seals and focused on the PCV system, I think BMW uses another term but function is for Crankcase ventilation.
FYI, did you now that the reason the pan is exposed to full manifold vacuum in these engines has to do with piston rings, racers found they could run lighter tension oil rings on the piston, less friction and more HP if they put vacuum in the oil pan, it helped the oil ring function. Another way to maken an engine more efficient. This was new tech to racers in the 90's but now used in pass car engines.