Blue smoke on extended idle. 2006 4.8is.

[edogg]

Interesting about the dipstick. Do you leave the dipstick out when you punch the gas? Or replace it quickly then punch it?

I'd like to try this with my smoking X5.

[Porschesolutions]

doesn't take a full-throttle punch to get the smoke; medium throttle will do it too. I first noticed it while annoyingly sitting in traffic. Pulling away & seeing the smoke for the first time.

[esntrk1]

You guys are awesome. About four months ago, I went for an oil change at a Mobile 1 station. My 4.8is has 150k miles and I thought I should start using "the good stuff" so I went with Mobile 1 full synthetic 0W-40. A few weeks later my engine bay was covered in oil. I took it to the dealer to access the damage. You guessed it. Every seal you can think of was leaking oil. The total price to repair was nearly 10k. They tried to sell me on a new X5 and I passed. I found a top notch INDY that did the job for half of that plus some extras. No leaks but it was smoking blue after extended idle. More research reveals the dreaded valve seal/guide problem. Estimate to repair: 6k. After reading this thread I decided to either go with a 5W40 oil to see if that helped. I never knew about Liqui Moly but decided to drop in a can of Motor Oil Saver with the existing 5W30. A couple of weeks later.. no smoke. None. It's gone. Car runs smoother and quieter. Many thanks guys. I'm going to keep this baby going past 200k and maybe 250k.

[blackbeast]

Awesome thread, definitely worth the read

[bmwktm]

Well this thread is quiet for some time now, but the problem still exists with 4.8is in 2016. I have the same problem with my 2004 (a bit of smoke after 5-10 min idle) and i have been reading for hours these 27 pages and external links and info. After reading all that i am also suspicious if i have a valve stem seals problem or a vacuum leak. People are saying if i check my plugs i can see if i have a vacuum problem (if all of them are the same) or seals are bad (several plugs darker than the others).
BUT i was thinking i will:
1 - disconnect 2 hoses going from valve covers to inlet (one per bank)
2 - plug hoses so there is no vacuum leak in my inlet
3 - leave open those two holes on valve covers so gases can freely go into atmosphere (maybe i will put some hose just not to have oil sprayed all around)

Ok i know membranes in CCV will not work properly (no intake vacuum) and will be always open and oily gases are going to pollute, but i am doing this just temporarily to eliminate ANY crankcase gases getting into intake. So i am hoping to see changes... so if my "idle smoke" is gone than it is a vacuum problem and if it is still there than it has to be valve stem seals.
AND FINALLY my question is: is my logic correct and can i do any harm to the engine if there is atmospheric pressure in my crank case (instead of minus 22-50mb) since CCV is always open because there is no vacuum from my intake to pull them down against the spring?
Any info/suggestion/opinion is welcome!
here a video of my cloud after 10 minutes on idle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K41f7TICpc0

[roadriderg]

I Feel your Pain.. Mine is a 2006 4.4 that started smoking at 65 thousand miles. At 70 I left a James bond smoke screen. especially when hot and idled for a short time in traffic. Mine did not have oil coming in thru the intake.

After several months of trying everything I gave up and had the valve stem seals replaced. Problem fixed. No oil loss , clean exhaust pipes, car runs better, everything it should have been from the start. Thank you bmw..

One thing to note on your idea of opening the engine vacuum is that the bmw system with the intake system relies on a high engine case vacuum for everything to work properly. So changing this will cause other problems. Had this checked with a special vacuum gage at my local indy that fits on the oil cap. My vacuum was correct. I cannot remember the required level of vacuum only that on the n62 with the special intake was higher than most engines.

Cost to replace valve stems was not cheap but cheaper than the entire valve job. 1700.00. When we examined the old seals they were very hard and the opening was larger on the exhaust than the intake to the point some were oval.

[X53Jay4.8is]

Originally Posted by bmwktm

Well this thread is quiet for some time now, but the problem still exists with 4.8is in 2016. I have the same problem with my 2004 (a bit of smoke after 5-10 min idle) and i have been reading for hours these 27 pages and external links and info. After reading all that i am also suspicious if i have a valve stem seals problem or a vacuum leak. People are saying if i check my plugs i can see if i have a vacuum problem (if all of them are the same) or seals are bad (several plugs darker than the others).
BUT i was thinking i will:
1 - disconnect 2 hoses going from valve covers to inlet (one per bank)
2 - plug hoses so there is no vacuum leak in my inlet
3 - leave open those two holes on valve covers so gases can freely go into atmosphere (maybe i will put some hose just not to have oil sprayed all around)

Ok i know membranes in CCV will not work properly (no intake vacuum) and will be always open and oily gases are going to pollute, but i am doing this just temporarily to eliminate ANY crankcase gases getting into intake. So i am hoping to see changes... so if my "idle smoke" is gone than it is a vacuum problem and if it is still there than it has to be valve stem seals.
AND FINALLY my question is: is my logic correct and can i do any harm to the engine if there is atmospheric pressure in my crank case (instead of minus 22-50mb) since CCV is always open because there is no vacuum from my intake to pull them down against the spring?
Any info/suggestion/opinion is welcome!
here a video of my cloud after 10 minutes on idle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K41f7TICpc0

There is plenty of information out there that supports that your 4.8is is going to need valve stem seals to fix the problem. Just bite the bullet and move on.

[A B Able Truck]

Originally Posted by bmwktm

Any info/suggestion/opinion is welcome!

As I see it:
- Oil within your intake should not be considered normal & that needs to be diagnosed and remedied first. But keep in mind, your valve stem seals affect crankcase vacuum which effects CCV operation.
- You should not have excessive vacuum within your crankcase which would be evident while pulling your oil filler cap.
- If you don't know the repair history of a vehicle, don't jump to the conclusion it needs valve stem seals. There's a possibility the previous owner had the seals replaced and you may just be looking at a vacuum issue.
- If you're going to do valve cover gaskets, you may as well do the valve stem seals while you're at it.
- Your air filter needs to be clean.
- Carbon build up on piston tops from gallons of oil being burnt will effect your emission readings & visual test.
- This CCV system is a poor design and is easily defeated, so adding a catch can will help.

Heading out for breakfast, so I'll add more if I think of it later.

[bmwktm]

Truck thanx for the reply but:
- we all agree on that
- also we all agree on that
- this is exactly what i am doing and why i posted a question
- well that is absolutely not "while you're at it" because i can do gaskets with simple tools and not so much time and for seals i need a lot more tools and time. if you remember bmw asks for couple of thousands (5-8) to do that and for gaskets no more than 1K. and these 27 pages exist exactly because it is not "while you're at it" and people would rather try cheaper/simpler fixes before they are forced to do the seals.
- it is. vehicle is well maintained
- also we all agree on that
- it can help in hiding symptoms but not in locating and solving the problem

i really do not know if you are a troll or just wanted to post without spending some time to think about my question and writing just some general tips...

so i drove a car for several hundreds of miles now (with CCV pipes disconnected from the intake) and...:
- situation with 10 min idle smoke is 100% same
- since i did not put anything to close those two holes on valve cover (CCV exit holes) oil and oil vapors were simply shooting into the engine bay. I was checking from time to time expecting massive oil stains but i had only traces of oil, if you put all that oil in one spot it would not be enough even to create a half of drop of oil. Also i have absolutely no trace of yellow gunk in CCV nor hoses... So here i concluded my vacuum system with CCVs is working properly.

BUT when i saw my video i posted in OP on large screen i noticed smoke is coming only out of left pipe. So now i am afraid i really have a valve stem seals problem on my 2nd bank. I will remove plugs to see the color on them... since i have smoke only on one bank i ruled out option that oil is coming into cylinders trough intake (in this case both banks would be affected)...

So again i have a very specific question:
In what ways can burnt oil get into a exhaust and how to diagnose the real problem?
- valve stem seals leaking (how to diagnose with 100% certainty)
- head gasket leaking (but this would always create a smoke, no? how to diagnose that)
- i have no turbo so no leaks there
- bad oil and/or compression piston rings?? (if i have a good compression and only oil rings got bad, could i have a smoke on exhaust somehow? i can measure compression but how to diagnose bad oil rings?)
- any other possible way in for the oil???

[A B Able Truck]

You asked for opinions and I gave mine. Troll - been called worse - but when you posted to this thread I got a fken e-mail because I was part of the previous conversation. But I will remove that option from this site. And yes, considering I've been turning wrenches for 35+ years and if a customer was complaining about smoke with the valve covers leaking - I would sell valve stem seals if they hadn't been done. But that's me - my opinion.