N62, 167K miles not smoking at idle anymore

[Rbmn9529]

I left the car running a couple of months ago while doing an errand (50 degree and damp), left wife in car, 10 minutes later, came out, and car was smoking out exhaust pipes, thought it might be condensation in exhaust, smelled horrible.

BTW, I never have a burst of blue smoke when starting car

I used 2 300mL bottles of Liqui Moly 2020 Motor Oil Saver

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

300 miles later, no smoking at idle.

I know it could be several other factors (air temp, humidity, etc) but I let it idle while watching my son's tennis lesson in 85 degree temps and there were no issues.

I know there will be some thinking that I am just pushing problems down the road. Guilty.

[ard]

When you change oil viscosity to elimate leak at a seal or gasket- it ALSO increases the viscosity where the oil is needed for critical bearing lubrication... You aren't just pushing the problem down the road, you are (potentially) paying for the delay with wear in other parts of the motor....

IMO

[Thecastle]

Originally Posted by ard

When you change oil viscosity to elimate leak at a seal or gasket- it ALSO increases the viscosity where the oil is needed for critical bearing lubrication... You aren't just pushing the problem down the road, you are (potentially) paying for the delay with wear in other parts of the motor....

IMO

Maybe, but at 167k miles id say he's already used up more than 50% of the useful life of the engine and it's probably worth a gamble. I'd also suspect it's been smoking a long time the valve stem seals on these engines begin to fail generally between 70-90k miles. Frankly if it extends the life of the car great, but at 167k miles it's really not worth pouring a ton of money into.

I had a smoking n62 and used atp-205 which doesn't change the oil viscosity with great success. I also used Lucas oil leak stop which also worked pretty well at calming the bat mobile. My solution was to drive it then dump it. It's not worth spending 3k to fix in my opinion, it's better to just live with motor oil additive at this point.

[Entropy]

Good timing. I was just looking searching around for various reviews of Liqui-Moly's Motor Oil Saver for my N62. I'm at about 95k miles, and I noticed a bit of blue-ish-white smoke after idling for 5 minutes or so and then hitting the gas. I've heard from multiple people that say it fixed the issue for them.

For those that don't know, it is an ester-based seal-conditioner additive. I'm giving it a shot. Will report back in a few weeks.

And congrats on hitting 167k miles with that engine. I didn't think it was physically possible.

[Davidf]

What!? "these" engines will easily go way past 200k miles. Just have to keep up with maintenance and oil seals. My 4.8i needs valve stem seals (115k miles) and I have all the special tools to do the work in situ. But, I don't have the spare 18 hours it takes me to do the job. Been there done that on my E60 545i. Not fun.

[crystalworks]

Additives work wonders in making leaking VSS livable until such time you want to fix them, have them fixed, or sell the vehicle. Changing your viscosity is not likely to cause any damage unless you are consistently shifting at redline and trying to use all the performance the engine is capable of.

I've been using 20w50, and 10w40 (this is what I use in my X5) for decades on older BMW's to mitigate leaks. No problems. Probably a few HP loss, but less leaking is much more important to me. I also use Lucas oil additive. I'll most likely be doing the VSS this year, but until then heavier oil and additives works great.

[Entropy]

I use Castrol EDGE 0W-40, so slightly heavier than the recommended 5W-30. So 0W-40 plus the seal-conditioner additive should help. I don't have any leaks on the engine (just did oil thermostat gasket, prior owner did timing chain and valve covers) other than a very slight VSS leak, so the additive should help button that up and be preventive maintenance for other seals by keeping them soft.