turned out to have a problem in some intgernal valves, dont know what they are called, ended changing lots of gaskets and small other parts cost me around $2K not a big deal, but to all watch out oil u use, its all becoz for one time i put a bad oil and left it in the engine for more than 3K miles :(

We stay in the 30's most of the winter. Should I bother with being concerned? I just looked and it looks pretty clear in there. Actually it looks pretty amazing in there for 144k miles. Old faithful?

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d5...1/IMG_8972.jpg

yeah it is a shame that when its cold and snowy out, we should park these cars....i had white smoke a few weeks ago....pulled over right away...turned it off, checked everything...nothing...drove it, seemed fine...got it scanned....nothing...no oil anywhere, only thing i did notice after driving, i'll smell the front of grills, literally sticking my nose into the grills i can sort smell faint oil? oil level remains fine.....i'm getting another scan tomorrow just to be safe....

:rofl::rofl::rofl::bustingupI did the same thing when my wife said she smelled something burning last month. It was a power steering hose leak thankfully.

The picture of the oil cap is great! I wish mine looked that clean. I drive mine 40 miles each way to work and still have a lot of goo.

I have an E53 in stick and :wtf: Last year same time my car had this issue except oil came out from under the oil cap. Now yesterday my car blew oil out the side of the engine creating lots of smoke on the highway at 70mph. Had to have it flatbeaded again to a garage thank god I was able to shut it off before it hydro-locked. Its very irritating that my Camry is more reliable than a car that was designed in Germany and called the ultimate driving machine. But I really don't want to get rid of her. I read that there is an updated kit for this is that true? I hate to get my car back and it happen again in 2 weeks. Also anyone reach out BMWNA for help with this?

:rofl: You might wish to adjust your expectations so you don't feel so irritated. The Camry is designed to be the Ultimate Appliance. Reliability is their marketable mainstay. The BMW- ANY BMW- has NEVER been marketed as reliable. Just the best driving experience possible as the Ultimate DRIVING machine. That is, of course, when you get to actually DRIVE it! :rofl:

So sad but true. That's probably why I refuse to drive the Camry, damn it BMW's have spoiled me.

There are updated parts (a cold climate version) which is basically just better insulated hoses and such, your 04 may or may not have these parts on already. Although i'm thinking it doesnt, since this happened before, make sure you request the cold climate parts from whoever is doing the work!

and my way of keeping this from happening, avoiding short trips where the car doesnt warm up at all costs in the cold! even if i am making a couple short trips (say a stop to the cleaners, the bank, across town for lunch) i leave the car idling in the parking lot, sure it may waste some gas, but i can't see myself turning the car on, driving 2 miles away, shutting it off, then getting back in 2 minutes later to drive another 15.

hope that makes sense and helps!

Thanks for the heads up Ricky, i'll let them know. I'm gonna have to take the long way to work from now, because it's about 15 mins away. That's what probably caused this issue.

It really takes a lot more than 15 minutes to ensure you don't have this issue. I have a 40 mile trip and it still doesn't get all the moisture out. I noticed this when I had to add oil after work. The oil cap was frozen shut, ICE. I would suggest treating the family to a long drive ever other weekend. About an hour or two on the hwy. My wife uses the X in town to go to work but I take it once every week or two to my job, much farther.