[Thecastle]

Sorry to hear all of that. I found that using atp205 stopped my smoking, you can get it on amazon. Lucas oil nearly eliminated it. Sometimes the smoking is caused by bad pcv. Check that it’s cheap. The test for valve stem seals is to warm the engine up fully. Let it idle for about 5 minutes. Then floor it while a buddy watches for smoke. If it smokes when flooring it, you have bad seals. The atp205 will stop the smoke,

I had a 2008 4.8i that in 5 months cost me over 8k in repairs and maintenance which I tracked in a spreadsheet if your interested. Nearly all the work was diy. I had all the typical problems, alternator, heater control valve, parking brake, sun roof, etc. I sold it with 96k miles as even after all those repairs, it had a front diff leak, bad valve stem seals (smoking), leaking adaptive drive, noisy power steering pump. But basically another easy 5k in needed repairs that I knew of.

Never did the water pipe or alternator bracket seals, which also go.

Anyway I dumped it, and purchased a 2011 x5m with an extended warranty which incidentally has needed about 9k in repairs in 1 year of ownership. I have an exclusionary warranty.

No one will sell an extended warranty that covers much on a car as old as yours. The warranty is only worthwhile if you think it will cover more than you’ll pay for it. Of course the warranty company won’t take on a money pit at a price less than the cost of normal future repairs. They will also do an inspection and exclude any existing conditions if they even cover it with existing problems. Dump it and get something newer or more reliable. Or if you just love it then cost shouldn’t be logical.