engine smoking untill minimum oil level

[colinmartin]

2009 x5m hi guys my car has recently started smoking and smelling of oil as soon as is goes down to minimum oil level it stops ,I have replaced all of the vacuum pipes ,she has 2 brand new turbos and I have even changed the oil separator on the side of the crankcase ,at first I thought it might be the valve seals which would really suck but why would it stop when the level is low and the car has around 80.000 miles on her. Does anyone have any ideas where I should be looking? I mainly notice it when sitting in traffic for awhile big puff of smoke .she has a stage 2 tune and originally had cattless downpipes which I have since changed to sport cats to deal with the bad fuel smell ,I have also changed all of the injectors to the latest numbers. Obviously I have spent some money on the car and it would be nice to enjoy her running perfectly for at least a short time .the only codes I am getting are the running rich codes .the smoke is definitely oil smell not fuel as I have had problems in the past with the injectors I feel I know the difference

[Ryan5034]

Ok I'll take a stab at this one.

The puff of smoke that happens after a period of idling or cold start is generally valve stem seals. Also causes high oil consumption.

It should have no bearing on the level of oil in the engine assuming you have enough oil to be in normal parameters.

The running rich engine codes I don't know are related to the valve stem seals. Might consider running the stock tune, clear the codes and see what comes up.

It's possible that the you damaged cats with oil consumption you would probably have to remove the cats to check.

Did you replace the oil line return cover when u got new turbos? That is a common source of leaks.

Hopefully this helps.

[colinmartin]

sorry for the late reply
I didn't think the s63 engine suffered with the same bad valve seals as the earlier one and the smoking comes when the engine is hot not cold ,I did replace the return oil lines when changing the turbos

[yco]

engine feels more hot than it should until smoke stops? when the engine is running have you tried to look the expansion tank and see how the liquid looks?

[Thecastle]

Yes, the x5m s63 has the same beloved valve stem seals as the n62 and n63. Though failure is less frequent as the s63 has lower operating temps (so goes the theory). So I’m assuming you’re getting smokem out the exhaust?

To test for bad valve stem seals do the following. Allow engine to fully warm up. Let the car idle for 5 minutes once warm. After idling Have a buddy stand outside of the car, while you get in and quickly floor it. If you see smoke out the exhaust you have bad valve stem seals. Try some atp at205 to fix the smoke,

Btw the dealer tells me the do,see bad valve stem seals on m5s and x5ms occasionally, but it’s not as common as on the n63/62 (all of them fail around 70k)

The other things that turn crispy and can lead to smoke or bad smells from the engine bay. Rear main seal (very common failure on these cars), valve cover, turbo oil return blocks, oil pan.

Other things to check are the filtered air ducts, they fail too.

[reslan]

Hey guys, I'm getting blue/white smoke from my N63 engine after it's ran a while. Plus I'm getting turbo spool noises when I lay off the gas. Anyone has any ideas as to what the issue could be? It's only ran 60k miles if anyone could help would be appreciated hoping it wouldn't be something serious.

[colinmartin]

i had exactly the same problem and it was the valve stem seals ,a costly project but it will fix the problem

[Thecastle]

Very common issue on N63 engines to need new valve stem seals at 50-80K miles (most often 60K).