Smoking from engine compartment, losing oil

Asked by reederbmw Feb 27, 2010 at 04:12 AM about the 2001 BMW X5 4.4i AWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

while driving notice lite smoke condition venting from engine,smells like oil burning, checked oil found to be a few quarts low. Please help and give repair guide..  

3 Answers

19,925

Find the oil leak and repair it. I would like around the exhaust pipe area as thats the only way oil when leaking will vaporized. Maybe a valve cover gasket / Oil Pressure switch something like that Good Luck

5 people found this helpful.
110

Common problem is the CCV system failure, especially if in a cold climate where condensation that builds up under short stop and go driving and this freezes blocking vacuum and enabling engine to suck oil into the intake causing huge amount of smoke out exhaust, and in your case, problably blew out valve cam cover gasket which is leaking down onto exhaust manifold. If you have never had a valve cover gasket leak before, sooner or later you will, especially when CCV failure or blockage happens. Don't drive car without replacing CCV hoses or you will have further issues.

5 people found this helpful.
50

This is a typical valve cover gasket problem. Be sure that the mechanic doesn't overtighten the valve cover when he replaces it, or the same symptoms will resurface and it will cost $400 for a new valve cover. You can do this job yourself if you have a socket wrench and YouTube.

5 people found this helpful.

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