Just bought a 318is that pours white smoke.

[Vtec?lol]

Hey guys, new to M42's but not e30's. I'm a big M20 fanatic and this is my first airbag/m42 car. Here's the details.

Struggles to start. (good fuel pressure)
Sort of misses between 1k-3k but anything above 3k sounds good and you can't hear or feel anything out of the ordinary. Just a smooth engine. under load or trying to drive, it feels spotty as if you can feel each cylinder firing under acceleration.

anything below 1k rpm and the car bogs down as if it were being powered by one cylinder and shuts off

When I first got it, it didn't smoke too bad but after filling the crankcase with half can of seafoam it's pouring white smoke. To me those are signs of either failed gasket, rings, or valve seals. I mean its pouring so much smoke its hard to believe I poured seafoam in the oil and not the intake.

Everything else is pretty straight. All wires and sensors seem in good condition.

Let me know if you guys have any info or know of any similar problems I can reference to. Thanks for the help.

[e304me]

seafoam makes the car smoke a lot. does the car loose coolant?

[Vtec?lol]

yes, but only due to the leaking water pump.
Thing is, seafoam should only make the car smoke if I pour it in the intake, not the crankcase...

[accident]

sounds like the headgasket is shot.

[KenC]

sounds like the headgasket is shot.

[gearheadE30]

+1 on the HG, especially because you are loosing coolant.

[slammin.e28]

That's not smoke. It's steam. Go *waft* the exhaust and see if it smells sweet. If so, HG = blown or head/block cracked/warped. BTDT.

[Vtec?lol]

Doesn't smell sweet. Smells like gas and burn.

Here's a quick video. Please excuse my truck in the background. I needed it to start the car since the battery is toast.

I can take another vid if needed without the truck to diagnose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCe-0NzRAtA

[Ceeker]

pull the dip stick out and check for any yellow/white film in the oil. if you head gasket is blown or leaking it may find its way into the oil. A sweet smell from the tail pipe while running is good indication you are getting coolant blow by/burning off. You need to change head gasket/possible head. For sure it will need resurfacing since there is a good chance the PO overheated the car causing this problem in the first place. Since you are going to repair the head check for cam wear as well; check the timing chain and guides for excessive wear and change if necessary. Also do a waterpump and front timing cover gasket. and a timing belt hydrolic tensioner. and finally all the vacuum lines. You'll be good to go after this. You might be into about 500-1000 for everything if lucky not including labour. Best to find a good used head with low kms/miles preferably and recondition that.

[bmwman91]

One huge fault on the M42 was the rubber profile gasket (the rear piece that sits between the head & timing case, there's also a front one between the timing case covers, but that's not the problem). MOST M42's were recalled & had it replaced a decade ago. However, some didn't & you may have one of them. SeaFoam in the crank case shouldn't cause white smoke. I'd bet on either the profile gasket, or the head gasket.

Part #10 in the diagram was the recall item.
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...08&hg=11&fg=10

It CAN be replaced without pulling the head, but you really have to know what you are doing to manage that. I've been wrenching on my M42s for over a decade now & I still get super nervous just thinking about doing that repair again!

[Dj Buttchug]

It CAN be replaced without pulling the head, but you really have to know what you are doing to manage that. I've been wrenching on my M42s for over a decade now & I still get super nervous just thinking about doing that repair again!

yea ive done it sucks, and its really hard.


also compression test. cyl leakage??? pull plugs and look for coolant in cylinders?

HG failure is ususally easy to diagnose

[mrmckie]

sounds exactly like my car, minus the white smoke.

[Vtec?lol]

Oil has a redish tint to it. No signs of milkshake

I don't have any compression tools yet so I'll pull the plugs and see

Its smoke and steam so I guess its burning oil and coolant. Pretty gay

I'm tearing down the engine now. I'll report my finding in a bit.

[3bvert]

so pulling it apart ?

a cracked head is not always easy to spot and does not always show up in oil.
I had one that cracked in an exsaust valve passage could not find until the valves were pulled
a leak down test would not have shown it

good luck

[Vtec?lol]

Man, that's gotta hurt. I'm gonna get that uv stuff and black light it. It helps with finding cracks.