Mmmm gotta love head gaskets

[p1zz4guy]

I noticed a little miss in the motor last nigh and a little smoke from the exhaust last night. Checked it out this morning, here's what I found.:(

http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww82/p1zz4guy/IMG_20110207_095344.jpg

:mad

[m60b30530i]

Ugh that sucks well at least its a M50, should be pretty straight forward.

[sse34]

....im not a engine geek...what is it?

[CleanE34]

milky substance from the coolant and engine oil mixing. if your 530i does this, i bid you good luck.

[HE53]

:( Sucks. Lemme know if you need a hand.

[jbondbmw]

That sucks. Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't the I6's more prone to head gasket failure than the V8's.

[HE53]

Also, check the actual oil, and coolant before going forward. I've seen some of that nasty white crap in a good running BMW too.

[zubbie]

mmmmm gravy.

are you losing coolant?

[Tj Hunter]

Also, check the actual oil, and coolant before going forward. I've seen some of that nasty white crap in a good running BMW too.

Just had that scare with a guys car that I was working on. It had milky oil cap and there was ZERO oil on the dipstick, and they wanted me to change the thermostat and water pump. Turns out the guy is an IDIOT with cars, and only put in MAYBE 5 quarts of oil when he did an oil change a few weeks prior. I drained the oil and changed the t-stat and WP, everything seemed ok.

[Teeravaller]

I noticed a little miss in the motor last nigh...

How tall was she?

[p1zz4guy]

Also, check the actual oil, and coolant before going forward. I've seen some of that nasty white crap in a good running BMW too.

Yeah I still need to look into it a little farther, but the white smoke makes it look pretty grim.


mmmmm gravy.

are you losing coolant?

A little bit, but I though it was a leaky exspansion tank seal. Not so sure now.

[Steve547i]

Head gaskets suck. Good luck.

[whiskychaser]

You using the car for short journeys or is it very slow to warm up?
I'd wipe that crap off and take it for a decent run. See if it comes back. From that pic it looks like you had the same problem a while back

[p1zz4guy]

You using the car for short journeys or is it very slow to warm up?
I'd wipe that crap off and take it for a decent run. See if it comes back. From that pic it looks like you had the same problem a while back

Yeah I ve taking a bunch of quick drives. I'll try that later today and see what happens.

[wan]

It's somewhat common for rotary engines to have this type of build up in the oil cap on a healthy engine. I know its a totally different beast but I wouldnt freak out completely before checking everything else. Wipe the cap down and keep an eye on it for a few days of driving.

[rotaryboots]

^.....horrific memories suddenly flood my mind of coolant seals failing on many a rotary engine....

Take it to a shop and have her Exhaust gas checked and pressure tested. That will tell you the answer for sure. M50's don't take too long to replace the head gaskets on, thats nice.

[p1zz4guy]

Well its the head gasket. :( changed the oil and drove around for a couple days and the oil cap looked worse then the pic. Guess im just going to start looikng for s52 short blocks now... oh darn :)

[jbh1989]

Is that on the dipstick as well or just the oil cap? If it is just on the cap it's condensation and it's normal for cars that don't get driven long distances. It's very common on the V6 Mercs that don't get driven very far, the oil cap gets condensation buildup (since it's usually the highest point) but the oil and motor are just fine (and often on cars with 30k miles on them).

BTW, M50's don't "just blow head gaskets"; the head is cracked >90% of the time.

[p1zz4guy]

Is that on the dipstick as well or just the oil cap? If it is just on the cap it's condensation and it's normal for cars that don't get driven long distances. It's very common on the V6 Mercs that don't get driven very far, the oil cap gets condensation buildup (since it's usually the highest point) but the oil and motor are just fine (and often on cars with 30k miles on them).

BTW, M50's don't "just blow head gaskets"; the head is cracked >90% of the time.

yup dipstick too. Ill that it a shop and have it tested and hope its not cracked. I have another head if it is cracked though. hopefully its not cracked too lol

[Binjammin]

Don't go pulling the head without doing more research. That's a place where you're likely to have a poor seal, and even a little bit of water vapor from the air getting in will milk out the oil. If you don't have a milkshake in your sump I'd be very suspect of having a bad head gasket. Do a compression test, and check for oil in your cooland/coolant in your oil.

If you're in an area with enough humidity that you're getting white smoke in the tailpipe you'd easily have enough to do that on the oil cap. It would be stupid to do a head gasket because of your local weather patterns.

[p1zz4guy]

Don't go pulling the head without doing more research. That's a place where you're likely to have a poor seal, and even a little bit of water vapor from the air getting in will milk out the oil. If you don't have a milkshake in your sump I'd be very suspect of having a bad head gasket. Do a compression test, and check for oil in your cooland/coolant in your oil.

If you're in an area with enough humidity that you're getting white smoke in the tailpipe you'd easily have enough to do that on the oil cap. It would be stupid to do a head gasket because of your local weather patterns.

Theres more signs than just the mily oil cap, right where the exhaust manifolds meets the rest of the exhaust is soaked with coolant (it steams off when its started and smells of coolant). So at the very least its leaking to the out side of the motor.

I did pull the spark plugs and none of them were caked in white stuff. So mabye its not the head gasket but a cracked head :( the coolant doesnt seem to have any oil in it though.