Oil and Smoke coming out of exhaust on our E36 Track Car

[OGreddevil]

Hey guys, looking for some serious help here as we are running out of ideas and are running around in the dark at this point. So let me set some background as to why I am asking for help and everything we have done thus far..

We currently have 2 E36s, both of which ideally will be used for Chumpcar racing. One of our E36's runs tip top and everything mechanically we did well on our running E36 we did on the new one we are building ( as far as we can tell ). The one we are in the process of building was purchased from someone who wrecked it a little and we restored. The original engine smoked quite a bit but we had a spare 325i engine and decided to swap it out in the process and send the smoking engine off to be worked on.

So we swapped engines assuming the spare engine we had ran fine ( guy we bought it from indicated it did ) and in the process of swapping out the engines we decided to remove all the unnecssary components that are not needed for racing and go from there. After comparing everything we did to our good running car, we decided to start it up and test out all our new race parts we have installed. Welp...this guy smokes really bad and starts shooting oil out the exhaust. We did compression test, compared everything we did to other car 20 times ( it felt like) and still couldnt tell what was wrong. So we decided, hey we got this 328i that has been sitting here for over a year, lets pull that engine drop it in, do the conversion to remove vanos so it can be used in our setup and all should be good.

Wrong, this engine does the same thing. Smoke and oil coming out the exhaust as well. This is where its strange to us, because prior to us removing the engine in the 328, it ran in tip top shape, never had any issues - it was my daily for many many years and it never did anything like this.

So today, I got frustrated and re-installed the CCV just to test and validate, same thing, smokes and shoots oil out the exhaust. We are at our wits end, so any help you can provide or suggestions is much appreciated.

[02Pilot]

So, three engines in the same chassis all exhibit the same symptoms, correct? Let's start with what's shared: DME? Intake? Exhaust? Fuel system?

Are you sure it's oil and not partially evaporated fuel? Are the cats clogged? What state are the O2 sensors in? There's lots of possibilities, you just have to be methodical about eliminating them.

[bmwdirtracer]

When you have an engine that burns that much oil, the oil is going to go everywhere. Maybe it started by sucking oil into the intake manifold, via the CCV system. Or, maybe the valve stem seals, guides, or the rings were very bad. Whatever the original problem, once the oil gets into the exhaust, it's going to take a VERY long time to burn it out. My boss bought an E46 that was pouring oil and smoke out of the exhaust....betting that it was just a CCV failure. I replaced the CCV system, and did my best to clean out the intake manifold.

The car smoked like mad, and continued dripping oil from the exhaust, for HOURS. The cats and O2 sensors were ruined, by the way; luckily we had a parts car to replace the whole system, in the end.

[OGreddevil]

So we do not have any cats on the car it’s a custom open exhaust. And I don’t see any oil in the intake but I haven’t checked it in some time. And I am positive it’s oil it’s dripping out of the sleeves we have on theexhaust to connect it to the tailpipe

[02Pilot]

I'd pull the exhaust and prop it up vertically with a pan under it and see what you can collect in a day or two. Or just drop one end of it and see if oil starts draining out.

[OGreddevil]

So with the ccv delete this shouldn’t blow oil in the crankcase exiting the exhaust correct? So are you thinking we should run it with the exhaust removed to verify? Let’s assume we do that and it still smokes any idea what would cause that?

[OGreddevil]

Oh I also notice what looks like smoke from oil coming out of the catch can vent as well

[02Pilot]

No, CCV or no CCV, oil should not be exiting the exhaust in the quantities you are describing. Worst case scenario, with no active crankcase ventilation, you might see a bit more oil consumption due to pressurization forcing it past the rings and/or valve seals. Assuming you haven't completely sealed the crankcase, right? If you did that, you could end up with a bunch of pressure, which isn't good. What sort of crankcase vent do you have rigged up? Have you checked crankcase vacuum/pressure?

[OGreddevil]

we have removed the ccv and connected a catch can to the valve cover venting to atmosphere

[02Pilot]

Yeah, just pull the exhaust and see what happens. While you're at it, measure your crankcase vacuum/pressure so you have some idea what's going on in there.

[ross1]

Three engines all smoking like mad? gotta be residual oil in the exhaust from the original dead soldier which must have holed a piston, broke a ring or something similar to put that much oil in the exhaust.
Betcha it runs clean if you disconnect the pipes

[OGreddevil]

Ok new update. I took the exhaust off and noticed cylinder 5 exhaust port Wet and all others dry. So I took off that header and sure enough it's the only one with oil. I thought maybe it was an oil leak from the valve cover so I put new gaskets on and ran the engine without the exhaust hooked up. Doesn't push oil out idling but does when under load. So my issue seems to be oil coming out from cyl 5. Any ideas???

[bmwdirtracer]

Do a leak down test, engine warm. Realistically, though, it's valve guides / seals, or piston rings.