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Thread: E46 330i Oil in cylinder/cylinders

  1. #1
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    E46 330i Oil in cylinder/cylinders

    Hey everyone,

    So story starts waking up Monday morning, it was pretty cold about 28 degrees. Started the car and I had a very audible tapping noise. Let the car warm up, tapping still there. Started the drive to work and engine started to bog down couldn't get above 30 mph without having some real bucking. The oil pressure light came on after deceleration for less than a second. Turned the car around and now its sitting in my garage. Took the plugs out and they were all covered in oil. CCV is less than a month old was the standard version, cold weather version is now in the car as of this week. Sucked out all the oil out of the engine, cleaned the plugs off and let it idle for about 30 minutes. Wasn't idling terrible but wasn't anywhere near as well as it should be, tapping was there again. I believe this tapping is what people call the "loud tap" or the "diesel noise". From what I gather it could be something to do with the hydraulic lifters or valves. After idling the car brought it back in and plugs 4,5,6 were dry the 1,2,3 plugs had oil on them and cylinder 3 had oil in it.. not a lot but some none the less.

    Now my question to you all is what are the side effects of a failing hydraulic lifter? How did oil get in all cylinders then only three and only settle in one? Im willing to fix whatever it is on the upper end, but if this is going to require pulling the motor it might not be worth the money at this point.

    EDIT: I just ran it for a few minutes and now oil is in Cylinder 1... Thinking this motor is toast.
    Last edited by wardie; 12-08-2018 at 05:43 PM.

  2. #2
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    It's possible that the ccv froze in the open position, which is how it sits when the engine is off. This could draw lots of oil into the intake manifold/engine. If you do lots of short trips that makes it more likely. If it was fine when you parked it in freezing temperature and then this happened, it's worth looking into. The oil pressure light concerns me though. It was red right? Not the yellow oil level light, which is the same light. Have you checked the oil level? I'm assuming it's smoking from the exhaust pretty bad. Pull off the throttle body and see if there is lots of oil in the bottom of the intake manifold. It's normal for a little to be there but if it's a lot that confirms the frozen ccv theory.

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by randy72877 View Post
    It's possible that the ccv froze in the open position, which is how it sits when the engine is off. This could draw lots of oil into the intake manifold/engine. If you do lots of short trips that makes it more likely. If it was fine when you parked it in freezing temperature and then this happened, it's worth looking into. The oil pressure light concerns me though. It was red right? Not the yellow oil level light, which is the same light. Have you checked the oil level? I'm assuming it's smoking from the exhaust pretty bad. Pull off the throttle body and see if there is lots of oil in the bottom of the intake manifold. It's normal for a little to be there but if it's a lot that confirms the frozen ccv theory.

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
    Thanks for the reply.

    The car sat over the long cold weekend, being a new CCV but not the cold weather that is very well what could've happened. After this event happened I swapped it out for a new cold weather CCV as well as parked it in the garage all week.
    Light was red yes, the pressure one. It would only appear on deceleration and on the low end of RPMs, car actually died when I did take it out but I figure that may have been from the wet plugs. Over the last few months Ive noticed when Im decelerating it would blip on not so often for a 1/4th of a second.

    Yes, Ive checked the oil level. It DRANK oil when I took it out from my house that one day. Im talking a full dipstick worth of oil just disappeared.

    Throttle body had been removed when I did the CCV again, there was oil residue and maybe a little tiny tiny bit of visible oil.

    I was really hoping it was just the CCV frozen, but appears to be something else. Ill post up a video of the noise, I doubt it will be of any help but maybe someone will know what that sound indicates... maybe piston slap.

    Pistons also have quite of bit of carbon on them.

  4. #4
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    If there is oil in the sparkplug wells, you only need to change the valve cover gaskets.
    Btw, did you purchase a CCV kit, including all the hoses in the CCV system?

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by MIKYZZ4 View Post
    If there is oil in the sparkplug wells, you only need to change the valve cover gaskets.
    Btw, did you purchase a CCV kit, including all the hoses in the CCV system?
    Nothing in wells, I replaced the valve cover and spark plug well gaskets same time I did the first CCV change.
    I got the whole kit yes, part of me wants the CCV to just be frozen but I cant get over the weird smell its putting out and the oil jumping cylinder... Hoping its just oil floating around.
    If I can get it figured out Im going to be taking off the head and to a top end clean for the pistons.
    I still need to get a hold of a compression and leak down tester.

  6. #6
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    Strange symptoms.
    Are you observing any mixing of oil and coolant,
    either in the radiator or cylinders?

  7. #7
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    The compression and leakdown test should definitely reveal what's going on with that engine.

  8. #8
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    No mixed oil or coolant visually.

    I had a tiny bit of mayo on my oil cap but its been cold and hasn't been present before it got cold... and it showed up after starting it up for a brief moment.

    Aye I am about to do that, just need to get one from a local bmw guy.

  9. #9
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    What brand is the CCV? Where did you buy it? The only ways oil can get into the cylinder are via the piston rings or via the CCV. Piston rings, especially 6 sets of piston rings, don’t usually fail all at once. That leave us with the CCV. Did you install the new CCV? Did you thoroughly clean the dipstick tube with brake cleaner or similar. Did you replace the dipstick o-ring?

    The “cold climate” CCV is not recommended as the insulation prevents the CCV from reaching full operating temperature quickly. 28*F is not that cold so that the funk in a typically CCV would freeze. Why? The funk in the CCV is made up of oil and water. Oil, especially synthetic oil, won’t freeze at 28*F. I’m betting in the CCV.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by MarcoZandrini View Post
    What brand is the CCV? Where did you buy it? The only ways oil can get into the cylinder are via the piston rings or via the CCV. Piston rings, especially 6 sets of piston rings, don’t usually fail all at once. That leave us with the CCV. Did you install the new CCV? Did you thoroughly clean the dipstick tube with brake cleaner or similar. Did you replace the dipstick o-ring?

    The “cold climate” CCV is not recommended as the insulation prevents the CCV from reaching full operating temperature quickly. 28*F is not that cold so that the funk in a typically CCV would freeze. Why? The funk in the CCV is made up of oil and water. Oil, especially synthetic oil, won’t freeze at 28*F. I’m betting in the CCV.
    Aye, well I keep draining the oil and keeps coming back in cylinder 1. 2 and 3 are wet. Having a hard time getting down to someone with a leakdown/compression tester.

    BMW CCV, from the dealer. Im fairly confident its the rings with how much oil this bastards eating up. I let it idle for 45 minutes and lost a dipstick of oil again.

    Thanks for the suggestions everyone I think the ring must be gone until I test the son of a bitch.

  11. #11
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    Did you clean the dipstick tube???? The engine can literally suck oil out of the sump via the dipstick tube if there’s an issue with the CCV. Do you have a mild vacuum at the oil fill cap when the engine is idling? If you don’t have a vacuum the CCV system is the culprit. Did you install the CCV? What is you skill level? How did you connect the hose from the intake manifold to the CCV body? Again, an engine disent go from burning a bit of oil to guzzling the stuff in an instant. The oil rings fail over many miles.

  12. #12
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    Dipstick tube is 100% clean, ran copious amounts of brake fluid and a thin rod coat hanger to verify it was clear. I do have mild vacuum. I installed the CCV, this isnt my first one either. Id say I am a moderate DIY-er, Ive done plenty of work on cars in my past. Intake manifold one is a plug in and 90 degree turn to have it lock in. Yeah I understand that, I did a cold compression test today, turned the engine 6 times per reading. Cylinder 2 and 4 are out of range. Id say Cylinder 2 should be burning oil but wouldn't explain why everything had oil. I need a leakdown tool now to verify it may be valves.
    C1:165
    C2:145
    C3:170
    C4:150
    C5:170
    C6:175

  13. #13
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    Is that a dry or wet test?

    Also as Marco said you have two places for excessive oil entrance either ccv (vacuum) issue or rings. You probably already know no blue smoke on cold start then valve stem seals are more than likely ok.

    Your leak down test should be interesting. That was lower compression for sure.

    If it was me I would smoke the vacuum system / ccv system just for additional data.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by RobertDenali View Post
    Is that a dry or wet test?

    Also as Marco said you have two places for excessive oil entrance either ccv (vacuum) issue or rings. You probably already know no blue smoke on cold start then valve stem seals are more than likely ok.

    Your leak down test should be interesting. That was lower compression for sure.

    If it was me I would smoke the vacuum system / ccv system just for additional data.

    Yeah I will give that a try some time this week. I wish I had my hands on a full fledged smoke system, I can DIY something with a cigar for now.

    Would throwing a one way check valve in the dipstick return hose hurt anything?

  15. #15
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    Don’t do it. I’d pull the CCV drain hose to see how much, if any, oil is inside the hose. You could have hotten a bad CCV body. It happens. With the engine idling remove the oil fill cap and see if there’s a slight vacuum. If there’s a bit of vscuum the CCV is operating properly.

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