E46 Fault Codes & Burnt Oil Smell

[oscvrh]

Hey guys first of all I hope everyone is having a wonderful day. I had to make an account to find some help on some problems I'm running into in my 2002 330ci. I recently bought the Bavarian Technic cable to scan my car with the software since I have a Service Engine Soon light on. It read codes "143, Tank leak diagnosis with DMTL" "228, Lambda control tolerance bank 2" "227, Lambda control tolerance bank 1" "211, LLFS error at the mechanical" "246, secondary air system bank 2" "245, secondary air system bank 1". I've also noticed a smell of burnt oil and even after 15-30 minute drives I see very light white smoke come out from around the area where the secondary air pump is. The valve cover gasket was replaced no more than a month ago and even though it's not as bad I still catch wiffs of burnt oil and like I said before sometimes even light white smoke. I've looked all around the valve cover and I can't find any leak. I'm having a friend of mine that works at a mechanic shop have a look at it soon but I want to know at least whats all this going on with my car before I take it to the shop. If it's of any help I have the M54 engine. I highly appreciate any feedback that you guys can give me on this. Thanks.

[Yeti325]

Sounds like you may have multiple issues going on. These cars are costly to rebuild. Unless you want to commit to thousands of dollars in repair work (literally) you may want to consider selling the car. You honestly could sell it, take that money plus what you’re going to spend trying to fix it, and buy yourself a newer bimmer that’s not broken. There’s almost no such thing as a cheap bimmer. I’m in the process of rebuilding my E46, and only now I’ve realized that I could have easily bought an E90 with all the money I’ve spent.

Try inspecting your CCV system. With the engine running, remove your oil fill cap and place something that acts like a diaphragm over it. Do this quickly to avoid small drops of oil everywhere... Just don’t let it idle for minutes without the cap on. Your system should be pulling a light vacuum. If you have pressure, or if you have a strong vacuum, then your CCV system will need further inspection.

Hope that helps!

[MarcoZandrini]

The tank leak code means that the evaporation system has a leak. This system scavenges fuel vapors and routes them to a charcoal canister near the starter. The engine computer (DME) opens a purge valve to suck the fuel vapors from the canister.
The lambda sensor codes could be caused by a myriad of things. Are the pre-catalytic converter sensors original? They need to be replaced at 100k miles. The 2 secondary air codes likely means that some of the secondary air pump (its sits on the inner fender) plumbing has gone bad. That’s a pretty typical event in the M54 engine.