Please help white grey blue ? Smoke on start bmw e60 2008 lci

[timmycoles1983]

Every morning I start my car a plumb of white grey thick smoke it soon goes, it’s literally the first start of the day , I’ve looked into everything the cars not losing water nor have I had to add oil yet ??.
I changed the crank case breather, as I read up a lot on it and thought what the hell its a service item anyway, so I changed that unfortunately my e60 doesn’t have a vortex filter just the ccv and cover, that’s another thing I wanted to know could add the vortex to help with blow by gases, I had one in the kit I just didn’t add it as I wasn’t sure about the vent holes on my model as the vortex isn’t fitted from new ???.
The car it’s self seems fine drives fine sound fine pulls , it’s just this really noticeable cloud of smoke on first start up.
Any ideas anyone??

[dworthy]

Welcome to the Forum!

What will help the techs here is if you tell us the model number so we know what motor you have.

Some white smoke is going to be expected, and if you do a lot of short drives, you will get some blue smoke mixed in too from blow by.

Next, how long have you owned this car? What is the mileage?

[timmycoles1983]

Thanks for the reply I really appreciate the help .
its a e60 530d 2008 msport lci model 123000 miles, i know its the m57 engine but I’m not sure if its the m57n2,I have the vin wbanx52060298131 I’ve looked everywhere to find this out.
so I’ve own the car around 8 months I only drive it a few days a week as I work away.
i notice the issue shortly after its mot ( 3 months ago ) , could have been doing it before ?(may have got worse)I did have the fuel and air filter changed,when the guy changed the fuel filter they noticed the fuel strainer was leaking and damaged so replaced it ( could this be a problem).
As previously mentioned I replaced the crank case breather myself I bought a whole kit but only replaced the cover as mine was empty no filter which I want to add but I’m not sure about filter hole lining up with vent holes .
when I bought the car I replaced the oil and filter my self this was only a few thousand miles ago, I used fully synthetic 5w30 expensive oil the level is perfect on the I drive and dipstick,although it went black straight away presumably carbon build up( I will probably flush it next oil change).
again any advice is appreciated as I’m a little worried now .
thanks people .

[dworthy]

When a car sits, it will get moisture in the exhaust, not much you can do about that. If you didn't get the proper oil, then yes, it can affect the blow-by on the car as there is a specific standard for the diesel motors. On that car you can use a LL-01 FE; LL-04FE oils. I am not sure, but would have to check to see if you can use a LL-12FE.

If you used a breather from "China", there is a chance it has already failed, thus causing your problem. I am not a dedicated diesel guy, but I think it would be worth getting the DME scanned for any codes even if your check engine light isn't on.

The oil turning black as soon as you changed it is normal in a Diesel.

[timmycoles1983]

I will do many thanks again .
But the the breather was a oem part I only changed it a couple of days ago but obviously like I say mine was just the breather cover and valve,the kit I bought was all of it with the vortex, to my suprise when I removed the breather cover there was no filter loo roll or vortex, so just in case of causing damage to the engine I only reinstalled the cover with rubber vent valve ( this was identical to the one removed).i wanted to know if fitted the vortex would it be ok might help or could have the previous owner removed it I really don’t know .
any diesel experts out there ???
many thanks to everyone I really appreciate the help .

[timmycoles1983]

And also to add to that is way to much smoke to be condensation, I will try to up load a video many thanks

[dworthy]

Yes, do upload a video.

And that excess oil can be from not having a breather installed. It can take 30-45 minutes of driving to purge the whole system of oil, so it just won't happen on 1 drive.

[timmycoles1983]

So can I fit a vortex on my model do you know are the crank cases the same ??i don’t mind taking it all apart again it was quite easy I left it out as mine didn’t have one fitted ?? Does anyone have any pictures of the inside of there crankcase so I could compare please .
I will upload photo in the morning as it’s already been started today .
thanks again I really appreciate this .

[timmycoles1983]

Struggling to upload this video lol , I’ve also noticed a fair bit of white smoke when I take the oil cap off on the engine , could this suggest engine wear pistons valves ect ?E2E372D7-E832-491F-9C5F-E45636B0D7EA.jpgC1A3A061-A41C-4D63-940E-D2C4B3EA46A5.jpg

Also I read something about using a thicker oil if piston valve wear is suspected again I’m just going around in circles.
i thought leaky injector to start with then the breather ? I’m just trying to check as much as possible myself before a garage rips me off , please anyone can you fit the vortex in the m57n2 engine my ccv was empty ?

[dworthy]

Not sure what you mean by the Vortex, but a common thing to do is to remove the swirl flaps, is that what you are referring to?

[timmycoles1983]

No the vortex filter is in the crank case breather mine didn’t have one .(as previously mentioned in this tread)
I wanted to know if there was supposed to be one in there, maybe previous owner removed,I’ve gone through everything from leaky injector to crank case filter maybe it’s worn pistons valves , there is quite a bit of excess smoke when I remove the oil cap .

[dworthy]

If the crank case breather isn't working properly, you will get smoke out of the oil filler cap. I would attempt to put the car back to factory spec's for there you will get a baseline to start from, so yes do put it back.