E46 white puff of smoke - please help

[beezo003]

Howzit guys

Some help please guyz

As some of you may know, i recently bawt a E46 318i N46,

i found a water leak, on the pipe above the water bottle sent the car back for them to fix it, got it back tryd to fix it with pratley steel looks like i:argh:

now my problem is every now and then i get a puff of white smoke when i startup and the car feels like its holding back alot of power?

any ideas as to what could be wrong?

because i dont mind fixing it myself especially if they going to fix everything with pratley steel but if its a big problem then im going to have to take the car back :thumbdo:

Please could you guys give me some advice

Thanx

 

[beezo003]

:fencelook: anyone?

 

[BillyBob]

White smoke coming out the exhaust? Sounds like head gasket failure.

 

[gpgold]

Perhaps try run some injector cleaner through the fuel. It may be caused by partially blocked injectors...Hope its nothing too serious.

 

[beezo003]

Thanx I hope so

 

[Rompsku]

Let us know what's the diagnoses... having the same issue on my E36, everybody says headgasket, but I'm not convinced. Might try the injector cleaner myself.

 

[beezo003]

Rompsku it is not a constant thing, so its a bit hard to tell but ima try injector cleaner and hope it works and sorts out the problem, im going to also maybe put it on a machine to check for errors just incase, does anyone know of someone with a machine in florida area or surrounding?

 

[hotchocolate]

Sounds like Head Gasket Failure to me.

 

[beezo003]

if it were head gasket wouldnt there be more symptoms than an occasional puff of smoke on startup?

What is head gasket symptoms?

 

[Rompsku]

Google search results...

-White smoke coming out the tail pipe which indicates coolant is burning
-Dripping oil from the gasket itself
-Carbon Monoxide or hydrocarbons in the cooling reservoir
-Excessive coolant loss with no obvious source of leakage
-Loss of power or a rough engine due to compression loss
-Water mixing with oil
-Oil mixing with water
-Low compression in 2 or more adjacent cylinders
-Remove dipstick and let a drop of fluid fall on hot part of engine - oil will smoke water will "sizzle"

The only symptom I have of the above is white smoke, but it comes and goes lately. Will give small puff of white smoke when I start the car, but goes away quickly, as well as when I rev hard, but again, it goes away quickly. Also have a small oil leak, but that's from the tappet cover gasket.

 

[Flex]

Hey Guy,

If the coolant level is dropping, then its pointing to the head gasket yes.
If not, then I would say you're safe for now.

Regarding that pratley steel job, I would replace all the parts involved there with new ones. A 'cheap' fix always leads to an expensive 'lesson' at the end of day, and you will be the man paying for that. :=):
So fix or have it fixed properly.

Keep a close eye on that coolant level for diagnosing the head gasket as a candidate.

Only on start up, the white smoke each time?

 

[Dr Evil]

a buddy of mine had the similar symptoms on his e46 318i and it turned out to be valve stem seals.

Sent from my HTC One X using my finger

 

[beezo003]

thanx guys :thumbs:

flex im trying to find the part as i just need the corner part and everyone says i must go to bm and have to get the whole thing complete,

it only puffs like once in a while then it goes away, so its not on each start up or constant or anything, thats why i dont think its head or valve stem seals as i stand to be corrected but ive spoken to few mechanics and said if valve stem seals would of been more of a grey/black smoke, white smoke is usually fuel/air mixture.

 

[Flex]

Yes those mechs are right, blue/dark smoke = oil burning, white/light smoke = air fuel mixture.

I would say start with the simple things, check the air fliter, when last has it been changed? Then clean the fuel injectors, etc.

Our car has got a terrible valve stem seal leakage, whcih I will have sorted out when I get back home soon! :joy:
And it's a constant blue smoke daily! So you're right, it can not be the head gasket or valve stem seals, lucky for you. :=):

Goodluck & keep us updated on progress!! :thumbs:

 

[beezo003]

thanks for advice bud :thumbs:

 

[beezo003]

howzit guys things ive done since the last post,

I have changed water pipes from water bottle and changed water bottle
also changed oil to high milage
serviced

now i havent had a puff of smoke yet :thumbs: