A Lot Of White Smoke Clears After Short Journey Please Help

[evs bmw]

first time posting so be nice! just bought my bmw 320 d tourning estate yesterday 2003 model privately. started my 200 mile journey home and was having a great time, car on cruise control set at 70 miles an hour(never owned a car with cruise control) . the journey was flying by on my leather heated seats(also never had) when me and my mother who was following me back decided to stop in a toby restaurant and fill up on a bit of grub. when i got back in the car and started to drive off it started to plume white smoke behind which got worse as i accelerated i pulled over and it still smoked when idling . so i phoned the guy purchased the car off and he reassured me it wasn't like that before(maybe i'd been tricked?) .so i was far from home no aa/rac (doh!) i thought drive on home, a minute or so later the smoke had completly gone and didn't come back the whole journey. this morning i drove it up the shop and back nothing. then fifteen minutes later i took my son to school and the white smoke was back and again it cleared after a minute ,the yellow radiator picture light now comes on . my mate seems to think its nothing serious and will have a look at it he said perhags egr(think thats what he called it) so im going over his house tonight to change oil filter,fuel filter, new oil (should do with any used car when first purchased apparently) . anyone got any ideas or experience of this problem which will surely got me a ticket off pc plod should he be unlucky enough to be behind my 007 smoke machine

Edited January 11, 2012 by evs bmw

[IanIOM]

If the radiator light is now on, top the water up A.S.A.P, However when water finds its way into the combustion chambers of the engine it can produces white smoke, I hope I am wrong but it sounds like the head gasket is on its way out to me(however without seeing the car, I have made that judgment off your description so I may well be wrong).

Finally does it have clean diesel in it? I know for sure that when red diesel is chucked into the tank it can produce excess smoke. Run the tank low, sling some injector cleaner in her and fill the tank up then go for a blast.

The above will have one of two effect, either solve the smoke, or if the head gasket is on its last legs, this will put the final nail in the coffin, and it will smoke a lot worse.

Finally if you intend to keep the car, remove the swirl flaps before the engine swallows them!

Probably not the sort of news you wanted to hear but personally I would take it back!

[evs bmw]

thanks for that advice its had the swirl flaps removed and a brand new turbo 40000 miles ago (i have the receipts) its had a lot of work done to it new springs ,bushes ,disks pads the lady owner spent £4000 on it all together(got receipts) i took it out again just now and the problem cleared after a couple of minutes definetly a coolant type smell with smoke. would a cracked head gasket smoke clear after a couple of minutes? car otherwise is in very good condition and being a private sale i dont have a leg to stand on regards taking it back(which i think might be an over reaction) my mate is going to look at it tonight and i'll post to help any other poor joe's with similar trouble

[IanIOM]

If the Head has cracked, then as the engine warms up, it will expand and seal the crack(stops the smoke)

[evs bmw]

found a website selling a product called steel seal apparently can fix that sort of thing you ever used a product like that or similar?

[IanIOM]

Take a look here,K seal is the same sort of stuff,

Personally I’d fix it properly

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

found a website selling a product called steel seal apparently can fix that sort of thing you ever used a product like that or similar?

Made by the same firm as K-Seal I think...

If you're experiencing that dreaded grey steam/smoke then the gasket has failed, probably beyond any help from K-Seal/Steel-Seal.

Have it sorted before it catches you out and warps/cracks the cyl-head ;)

[G4VHD]

As Dabsy said.

TBH im not a fan of K-seal...not because its crap, but it will only ever be a tempory fix, a full repair is always the best bet

[Guest DazH]

The white smoke is going to be caused by coolant finding its way (one way or the other) into the chambers. Probably stops after a while because the engine swells when it gets hot and its sealing the gap, As already said in this thread.

If you can Smell coolant from the smoke, there is your answer.

[evs bmw]

thanks guys for imput would you try taking off egr cooler seems as if there's some discoloureration which looks like wet plastic on the back of the plastic pipe connected to it my mate thinks this is a good place to start . i also agree that to fix it properly is the answer and was merely speculating on the effectiveness of the sealer i stumbled accross when researching my car's bad health.

[evs bmw]

rbeen over my mates found out was a faulty egr cooler which was leaking water straight into the exhaust easy fix for him he said going to get the part off his mate in breakers for £40(bargain) in the meantime he blanked off water supply to egr which now gives me a fully function car which is running like a dream, so white smoke doesn't allways mean a cracked head or gaskets its worth checking egr hope that helps

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

So it seems, hehehehehehe... Well done fella ;)

[IanIOM]

Fantastic news!

[evs bmw]

yes fantastic news i felt like i robbed the guy i bought it off now lol