Excess "smoke" all the time

almoststew1990

almoststew1990

almoststew1990

Soldato
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My car will give out quite a bit of white exhaust gas, once its warmed up a bit but not when its dead cold. It does it especially when it's cold outside but will also do it on days like today when its 11c or so (albeit a bit less).

I don't think its head gasket related as it's not plumes of smoke, I don't go through coolant and the oil filler cap thing doesn't have any mayo. Next time it's in for a service is it worth asking for a compression test?

Once I'm up to 40mph or so it's not noticeable but I can see wisps of it floating about at 30mph.

It could be oil as these engines and especially mine do like to go through oil with 1L per 1000 miles apparently being "in spec" but the smoke isn't blue.

Could it be lack of use? I use it once a week or so, so build up of... something? It's just a bit embarrassing really having a lot of exhaust gas drifting out the back when I'm at a set of lights etc...

It's an e46 330ci
 
Not sure which engine you have in your E46 but changing the crank case ventilation really got my oil consumption under control on my N52 engine.
Burning oil is blue smoke.
If your head gasket has gone you will be loosing coolant.
 
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Generally I find if you are burning oil you know about it and as above usually blueish smoke.

White generally means water vapour or similar IIRC.

EDIT: I might be wrong but casually I seem to have seen an increase in the amount of visible exhaust since the switch to and increasing amounts of biofuel, especially with older engines.
 
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had had a head gasket go on a similarly aged M52/6 earlier symptom was intermittent white smoke, especially under load, at slower speeds, driving up into mountains,
never saw mayonnaise,but exhaust gases eventually overpressurized the cooling system, expansion tank bulged too.
I'd get some analysis of the coolant done, but afaik not a lot you can do to pull it back if its gone, most expensive repair I had during ownership 1500 odd euros in 2011.
 
kona786 said:
1L per 1000 miles is ridiculous.

In spec .. are they kidding?
Click to expand...
That’s in spec for most manufacturers
Including BMW, VW, & Toyota.

Interestingly enough I have never once had to top up the oil or repair an engine on my Citroens
 
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It may well be simple condensation being driven from the exhaust, but more worrying causes of white exhaust smoke or vapour are coolant loss (ethylene glycol, the main ingredient in antifreeze, burns with a sweet smelling white smoke, and a variation of it is used in smoke machines), and brake fluid entering the engine via a leaking brake master cylinder and the brake servo vacuum hose. Brake fluid being burnt causes dense, acrid smelling white fumes but the quantity needed versus the master cylinder's modest reservoir capacity should make diagnosis obvious.

If there's no coolant loss or brake fluid loss I would suggest it's short journeys and the current weather. Good luck!
 
Diddums said:
You sure? That's two stroke levels of consumption.
Click to expand...

I remember I had a car once that was "in spec" until it exploded on the motorway. Apparently you could fit your head in to the hole where the pistons used to be.
Not saying that's the problem, but what I am saying is don't trust the "in spec" claims of any manufacturer.
 
Diddums said:
You sure? That's two stroke levels of consumption.
Click to expand...
I used to work for Castrol before BP bought it out.
I remember a presentation about a 1L oil pack we made for the boot of the then new E46 M3.
They burnt oil from new, as do most BMW engines.
German engineering - makes me laugh.
Even my GS comes with a check oil regularly sticker on the clocks, from new.
As I said before Citroens don’t use oil unless they are broken.
 
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Wife bought a Toyota Paseo 1.6 and that drank oil -No smoke or white clouds or leaks -took it back and they said it was normal -Had to check oil level every week -Sometimes it lost oil for weeks then none for weeks after that - She had it for ages and it was faultless.
 
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I thought audi and the tfsi had the real drinking problem, ... otherwise bm m52/6 never drank, but it lived on synthetic oil, so maybe kept piston ring wear down
 
jpaul said:
I thought audi and the tfsi had the real drinking problem, ... otherwise bm m52/6 never drank, but it lived on synthetic oil, so maybe kept piston ring wear down
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I know the M54 has a reputation for using oil in normal use.
I’ve also had a 1.8 TFSI - it was shocking.
Give me the older 20 valve turbo any day.
 
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I had a Audi 1.4 and a 2.0l tfsi and they never drank a drop of oil in the 4 years I owned them for..
 
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At this time of year, it's likely condensation.

I bought an ST220 back in 2017 & actually put a video on here shortly after asking if the head gaskets had gone as it was so cloudy. Turns out they all do it, it's still running fine today.
 
i remember picking up a new diesel transit custom from the ford dealer in 1993 y reg. came with a free 1 gallon tin of oil. when i asked they said check oil weekly or every 1000 miles.:) after the first 6 days i asked for more oil.... and said it cant be right, they told me 12000 mile service and it would be back to normal(just running in) flipping eck they were right, after first service it hardly used any between services.

them were the days 146 windscreen in 5 racks in the rear plus all my tools , hardly went home other than to change clothes:), i had to cut 1 and a 1/4 off the rear mudflaps just to make it look lvl:)
 
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cuke2u said:
I had a Audi 1.4 and a 2.0l tfsi and they never drank a drop of oil in the 4 years I owned them for..
Click to expand...
Young lad at work just asked me to check his car, his oil light had come on.
Golf R, I had to add a full litre.
Cars only done 50k
 
cuke2u said:
I had a Audi 1.4 and a 2.0l tfsi and they never drank a drop of oil in the 4 years I owned them for..
Click to expand...
I asked George Austers on YouTube how much oil his BMW N52 engine uses, he said none.
I thought B.S. they all use oil, anyhow it turned out he hadn’t been doing any serious distance in his car at speed. He later admitted his N52 was indeed using oil (they all do) but mine with 127k is very low now I’ve repaired the main cause - faulty CCV.
I’m not saying all modern VW engines are bad, my Skoda Octavia vRS was brilliant, my 1.8tsi L&K was not.
That’s why I’m no longer a Skoda or VW owner.
 
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