Well A work mate saw me start my car up yesterday and he described the smoke as being like a steam train. After about 4 seconds it clears to smaller puffs of white smoke every few seconds until it clears totally after about 15 seconds. It's only intermittant i.e once every 3 or 4 times I start the car but it is definately not normal. The bloke also descriobed it as being like when the red arrow are displaying using smoke trails.

I haven't had a chance the look at the crankcase breather yet, simply becuase i'm working very long hours at the moment and TBH looking under the bonnet it's going to be a nightmare to get at.

The mayo under the oil filler cap is getting worse and it now looks to be coating the undersidfe of the rocker cover like a layer of off white paint.

Is there anything else this could be other than a blown head gasket?

I suspect the head gasket is going despite what the mechanic told me last week.

Peter, what method did the mechanic use to test if the head gasket was gone? I cannot remember?

BB

He put a sniffer on the coolant system to check for CO.

I have just spoken to him again and he's going to do a cylinder leakdown test next week. He said that if the head gasket is only leaking slightly then it may not have been picked up by the sniffer. A cylinder leakdown test will tell us more conclusively if there is a problem.

The other thing that my be relevant is that the smoke seems to show up more after I have been driving the car normally i.e enjoying it's performance as opposed to taking it easy. I have a suspician that the leak may only show up when the car is being driven hard.

can water in the fuel cause a similar problem?

i know that when the head gasket was blowin on my wife's car that fluid would seep in to the cylinder bore's over night and first thing in the morn on start up it would start fine, drive it 20yds then it would stutter, rev it through it .. then after a nice big puff of smoke it was fine ... suppose it depend's on where the gasket is damaged? either a water port, fuel port, inlet side or outlet side ...

are you loosing any water, level going low?

Sounds like classic H2O in one or more of the cylinders due to gasket failure. Id get it checked again.

Lets hope its only the gasket.

My old Pug 405 and my dads Vectra all behavied like what you describe and it was the gasket on the Vectra but a cracked Head on my 405. (way too common on that TD 1.9)

Good luck

Mick

Right, Just get back from the garage and it passed its leak down test with flying colours.

However we think we have found the problem. The cars crankcase breathing system allows vapours taken from the engine to be passed into the inlet manifold and burnt with the fule. In normal operation it should do this on a regular basis. However my system is gunged up with crap so what appears to be happening is that the gunge/water/vapours are building up and then suddenly being dumped into the inlet manifold suddenly on start up from time to time.

He also showed me my radiator which is bowed at the bottom quite a lot.

So it is going back next week on thursday to have the crankcase brtather system stripped and cleaned, the rocker cover removed and the underside cleaned, some oil flush run through the engine to clean out any resudual emulsion, a new radiator fitted and new thermostat and housing since it is leaking a little bit of coolant. The bill should be nice but not as much as a new head gasket.

I considered doing some or all of the work myself but to be honest the engine is so bloody complicated and the weather so unpredicatable that it is more practical to pay someone else.

Peter Fenwick wrote: I considered doing some or all of the work myself

for all of 15 seconds?

Peter Fenwick wrote: but to be honest the engine is so bloody complicated and the weather so unpredicatable that it is more practical to pay someone else.

go on admit it, you're getting old and lazy - like the rest of us!

Peter Fenwick wrote: Right, Just get back from the garage and it passed its leak down test with flying colours. However we think we have found the problem. The cars crankcase breathing system allows vapours taken from the engine to be passed into the inlet manifold and burnt with the fule. In normal operation it should do this on a regular basis. However my system is gunged up with crap so what appears to be happening is that the gunge/water/vapours are building up and then suddenly being dumped into the inlet manifold suddenly on start up from time to time. He also showed me my radiator which is bowed at the bottom quite a lot. So it is going back next week on thursday to have the crankcase brtather system stripped and cleaned, the rocker cover removed and the underside cleaned, some oil flush run through the engine to clean out any resudual emulsion, a new radiator fitted and new thermostat and housing since it is leaking a little bit of coolant. The bill should be nice but not as much as a new head gasket. I considered doing some or all of the work myself but to be honest the engine is so bloody complicated and the weather so unpredicatable that it is more practical to pay someone else.

Peter, I emplore you not to use an engine oil flush. It contains solvents in it which break down the oil deposits, yes, but you will never flush 100% of it out and every time you do an oil change a small amount of that stuff will be left, causing your oil to break down prematurely and will cause more harm than good. I have not only heard this from oilman (the guy who sells oil on this and the BMWCC furum) but I work quite closely with an engineer from an oil company who does rig tests on bearings and diffs testing different oils etc. I once asked him his opinion and he also advised against it.

The best way to flush out your engine is to clean out the components you mentioned then do an oil & filter change with your usual oil. Then, run the car for 10 miles or so and when still hot, do another oil and filter change. I know it sounds expensive but either a double oil change or engine damage. I know what I'd choose!

Mike

chazzer wrote:  you can always use a cheaper oil for the 10 mile run then drain and re-fill with the good stuff

I agree!

chazzer wrote: every little helps and all that

Are Tesco selling oil now as well?

Peter Fenwick wrote: I considered doing some or all of the work myself but to be honest the engine is so bloody complicated and the weather so unpredicatable that it is more practical to pay someone else.

I can see your point....but in my opinion....

It's not that complicated.  Yes it can look daunting. 

When I had a considerable number of components of my BMW cooling system scattered on the road and pavement around my car, my neighbours all thought that I was mad to be working on what they thought would be an extremely difficult and complex car.  These are folk who drive Clio's and Focus.  In fact it is probably more easy to do the work I did on the BMW than on some transverse mounted front wheel drive shopping carts with the crank pulley burried into the side of the offside wing! 

At the end of the day it is just nuts and bolts.

If you were local to me, I would come and help you do the work on the cooling system.

Andrew

It's not so much that it looks daunting, it's the fact that I would be on the driveway at the mercy of the elements. I have little enough free time as it is without giving up my Saturday afternoon to stand in the wind and rain trying to fit a new radiator etc.

I will chat to my mechanic re the oil flush.

TBH I've used it in the past and never had any problems.