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      08-18-2018, 10:24 PM   #1
SayHack
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Smoke Past Valve Gasket Replacement

UPDATE: There car is fine, just needed some time for residual oil to burn (took about 30 minutes of engine run time)...the engine was pressure washed after it cooled down.
Suggestion: as suggested by a member, engine needs to be washed with soap and low pressure water right after you complete the job....this should clear the issue but regardless let the engine run for at least 30 minutes before assuming that there is another problem, as some residual oil will still be present.

Recently I have noticed a decent amount of smoke coming out of the engine, especially when starting the car. As weeks went by, the smoke got worse. I finally replaced the valve cover gasket yesterday (including the eccentric shaft gasket and VVT solenoid gasket (aka football shaped gasket) , along with oil filter housing gasket. I finished the job late at night, so i didn't start the car until the next day, only to see a puff of smoking, but it went away after few minutes of engine running. I didn't think much about it, but basically every time i start the engine, a puff of smoke will appear right around the rear of the engine on the passenger side. For the life of me, i can't figure out where it is coming from. Throughout the day, the engine has been running for at least 30 minutes, so there shouldn't be any residual oil left. Im 99% sure that the new valve gasket was installed appropriately, as i was careful to make sure it all sits well. My question is if there is anything else that can possibly cause the car to "smoke" for 2 minutes or so after it sits for at least 15 minutes.

Thanks in advance.

Last edited by SayHack; 08-20-2018 at 11:53 AM..
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      08-19-2018, 05:47 AM   #2
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Could be oil leaking onto the exhaust, though that depends on how quickly the smoke appears; if it's right at start-up, it may well be something else, as a cold exhaust isn't going to create smoke.

Did you clean the engine thoroughly after the work? That should be your first step. Wash (not pressure wash) the engine with a non-caustic degreaser to remove any trace of whatever might be on it and see what happens.
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      08-19-2018, 10:21 AM   #3
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This may seem like a strange question, but have you smelled the smoke? I wouldn't take in an entire lung full of it, but that would help you determine what it is.

How long does it take to start smoking? Even on the headers, oil would probably take 15-20 seconds before it started smoking. If you see smoke 3 seconds after the engine starts, that would be electrical in my opinion.
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      08-19-2018, 11:47 AM   #4
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I would like to say thank you to both of you for the help....The smoke appears about 10-15 seconds after starting the car and it smells like oil (as it smells almost like a burned rubber kind of, definitely no "sweet smell")

Just a little update, after letting the car sit overnight, I started the engine today morning and there was barely any smoke...which makes me think it is likely residual left over from a bad gasket. I just finished washing the engine at the self car wash with soap (i used low pressure for the most part but did blast with high pressure around the exhaust pipes. Im going to let the car sit for the rest of the day and see what happens when i start the engine tonight or maybe tomorrow morning.

Thanks again
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      08-20-2018, 11:54 AM   #5
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There was no smoke today morning, It is all Good !!!!!
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      01-31-2020, 03:38 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SayHack View Post
There was no smoke today morning, It is all Good !!!!!
Recently I've noticed smoke from my engine bay to. Once I took a closer look I noticed some caked up oil. Pictures shown. Are these the signs of needing a new valve gasket?
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      01-31-2020, 04:04 PM   #7
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Not necessarily. How many miles on your car?

It could just be a VVT Motor gasket which is replaceable without pulling the VC. You could pull plugs #3 & #4 and see if any oil is pooling in that area. That would likely be the issue....especially if you pull all the plugs and the rest are dry.

The gaskets on these cars do good to last 100K miles. Mine wasn't leaking, but I was installing MILVS so it gave me a reason to go ahead and do it.

My car had 70,XXX miles on it when I did it. It's not a very hard replacement, just time consuming.
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      02-01-2020, 06:26 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rmtt View Post
Not necessarily. How many miles on your car?

It could just be a VVT Motor gasket which is replaceable without pulling the VC. You could pull plugs #3 & #4 and see if any oil is pooling in that area. That would likely be the issue....especially if you pull all the plugs and the rest are dry.

The gaskets on these cars do good to last 100K miles. Mine wasn't leaking, but I was installing MILVS so it gave me a reason to go ahead and do it.

My car had 70,XXX miles on it when I did it. It's not a very hard replacement, just time consuming.
I'm sitting at 62k rn. I had the car parked in my garage since I was buffing the paint and what not and when it started it up all I could smell was burning oil. I'm gonna clean where I see the oil early tommorow morning and do as you say. Let's hope so haha. But what's the difficulty in it being a diy?
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      02-01-2020, 07:04 PM   #9
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Could be a cracked valve cover. Maybe use a smoke(machine) tester to determine that. The PCV is built into the valve cover... so the VC is kind of a maintenance item on our cars. I haven't seen a posting on a 128i one cracking though.

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      02-02-2020, 07:33 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dackelone View Post
Could be a cracked valve cover. Maybe use a smoke(machine) tester to determine that. The PCV is built into the valve cover... so the VC is kind of a maintenance item on our cars. I haven't seen a posting on a 128i one cracking though.

Dackel
Never heard of a VC to be quite honest. I'll be doing my research now.
Edit: I'm dumb 🤦🏽*♂️😂
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      02-02-2020, 02:04 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LcossE82 View Post
Never heard of a VC to be quite honest. I'll be doing my research now.
Edit: I'm dumb 🤦🏽*♂️😂
VC = Valve Cover

VCG = Valve Cover Gasket


I think you can order just the VCG, but most people order the complete VC bc it comes with all new bolts and gasket. And like I said... the VC are known to get brittle and crack. Plus the PCV(positive crankcase valve) goes bad and its integral with the VC.

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      02-11-2020, 08:56 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dackelone View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by LcossE82 View Post
Never heard of a VC to be quite honest. I'll be doing my research now.
Edit: I'm dumb 🤦🏽*♂️😂
VC = Valve Cover

VCG = Valve Cover Gasket


I think you can order just the VCG, but most people order the complete VC bc it comes with all new bolts and gasket. And like I said... the VC are known to get brittle and crack. Plus the PCV(positive crankcase valve) goes bad and its integral with the VC.

Dackel
Pretty crazy how bmw charges $1400 to do a valve cover gasket replacement. But Saturday project now . Mine leaked at 65k. So for those who drive your car a little hard watch out haha
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      02-25-2020, 01:09 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dackelone View Post
VC = Valve Cover

VCG = Valve Cover Gasket


I think you can order just the VCG, but most people order the complete VC bc it comes with all new bolts and gasket. And like I said... the VC are known to get brittle and crack. Plus the PCV(positive crankcase valve) goes bad and its integral with the VC.

Dackel
To add to the thread mine smoked right after too and went away was just some left over oil from the job and such i assume.

and Dackel mine was cracked at the right rear corner of the cover. It was cracked around the really annoying rear bolt so im not sure if it was from wear/tear or if someone touched it before and cracked it. To clarify the grooves where the bolts sit in was like broken off if i remember correctly.

(Edit: just getting back onto these forums and i quoted the wrong post lol)
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