Car Going to Catch Fire!?

[hunginator]

Hi Everyone,

I haven't driven my car in about a month and I decided to take it out for a 30 minute drive tonight. Near the end of the drive, I would smell something weird (like burning) through my air vents. This would only happen when I came to a complete stop. Once I started driving again, the smell would disappear.

When I finished the drive, I stopped to back into my parking spot. It was at this time when smoke started to enter my cabin and the smell being even stronger. Smoke also then started to go out of my hood... so I immediately shut my engine off.

- 2012 135i with DCT
- my car has around 98k miles or 159k kilometres.
- has never been modified
- has only been dealer maintained
- checked the floor and no apparent leaks

I'm quite worried and I'm thinking about having the car towed to the dealer. The last thing I want is for my car to actually catch fire...

Another possibility is that because the car has been sitting for a month, that maybe it has developed a little bit of an oil leak somewhere and this smoke/burning is a result of the oil getting heated up???

Thoughts?

[Thunderguts]

I suppose a seal could have blown and you're dripping oil onto the headers or maybe a slow leak dripped a lot of oil on them and it's still burning off. A shorting blower motor could account for the cabin smell, but I don't think you'd see smoke coming from under the hood. Have you had your blower motor replaced?

[NorthernDancer]

Look for evidence of rodents in engine compartment.

[MightyMouseTech]

If there is smoke coming into the cabin, most likely your valve cover is leaking oil onto the cat. Check the passenger side of the engine near the back for oil residue.

[Josh-PA]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

If there is smoke coming into the cabin, most likely your valve cover is leaking oil onto the cat. Check the passenger side of the engine near the back for oil residue.

This. Very common BMW maintenance need around 100k miles. I assume the smoke smells like burning oil and not an electrical smoke smell? If you turn on the recirc / cabin filter on your HVAC, the smell goes away?

[hunginator]

Originally Posted by Thunderguts

I suppose a seal could have blown and you're dripping oil onto the headers or maybe a slow leak dripped a lot of oil on them and it's still burning off. A shorting blower motor could account for the cabin smell, but I don't think you'd see smoke coming from under the hood. Have you had your blower motor replaced?

i think your 1st is likely actually. for the blower motor, i believe that was recently replaced under a recall?

Originally Posted by NorthernDancer

Look for evidence of rodents in engine compartment.

none!

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

If there is smoke coming into the cabin, most likely your valve cover is leaking oil onto the cat. Check the passenger side of the engine near the back for oil residue.

checked and there is some oilyness there... so i think the probability of valve cover gasket leaking is high. i will be bringing it into Otto's BMW shortly to have it checked out anyway.

Originally Posted by Josh-PA

This. Very common BMW maintenance need around 100k miles. I assume the smoke smells like burning oil and not an electrical smoke smell? If you turn on the recirc / cabin filter on your HVAC, the smell goes away?

haven't driven the car at all since this all happened... but the next time i drive, i will turn on air recirc to see if the smell goes away. i'm such a noob, not sure what burning oil is supposed to smell like but i believe that's the case... since i dont think it smells like electrical smoke.

[MightyMouseTech]

Originally Posted by hunginator

i think your 1st is likely actually. for the blower motor, i believe that was recently replaced under a recall?



none!



checked and there is some oilyness there... so i think the probability of valve cover gasket leaking is high. i will be bringing it into Otto's BMW shortly to have it checked out anyway.



haven't driven the car at all since this all happened... but the next time i drive, i will turn on air recirc to see if the smell goes away. i'm such a noob, not sure what burning oil is supposed to smell like but i believe that's the case... since i dont think it smells like electrical smoke.

Start it up and see if the smoke is coming from oil residue off the cat. 99% sure it is the valve cover.