Need Help

So I have an oil issue and I'm not sure if its consumption a leak or both. The car shows signs of minimal oil at high rpm shifts. The exhaust will have a slight blue hint. At regular shifts around 3-4k its fine.

Compression test gives between 119 and 126 and a wet compession is around 150ish. Bentley says it should be 142-156. Is this a big problem for 110k miles? Maybe the tests were wrong....?

CCV and VCG has been replaced. I am going to do OFHG tomorrow I think. Any advice would be appreciated.

What oil are you using? How much are you losing? How long have you had car? Have you seen signs it'd overheated?

Have you checked the coolant for oil and vice versa?

Explain your second sentence better, please. You mean you get a low oil light when you do a high rpm shift?

You mean from 3rd to 2nd, or 2nd to 3rd. Are you tracking this car or just racing to get to hospitals to have your babies, or put out a lot of fires?

You were replying on my other thread. I created this one after I did a compression check because I wanted to know if those are an issue... Coolant has no oil and visa versa. I do not get a low oil light until I turn the car off or until I let it go and than it will come on while driving. I was shifting at high RPMs while a friend was following to see if the smoke was blue. The smoke would have a VERY slight hint of blue my friend said when I shifted between second and third and third and forth. Didn't really have a chance to get up to fifth where I was testing. During 3-4k shifts nothing was blue.

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthr...hlight=jclusso

This may turn into a pissing contest, but I hope your compression numbers arent in PSI.

But anyways, the reason why your exhaust is blue in between shifts, because your intake manifold has a lot of vacuum at idle or at deceleration. This intern, will cause oil to be sucked through tired, worn out valve seals and then burned through your cumbustion chamber.


Moral of the story? I wouldnt worry about it much until your car starts to smoke a little on cold startups, then its time to change your valve stem seals. But for 110k and the way I think you drive...your engine probably shows wear of an engine with 150k+.

Originally Posted by Loaded325i

This may turn into a pissing contest, but I hope your compression numbers arent in PSI.

They are...Maybe I did the compression test wrong?

My car does this and I've just learned to deal with it. I think some BMW M5X and S5X are built with large gaps somewhere allowing oil to be burnt. Either piston rings or valve stem seals. My car has a superb maintenance history so it's not a lack of oil changes. My previous E36 M3 did this too and that car was babied and garaged all its life.

Yea, the car runs fine. It pulls hard and feels strong (to me). I just don't know what to do cause i feel like its getting worse. I'm hoping its a leak. Are my compression rates that low.... The engine was run for 10minutes before i did the test.

Originally Posted by JcLusso

Yea, the car runs fine. It pulls hard and feels strong (to me). I just don't know what to do cause i feel like its getting worse. I'm hoping its a leak. Are my compression rates that low.... The engine was run for 10minutes before i did the test.

I wouldnt worry about it too much my friend. Unless your burning more than a quart of oil every 1,000 miles or so then you should change the seals. But the rubber seals are common on any car to get tired. You can have a car sit for years but only have 40,000 miles and it will smoke through the valve seals.

I stroked my datsun engine from a 2.6 to 2.8 and the engine sat for 5-6 years before I threw it in the car. Now that the engine sat too long and i was dumb not to cylcle some oil in the motor once a year, it smokes a little on start up. But she does run like a raped ape when I get on her...shes the fastest car I have in my garage, it makes the bimmer feel like a bus.


About the compression numbers, if its what the bently manual says, then your fine.

About the compression numbers, if its what the bently manual says, then your fine.

The compression numbers in bentley say 142-156... my numbers say 120ish during a dry test and 150ish during a wet test. Is that fine for 110k miles?

Originally Posted by JcLusso

The compression numbers in bentley say 142-156... my numbers say 120ish during a dry test and 150ish during a wet test. Is that fine for 110k miles?

You should let your car warm up in full operation, you should disconnect the fuel supply some how. In example, remove the computer fuse. Fuel pump fuse...ect..You need to hold the pedal to the floor during each test...have all the spark plugs out of the car during test.

Wet test is only to determine where you are losing compression.


Compression should be uniform between cylinders, this is the most important...all your cylinders should wear within eachother...if one is way out from the others...its likely of mechanical damage. If they are all close to the same..your engine is wearing normally and you have nothing to worry about.

Ok, I believe the engine may not have been fully warmed up. The engine was only run for 10 minutes of highway driving at a max. I am going to redo the tests tomorrow and hopefully it returns higher compression's.

Ok, I just found my oil issue and its deffinetly leaking. Its pooling up in those little square holes on the driver side of engine block. I already replaced Oil Filter Housing Gasket and Valve Cover Gasket as well as CCV. Is it possible that its the Vanos line?

Originally Posted by JcLusso

Ok, I just found my oil issue and its deffinetly leaking. Its pooling up in those little square holes on the driver side of engine block. I already replaced Oil Filter Housing Gasket and Valve Cover Gasket as well as CCV. Is it possible that its the Vanos line?

Sure is...it's just off the ofh you know. It's a pricey hose, maybe $50 or so...four crush washers. I put it on my ofh when I had it off...but I'm sure it's not too bad to replace. But, I have to say, rather than guessing, if you did all that work, then just clean things up, drive a bit, and look again.

The crimps on the vanos line are very strong, but I've read that they can seep when twisted...don't know how true that is as I read it on fanatics!

Anyway, clean things up...xl50!