My E46 has been smelling funky for a couple of days - smells like oil burning. Today I popped the hood and saw a little bit of white smoke coming from the left side of the engine. Took a pic (not that great, but hopefully it'll make sense to you peeps). Is this a possible head gasket issue? She's got over 191,000 miles on her, so it wouldn't really surprise me. Any thoughts?
crazyro
Head gasket issue?
My E46 has been smelling funky for a couple of days - smells like oil burning. Today I popped the hood and saw a little bit of white smoke coming from the left side of the engine. Took a pic (not that great, but hopefully it'll make sense to you peeps). Is this a possible head gasket issue? She's got over 191,000 miles on her, so it wouldn't really surprise me. Any thoughts?
Attachments
The good news is that it's more than likely not a head gasket failure. The bad news is that your valve cover gasket is leaking.
The valve cover gasket fails because it has become hard and brittle. Oil will start to seep out from the side of the gasket and onto the metal flange just above the exhaust manifold. The smoke your see is oil that is leaking onto that metal flange and burning when the engine is hot/running. Replacing the valve cover gasket is not a very difficult job to do. About the toughest thing you will run into is taking out the old gasket material from the plastic valve cover itself or freeing the valve cover from the head as it can sometimes be very stubborn to come off.
You can search the forum for a very detail thread that walks you through a valve cover gasket replacement. Any of our online vendors will offer you a complete valve cover gasket kit that you will need in order to complete this job. While you were doing the valve cover gasket it would benefit you to take care of any other maintenance items that may be due on your engine. Replacing the VANOS seals, refreshing the CCV system, and replacing the spark plugs are all things you can do while replacing your valve cover gasket.
Good luck!
The valve cover gasket fails because it has become hard and brittle. Oil will start to seep out from the side of the gasket and onto the metal flange just above the exhaust manifold. The smoke your see is oil that is leaking onto that metal flange and burning when the engine is hot/running. Replacing the valve cover gasket is not a very difficult job to do. About the toughest thing you will run into is taking out the old gasket material from the plastic valve cover itself or freeing the valve cover from the head as it can sometimes be very stubborn to come off.
You can search the forum for a very detail thread that walks you through a valve cover gasket replacement. Any of our online vendors will offer you a complete valve cover gasket kit that you will need in order to complete this job. While you were doing the valve cover gasket it would benefit you to take care of any other maintenance items that may be due on your engine. Replacing the VANOS seals, refreshing the CCV system, and replacing the spark plugs are all things you can do while replacing your valve cover gasket.
Good luck!
Thank you peeps. Oddly enough, the only major replacements I've done have been cooling system (at around 150,000 finally; water pump lasted till I hit around 189,000). I'm due for a clutch probably (though it still bites well and it's not giving me issues) and was told by my mechanic that the rear diff needs rebuilding to be safe. So, yeah, under the hood not much has taken place. But she's getting a little tired and cranky. 
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