545i ,low miles, white exhaust smoke?

I have a 545i with less than 2000 miles on it. Bought it brand new from the dealer last thanksgiving (04) as an 05 model and it only had 10 miles on it before my test drive.

It's garage kept as a weekend car, but yesterday when I moved it out of my garage to do some cleaning in the garage, I noticed a puff of white smoke come out of the exhaust when I was ready to pull it back in. This was a small cloud of smoke, but enough so that I noticed it from the driver seat as the wind blew it past the passenger window, but not the type of smoke you'd see from someone doing a heavy burnout.

I consider myself a 'sporty' driver but I never push the car really hard, so should I be worried about this white smoke or is it just the 'newness' still burning off?

I also have a 330XI which I had custom built in 03 and I've never seen this same white smoke come out of that car so I'm a little worried.

Reply » 545i ,low miles, white exhaust smoke?

There's a new Pope!

Reply » 545i ,low miles, white exhaust smoke?

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There's a new Pope!

But my car's not catholic!

Reply » 545i ,low miles, white exhaust smoke?

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Typically, white smoke = water, blue smoke = oil, so I would be concerned. It is possible that the water comes from condensation in the exhaust resulting from your infrequent use of the car, but I'd have it checked out anyway. Before you do that, however, go take it for a long spirited drive, perhaps a couple of hours, to see if the problem goes away. If so, perhaps it was just water in the exhaust.

Regarding the Pope comments ... the car was built just outside of Munich, ya know!

Bill

Reply » 545i ,low miles, white exhaust smoke?

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go take it for a long spirited drive, perhaps a couple of hours, to see if the problem goes away. If so, perhaps it was just water in the exhaust.

The smoke isn't continuous. After the initial ignition, the smoke stops after a few seconds if being idle.

It got me concerned because the I did a search before my post and found a few people talking about a damaged head gasket. Needless to say, this post got me worried http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...=white+exhaust

Other than the similar white smoke, my car shares none of his symptoms.

Reply » 545i ,low miles, white exhaust smoke?

I would be seriously concerned about any smoke on a 2000 mile motor. How was the break-in process handled? If you are burning oil (blue smoke), I would imagine it is coming from your piston rings. Happens sometimes when the rings arent properly set during break-in. Basically if you didnt vary your idle, you could have worn the piston rings in one spot, and you will ALWAYS leak and burn oil past your piston rings. I have no idea how BMW handles this problem. I definitly would take your car in for a nice diagnostic and emissions testing. Im not sure you will really even get much coopertation from a dealer since nothing is "technically " broken. But an emissions certified Independent mechanic should have no problem telling you what and if you are burning anything.

Good luck!

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