Hey guys my 83' 633csi is giving me smoke from the exhaust its white smoke and im suspecting head gasket, i have a head gasket kit so if it is that ill have no problems. Does anyone know what else is could be.
thanks

Could Also Be Condensation From Sitting.........

Could Also Be Condensation From Sitting.........

in that case it should disappear quickly. But if it continuously smokes white and the head gasket is blown you should receive a warning "coolant level low" pretty soon as well.

check all the spark plugs

if you find one or more that are ALOT cleaner than the others, that's prolly the cyl. that's got the leakage into

if i dont drive my car for a day, i get white smoke on start up

i pulled my plugs and most of them have some oil on them -- would you suspect a headgasket or valve seals? :confused

good news is i haven't found any coolant in the oil and oil consumption overall isn't all that bad, esp considering its age.

White smoke at start-up is usually valve stem seals or guides. Probably best to rebuild the head at which point you will be replacing the head gasket.

my coolant levels haven't dropped and the smoke continues after start up, also when i pulled the plugs they were all pretty built up with carbon but one didnt seem cleaner than the other, so would i have to rebuild the head?

You really have not told us much. Definately not enough to say if the head needs to be rebuilt.

Does it use much oil?
When does it smoke?
How much?
Does anything cause a change?
How is the compression and leakdown?
What is the mileage?
Do you know the service history?

first things is this car has sat for 2 years and i am now just starting to get it in running order, it is not insured so it is only driven in the drive way or if i run the engine and just idle (which is 4-5 times a week).
It doesnt use much oil
When i idle it there isnt much smoke just a little haze that disappears after a fer inches of comming out of the pipe but when i rev it or move it the smoke comes out white for about 2-3feet
the milage is 213 000k
and all that i know is that it has been owned by 3 people then dealership owned till now

When was the oil last changed?

i would have to say 3+ years ago, any oils specificly better in 6ers than others?

Could it be the cooler weather is making your exhaust look steamier? Some white vapor in cool weather is normal, especially if the humidity is moderate to high.

But it should go away once your engine and exhaust are hot. Maybe idling the car in the driveway isn't getting things up to temp?

Sounds like valve stem seals...........smokes like a bizzatch when idling is a sign.....

well i think i will just take the head off check it out and replace the head gasket

Fuel saturated oil can also cause smoke issues. When was the last oil change?

Valve stem seals can be replaced with the head on. Also just replacing the head gasket will not solve the problem if the guides or seals are bad.

I didn't know that. How do you get all the rockers off? Is there enough room just sliding them over?

I've done valve seals on other cars and use rope in the cylinders to keep the valves in place.

IMO he's seeing steam, not oil smoke.

When i idle it there isnt much smoke just a little haze that disappears after a few inches of coming out of the pipe but when i rev it or move it the smoke comes out white for about 2-3 feet


Oil smoke doesn't dissipate this quickly.

And if it's not oil smoke, then the problem isn't valve stem seals.

I think he's seeing steam, which suggests a blown head gasket. But he's not losing coolant, he's not seeing a clean plug, and the amount of steam seems small for a BHG.

So I come back to the fact that he's only idling/revving the car in the driveway - and that the weather has just gotten cooler. We had a cool snap in AL last week, and in the mornings my Six put out a steam plume probably five feet long until it got up to temperature (about 5 minutes), which is normal.

It's possible the steam he's seeing is normal too. This would be easy to verify -- just take the car around the block a few times to get it up to temp and if it goes away, then no problem.

If it doesn't go away, then there's probably a leak in the head gasket, a small one. I'm not sure what the best test would be - probably a compression leakdown test. Or maybe you could pressurize the cooling system and check to see if a cylinder winds up with water in it.

i think that if it were the valve seals (problem on the oil side) then you should see blue smoke, not white. Being that it is white smoke we are talking about, then it's possible it is weather related. however, if the car is warmed up sufficiently, then the weather should no longer be in question. The problem would have to be either a BHG or a cracked head. I would be money on the BHG on the number 6 cyl. This a tyipical problem in the older designed HGs. If a BHG is the issue, then I would recommend getting the head rebuilt. get all new valve seals. the guides even for this mileage should be OK. The valves and seats should be OK as well. Take your head to a shop that normally works on BMW heads because removing the cam (required for redoing the valve seats) is a bitch if you do not have the right tools and they can actually butcher your head components if the correct tools are not used. Also, you have to think about what initially caused a BHG. It could be just the weak design of the original head gasket which is now improved, but a partially plugged radiator could also be a contributing factor. I would replace it if i were in doubt. Might as well replace the water pump if you have not done so recently as well. Good luck.

PS my 635 had a BHG. The leak on it can be so small that just running the car up and down the drive way you will not experience any appreciable drop in coolant level. It would take about 500 miles for me to notice a drop in the expansion tank. So the leak rate can be pretty low, but still give you the white smoke.

first things is this car has sat for 2 years and i am now just starting to get it in running order, it is not insured so it is only driven in the drive way or if i run the engine and just idle (which is 4-5 times a week).
It doesnt use much oil
When i idle it there isnt much smoke just a little haze that disappears after a fer inches of comming out of the pipe but when i rev it or move it the smoke comes out white for about 2-3feet
the milage is 213 000k
and all that i know is that it has been owned by 3 people then dealership owned till now

If you are running your car only on the drive way (unless you are on a ranch in Texas with a 5 mile driveway) or in idle mode you can't judge anything. Neither oil consumption (which is measured in L/1000km and must not exceed 1.5l/1000km according to BMW) nor anything else. From what you describe your car's engine may be in perfect condition.
Drive your car for a few miles and then see what happens.

Wolf

well finally i have my air compressor fixed and the welder will be back in possession 2morow and then things will really start moving! so i dont think i will be running her for a while but thanks for the help hope nothing is really wrong i ran her hard for about 5 km(0-100 in holy crap) and no smoke after