Blue smoke, won't pass smog, just bought the car!

[s3xy]

I just bought a 98 M3 with 126,075 miles on it. My friend drove it home, he said it was great. When I test drove it ran great, it had new bushings all around, new guibo, brand new tires. Faster than my 99 M3.

The oil was scheduled to be changed at 127,625. I thought I would check it when I got home. It was low, like almost too low. I put 2 quarts in and it was within the correct range.

400 miles in, 4 days after ownership I took it to the smog shop. Failed!

Next day I got a check engine light, ran the code it was for an o2 sensor. Replaced the sensor the next day, and cleared the cel. Car still gets 18mpg, when I got 25.6mpg in my 99 M3

I put on kw v3 coilovers, clayed and restored the paint, replaced broken foglights, various trim pieces, and the notorious recline seat. So I have some time and money invested.

Fast Forward to 4 days I get some lifter ticking, I check my oil again and I'm low again, another 1 quart after 700 miles.

Car reaks of coolant and I had the front radiator hose get a hole in it from the fan clutch, so I replaced that, and the car still is leaking coolant.

Blue smoke is coming from the exhaust and I'm guessing its from oil leaking into the combustion chamber, so some seals went bad I'm assuming.

I paid 9,000 for the car and I'm wondering what I should do since I've had it for 2 months, it hasn't passed smog.

Do I fix the oil seal problem and take the guy to small claims court and tell him look it didn't pass smog because of this this and this, I took it to the shop and they had to replace this and that, here is the bill.

Because in CA it is the sellers responsibility to smog the car.

I did sign an informal document that the seller wrote by hand that said the car is sold as is. But that doesn't negate the fact they still have to smog the car.

What would you recommend I do?

[desynch]

The blue smoke, in my case tripped a CEL and threw a rough idle. Misfires. Turns out the CCV failed, so it was drawing oil through the intake and up to your spark plugs. Burning oil every morning when you turn on the car and a puff of blue smoke comes out.

Pull your coils and take a look at the plugs. If you find oil in the spark plug wells, then your Valve Cover Gasket has failed, if it's clean it hasn't. If you pull one or two plugs and they have oil on the tips, then you probably have a CCV failure or something worse. I made a thread back in April because I had blue smoke out the exhaust. It might be that, might not. Easy to check, though.

Try to trace where the coolant is draining. If there's no oil in your coolant, vice versa, then your headgasket is probably fine.

[Karuza]

Why didn't PO smog before he sold it?

[desynch]

Aren't you required to smog before selling?

[NoLastName]

In CA it's the seller's responsibility to smog a vehicle prior to sale. http://www.dmv.ca.gov/vr/smogfaq.htm

No way I'd ever sign for a vehicle unless the seller presented a valid smog certificate at the time of sale. Otherwise you're asking for trouble. I don't think you can even register a vehicle for highway use without a smog certificate. Didn't DMV sweat you about that?

Personally I'd contact the seller and politely notify him of the law to see what he says BEFORE you drop more money into the vehicle. Otherwise you could spend a ton of cash, have the car still fail and be SOL with no recourse. The fact that you spent money on coil overs and other mods is unfortunate, but quite honestly you jumped the gun a little by buying that stuff before verifying the car is legally roadworthy. Not sure what the options are here since you signed a bill of sale. However I think the smog law is in place to prevent sellers from knowingly dumping gross polluters on unsuspecting buyers (you in this case). I'd go to the seller first, and if he's not responsive then I'd consider legal means.

[ls6m3]

You should probably sleep with his GF .

[SchwartzBR]

$9K for 126,000 miles? Jeebus. I paid $6,800 for 96,000 miles.

Also, you should have replaced both pre-cat O2 sensors, not just one.

[MThrizze]

pull the plugs and see whats going on...just curious...what makes it faster than your 99?

[Anatoly]

I have the same problem with my car, but I knew it when I was buying it.
It's getting rebuild now.
Pull your plugs, do a compression test and then a leak down ...
Hopefully it's not your rings or valve guides.

[MThrizze]

the comp and leakdown will really let you know what kind of situation your in..i forgot to mention that

[kindkind]

coolant leak and smell could be your heater core.