[tattoogus]

Hi everyone! strap yourselves in , this is gonna be long.

MY wife and I are the proud first owners a BMW X-5 35 D with less 60,000 miles on it. We got it new with like 37 miles on it. For the most part it's an excellent vehicle. However, three days ago as I was coming home from work I thought I had noticed some smoke coming from the exhaust and dismissed it as dust whilst driving through a construction zone. I got to my first stop sign and as I left it a huge cloud of smoke appeared behind me. So, I pulled it over in the first well lighted parking lot I could find and shut off the engine. I did a visual pre cursory check as best as could with a flash light (oil- no water on the dipstick just oil, loose hoses or wires- none, leaks- none, and loose parts of any sort- none) and found nothing to speak of. I let it cool off for about 15 minutes and started it back up. Some smoke but not a lot upon starting or at idle. I pressed on the throttle pedal and a huge cloud of thick white smoke erupted from the back of the vehicle. I drove it home at about 10-20 mph with quite a bit of smoke present. Only about 1 1/2 to 2 miles. About a third of the way I noticed a strange kind of intermittent noise. It was a kind of high pitched almost nails on a chalkboard but at the same time a kind of fluttery noise. But, it was not steady. In fact it it only lasted a few seconds and stopped a few times and for the most part was not present at all. As I rounded the corner to my home the check engine light went on and I parked it. It is now 3 days later and I finally got up the balls to start working on it. I have worked on my cars to a large degree of success and have re built many in ground up restorations. So, I pretty much know what it is that I am doing. I started by checking the oil and the dipstick looked as though it was left out to dry meaning there was no wet oil present. I know that there had to be enough to get a decent start to check the cars vitals as I had only changed the oil about a month ago. No smoke upon start up. I revved it for a couple of seconds 3 or 4 times , still no smoke. So, I let it warm up for about 5-6 minutes. Revved it again and once again the biggest cloud of bluish-white smoke appeared and the smoke stayed present at idle if only a little. I immediately shut it off. I have been looking for as much information as possible in regards to what is wrong with it. I have found X-Bimmers to be very helpful in my search for answers. I know that it's one or a combination of 3 possible for me to (I hope) fix problems. PCV valve , valve stem oil seals or the turbo seals. What I need to know now are , how do I determine which problem it is, where I can get the parts necessary for any of these problems or a combination of them ON A BUDGET (we at this time can not afford to go to the dealer repair due to the fact that its been a bad year all around), and where can I locate and purchase a 2011 BMW X-5 35 D repair manual that encompasses all 3 of these dilemma and beyond. Guys, we are struggling with bills and work is hard to come by for my wife and I and we depend on the car to get from A to B not to mention school starts this week and a car is a must. ANY information as to how to start the process of weeding out the problem would be a great help. Also, I only have 1 lousy payment left on the vehicle so, SALE IS NOT AN OPTION!!!. Thanks in advance for any info.

###UPDATE####!!!!!
DAY 4- Today I bought an OBDII-CAN code reader. the code that I got, well the as far as I can tell is" P042A or $7E8 CATALIZER TEMP. SENSOR BANK 1 SENSOR 2". where do I go to find out what this means? and how bad is it? Does it associate with a specific problem? And what should my next move be any ideas?
Thanks ahead of time.

[Yozh]

Workshop-manuals.com
Has the repair instructions.

If you have white/bluish smoke it may be oil in the exhaust (blown turbo seals) or coolant in the exhaust (cracked EGR cooler)
For the EGR cooler try disconnecting the EGR connection to the cooler and see if there is any coolant. May also flow back to exhaust path. You also have two coolers a low pressure and high pressure. Check both. For blown turbo seals check if your oil level is dropping. You did check oil level and said that dipstick was dry, that does not sound good. Otherwise, without pulling the DPF I do not how to diagnose blown turbo seals. A high pitched noise may or may not be related. May be others have more ideas.

I would not drive it like that, you would cook your DPF and SCR and that is not cheap to replace.

[Yozh]

Download this Diesel Technology.pdf
There is a lot of helpful general information to get you started.

[lnxguy]

I'd guess one of the turbos has gone kaput. That would explain the high pitched squeals and the fact that the engine is eating oil.

[tattoogus]

Thanks guys, it's a good start and hope that the advice you've given will help me to back on the road again. If there is anything else any of you out there can think of, drop me a line, I'm sure it can only be of help. Also, if there is anything that I may be able to help with, lemme know and maybe I can assist.
. many thanks again!

[BB_cuda]

There was another guy reporting lots of white smoke but I'm unsure we heard the outcome. Good luck and hopefully not a turbo.

[tattoogus]

Originally Posted by Yozh

Workshop-manuals.com
Has the repair instructions.

If you have white/bluish smoke it may be oil in the exhaust (blown turbo seals) or coolant in the exhaust (cracked EGR cooler)
For the EGR cooler try disconnecting the EGR connection to the cooler and see if there is any coolant. May also flow back to exhaust path. You also have two coolers a low pressure and high pressure. Check both. For blown turbo seals check if your oil level is dropping. You did check oil level and said that dipstick was dry, that does not sound good. Otherwise, without pulling the DPF I do not how to diagnose blown turbo seals. A high pitched noise may or may not be related. May be others have more ideas.

I would not drive it like that, you would cook your DPF and SCR and that is not cheap to replace.

no she's parked and not going anywhere till we can get it straightened out. I loaded the pdf file and found it to be very helpful. However the one from shop manuals .com is not very easy to navigate/ understand is there a way to go about it to get the info on turbos and/or photos of the top end of the engine that describe the removal of the turbo and repair proccess? I can't even seem to find the section on the engine at all. please advise. and thanks.

[tattoogus]

Originally Posted by BB_cuda

There was another guy reporting lots of white smoke but I'm unsure we heard the outcome. Good luck and hopefully not a turbo.

Do you happen to know which forum it was in?

[dixy2k]

The injectors are most likely in need of replacement.

[tattoogus]

Originally Posted by dixy2k

The injectors are most likely in need of replacement.

it's eating WWAAAYYY too much oil for it to be the injectors,yes/no?

[lnxguy]

It's not injectors if you're oil level is diminishing. You need to look at the turbos.

[007_e350]

Originally Posted by tattoogus

no she's parked and not going anywhere till we can get it straightened out. I loaded the pdf file and found it to be very helpful. However the one from shop manuals .com is not very easy to navigate/ understand is there a way to go about it to get the info on turbos and/or photos of the top end of the engine that describe the removal of the turbo and repair proccess? I can't even seem to find the section on the engine at all. please advise. and thanks.

Op if its burning oil through the turbo's, one quick way that seemed to work temporarily is put a thicker oil, I'd say 5w40 or something if you were on stocl 5w30 and see if smoking stops, also check turbo oil lines if they're wet