[seascoundrel]

Hi all...

2012 335is with 40k miles. My wife went to drive the car last week and got a low coolant alarm. She added aprox 2 cups of coolant to the reservoir to put it to the min level, and let the car run for 30 min. No issues.

Today, she went out and added another cup of coolant to get the bobber to the right mark. When she started the car, there were no alarms, but had decent white exhaust coming out for the 3-5 min she ran it idle before shutting it off.

I'm out of country at work on a cargo ship and trying to figure all this out via a shaky facetime connection. Naturally, she's supposed to be driving 3 hours to her folks place tomorrow for the holidays.

Alternative transportation has been arranged while we figure this out/get it repaired. Dealership is about a 15 minute drive via highway. I would think she would be okay to make the drive, or should I get the vehicle towed?

Could this be indicative of a head gasket failure? From what I read it is, but it sounds pretty rare for N54 engines, particularly at this mileage.

FWIW...The oil filter housing was found leaking and replaced at the dealership a year or so ago, and the water pump was replaced about 18 months ago.

[Mrmigs2011]

It's very unlikely with that milage!

Check the oil to see if the coolant is mixing with the oil.

I'd suspect failed oil filter housing gasket first and as for the white smoke I'd suspect either a fair bit of condensation from not much usage (super low miles) or indications you may have an injector leaking dumping petrol into one of the cylinders.

Does the white smoke at the rear smell sweet ?

[seascoundrel]

Thanks for the input.

Here are a couple videos of the exhaust. It doesn't seem heavy enough to be a failed head gasket?

https://youtube.com/shorts/iecf_xJK9B8?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/t5Ew25-8QCc?feature=share

[Mrmigs2011]

No would definitely say injectors for that,

Mine was much worse when one of the injectors was letting go.