[Exxie]

Hello everyone,

I have a 2007 330d (231hp) which had a bung DPF, so I replaced it with an Ecotune catless downpipe. Since then, there has been a constant, light grey smoke from the exhaust at all times, even when idling. The smell seems to me to be a mix of diesel and burnt oil.

I understand there will be some smell without the DPF, however from all accounts (including Stan at Ecotune) it should be completely smokeless at idle. The smell is very strong and lingers in clothes/hair if you walk through the smoke.

Stan suggested to check the crankcase breather/oil separator, so I changed this over the weekend. Both sides of the breather were oily, so it may well have been faulty, but so far it has made no difference after about 50 miles of driving.

Another suggestion was that the EGR valve may be stuck open. I have no easy way to check this, but I did notice today that the EGR cooler was quite hot to touch, despite the EGR being disabled in the tune. Might this suggest that hot exhaust gases are still passing through? In this case, I may purchase an EGR bypass pipe to be sure.

Lastly, I've seen a few threads concerning the red boost pipe of the 335d failing, but from my searches, this doesn't seem to be a problem for the 330d. However, I did notice quite a bit of oil on my red pipe and the surfaces directly opposite were dry. Also, the metal part of the pipe prior to the red part (directly off the turbo) was quite cool when I was expecting it to be hot. Is my turbo shagged? It seems to boost well and the car has plenty of zip, but perhaps I've simply never experienced it at 100%...

My oil and coolant levels don't seem to be dropping at any great rate, but I don't do massive miles, so it's probably still too early to tell.

Apologies for the lengthy post and big thanks to anyone who manages to get through it all. Any opinions will be greatly appreciated.

[oldbilly]

I too have an ecotune dpf and egr bypass with maxitune remap on my 330d mileage 150k, at start up I get a little puff of smoke and then none at all, it may be your turbo oil seals are worn or on the way out, 1st if you still have the original egr fitted it may have defaulted open, try putting a blanking plate/washer into the egr inlet side at the jubilee clip end this will ensure that no exhaust gasses will getting through and cost nothing, also try and get the emissions tested as that will show up on a smoke test.

[ade146]

mine has always been the same since I removed the dpf. I have tried two maps various breathers and even the maf. My egr is blanked. Goes well and isnt bad on fuel but yep it smokes. It wont be the turbo unless you are chewing your way through oil.

[Exxie]

Thanks for the advice so far, I've purchased an EGR bypass pipe and will install it probably next weekend if it arrives in time. Would have done this anyway, so no dramas if it doesn't solve the problem.

Originally Posted by ade146

mine has always been the same since I removed the dpf. I have tried two maps various breathers and even the maf.

Is it the same sort of smoke as in the video? The smell is terrible... It wafts into the cabin when stationary and surely it's only a matter of time before I get pulled over by the cops.

Did you replace your MAF or clean it? I might do the latter as well as clean up the intake manifold when I change the EGR.

[ade146]

I replaced mine after I read a few posts where people had blanked the egr without getting an eml. The car looks at the maf to check this function and compares the actual maf to a look up table. Try as I might every time I closed the egr I got an eml. I replaced the maf with new oem. The numbers seen on the new one with my diagnostic kit are exactly the same as the old so it was a complete waste of money. You dont have to buy a pipe to blank egr just blank the vac pipe.
I couldn't look at your vid - maybe you are sensitive or maybe its rich. Best cure is get it mapped on rollers by someone decent.

[Icekube]

what mileage is your car on?

[335DEE]

is this smoke constant ? . even when driving ?

Do you have access to INPA ? if you do check your Injector mass adjustment values & diesel pump request and supply values.

Could be that the an injector is on it's way out and the spray pattern is forming droplets instead of mist which is not being burned properly.

[ade146]

Nope all perfect as far as I can see. To be fair after the second map its been ok. You wont see smoke behind you in daytime. It is a bit heavy on idle but anything that has looked slightly suspect I have changed so more than likely I am being too fussy.
My car covered 68k at conversion 82k now.

[Exxie]

Car has done just under 60k miles. I don't have INPA but it seems like a valuable tool so I will look into getting it.

The smoke is constant. It's easiest to see at idle obviously because the car isn't moving. I have had a friend rev it and it does steadily flow out. Friends have said they could not see the smoke diving behind me during the day but they could smell it.

I think dodgy injector is a real possibility. I've started adding Miller's in the hope that it may just be clogged, but I'm not overly optimistic. I am more optimistic about the EGR bypass and will update when it is installed.

[335DEE]

I have added a video of my INPA when driving . I was specifically looking for pump pressure request and supply and also Injector Mass Adjustment as I believe my injector on no3 is not performing quite right.

When running, the Mass adjustment is bang on but at idle cyl3 comes close to going out of spec. I didn't let it idle long but you can see this at about 5:20 when I pull over and let it idle for a few secs.

[ade146]

No smoke no poke is correct.

The nominal air mass out of spec is just a glitch as far as I know. Ive not seen any read correctly. I think its just INPA reporting. The rotational injection mass can be quite telling for injectors. Some of mine are better than others but they are all well in spec.

[Exxie]

Okay guys, sorry I haven't updated for a while, but there was nothing to report.

I'm still waiting on my EGR bypass pipe because the guy sent me the wrong one and now I have wait another 2 weeks for the replacement. This is assuming he has sent it, as his communication has suddenly dried up...

Anyway, I was poking around in the engine bay just now and I noticed that the fat plastic connecting pipe between the intake snorkel and air filter assembly wasn't sitting properly and there was a gap where warm air would be getting sucked in. Turns out the mounting clip on the snorkel side is broken.

No big deal, but with the pipe removed, I noticed a funny looking thing (highlighted in the photo), which is a squishy foam-like material and it's drenched with oil. It connects to the pipe running from the air filter to the turbo, so this oil will be making its way through the turbo, intercooler and into the intake manifold.



Questions:
1. What is this and is it normal for it to be dripping with oil?
2. The boost pipe has some oil leaking from it (I guess I need to do the seals) but also was only slightly warm to the touch after driving. I was expecting it to be hot. Is this normal?
3. When (if) the EGR bypass finally arrives, I will be giving the MAF sensor a clean also. What's the best way to remove this for cleaning?

As always, any wisdom is very muchly appreciated!

[Exxie]

Just another piece of information that might help for explaining the smoke - I've been monitoring the reported engine temp the last few days and it usually hovers around the low 80s. Highest I've seen is 85, which is lower than I would have expected. Could a faulty thermostat also lead to overfuelling?

[streetos]

The pipe connects the breather to the air intake so it's normal to have some oil around there. Running temperature is a bit cool but not cold enough to cause smoking. Boost pipes don't get that warm.

[Digitalize]

Your EGR thermostat may be gone, but with the current temperature I wouldn't be worried about a few degrees.

[Dan-danGT]

I have a 330d auto and mine has had the dpf removed and remap to suite. At idle mine will smoke like this if it's stood idling for 5 minutes. I find that after going out and giving a good drive hard on the throttle it clears up.

How ever on that injector point someone mentioned, I had a friend drive my car past me the other day so I could hear the exhaust. (everyone tells me it sounds well) anyway as he accelerated towards me I could hear what I thought was injection knock! Quite a scary sound, heard it numerous times before on Mercedes Vito's at work. But I check injector values and all seam in spec. Next thing is have them tested over winter I think

[jean019]

Originally Posted by Exxie

Okay guys, sorry I haven't updated for a while, but there was nothing to report.

I'm still waiting on my EGR bypass pipe because the guy sent me the wrong one and now I have wait another 2 weeks for the replacement. This is assuming he has sent it, as his communication has suddenly dried up...

Anyway, I was poking around in the engine bay just now and I noticed that the fat plastic connecting pipe between the intake snorkel and air filter assembly wasn't sitting properly and there was a gap where warm air would be getting sucked in. Turns out the mounting clip on the snorkel side is broken.

No big deal, but with the pipe removed, I noticed a funny looking thing (highlighted in the photo), which is a squishy foam-like material and it's drenched with oil. It connects to the pipe running from the air filter to the turbo, so this oil will be making its way through the turbo, intercooler and into the intake manifold.



Questions:
1. What is this and is it normal for it to be dripping with oil?
2. The boost pipe has some oil leaking from it (I guess I need to do the seals) but also was only slightly warm to the touch after driving. I was expecting it to be hot. Is this normal?
3. When (if) the EGR bypass finally arrives, I will be giving the MAF sensor a clean also. What's the best way to remove this for cleaning?

As always, any wisdom is very muchly appreciated!

Change your breather with the old foam breather from the e39. There's a 2010 BMW Puma case about it. See bmw-talk.de or forum-bmw.fr
http://www.forum-bmw.fr/note-puma-su...on-t67567.html

[Exxie]

Thanks for the replies guys. The replacement EGR bypass pipe never arrived. The seller tried to claim that he posted it but could provide no evidence. I don't believe he intentionally sent the wrong pipe, but he certainly had no intention of fixing his mistake.

I've now purchased a different one from a different seller (went on holidays for a few weeks), which will hopefully arrive this week. When I install it, I'll also rip off the intake manifold and give it a good clean. If overfuelling is the issue, hopefully this might help. Should I change the gaskets while I'm at it?

Re the thermostats, is it likely to be the main or EGR stat? With the bypass pipe fitted, do I even need to worry about the EGR stat? The car does get a little "chuggy" after it's well warmed up, perhaps because it thinks it's cooler than it really is. This isn't the cause of the smoke because it smokes even from cold start, when it's nice and smooth.

[335DEE]

Might be worth popping the intercooler off to see what oil is in there, you're supposed to get a bit of oil misting in the intake from the crank case breather but if you have a blockage somewhere it could be upsetting the balance and sucking oil in. ( the oil level is ok??) if you are going to change the main stat, Do the egr one too. Having the car running at 80c isn't going to make it smoke.

Over fuelling is black smoke. The only time you get white smoke is unburnt diesel and you'll see that from cold for a few seconds. Has your coolant level dropped any amount at all.. ?

[Exxie]

Originally Posted by jean019

Change your breather with the old foam breather from the e39. There's a 2010 BMW Puma case about it.[/url]

Thanks for this. From what I could piece together using Google Translate, this could well be the cause if excess oil is getting into the system. When I replaced the breather, I did wonder how it separated the oil vapour. Now I know it simply doesn't! What would happen if I disconnected the squishy little pipe and let the oily air vent to atmosphere?

Originally Posted by 335DEE

Might be worth popping the intercooler off to see what oil is in there, you're supposed to get a bit of oil misting in the intake from the crank case breather but if you have a blockage somewhere it could be upsetting the balance and sucking oil in. ( the oil level is ok??) ... Has your coolant level dropped any amount at all.. ?

Thanks for your continued input DEE. I do want to pop off that boost pipe at some stage (since it's leaking) so I'll have a look into the intercooler as well. There has been no noticeable change to fluid levels since the issues started...

[Exxie]

Update!

So I took everything apart today and found that there is indeed excess oil making its way from the breather, though the turbo and intercooler, into the intake. There weren't exactly pools of oil, but the bottom of many of the pipes were very wet indeed.

So the question is, what's the best way to rectify this? I could install the old version of the breather with the filter, but this would probably clog up quickly and need to be replaced quite frequently (I'd rather not have to do this too often).

Alternatively (I'm leaning towards trying this), I could install a catch can where that little squishy pipe is and block off the other end that joins to the turbo inlet. Combined with the EGR bypass, this would mean the engine takes in 100% clean, filtered air. Will there be any issues with doing this?

Whatever the case, I'll be sure to update this thread. Thanks guys!

[jean019]

The puma page tells to replace the e39 breather every 30000km max. That's what i'm going to do