[Kylee90]

Hey guys so I just came here to try and get some advice and insight on what might be going on with my car and what to do with it. I have a 2007 328xi with 97k miles on it. Recently after upgrading to an afe cold air intake I popped a few codes and found out my maf was faulty so I fixed that, therefore no ses light on the dash. A few thousand miles ago I was getting white smoke coming from my air vents and the back left of the engine which was diagnosed as oil leaking from my vgc. 700$ later my local mechanic replaced the vcg and all was well. Now at 97k miles I am experiencing the same exact problem with white smoke coming from the same spot. While checking under the hood to maybe diagnose the problem, I noticed that there was still residual oil and grease left over after the vcg replacement. Could this oil leak be from my shop not cleaning the valve cover and the left over oil and grease is just burning off ? Or am I dealing with a different problem? Tomorrow I’m gonna try deep cleaning the engine bay to get rid of as much of that gunk as I can to see if that will make a difference. Let me know your thoughts I’m in need because I’m trying to sell my car soon and want everything to be as good as possible !

[BSM n54iS]

Local mechanic? So not an indy? I would say exact same problem.

[nsjames]

clean it.

see if it comes back?

sure seems the logical way to diagnose it.

[Buug959]

Did he replace just the gasket or did he replace the valve cover at the same time? My indy will NOT replace just a valve cover gasket. He says the plastic valve cover gets very brittle from all the heat cycles and it is nearly impossible to change the gasket without cracking the valve cover no matter how careful you are. Even a tiny crack will grow with subsequent heat cycles and then you have another oil leak. So if that is the case you may very well have the same problem all over again.

[Kylee90]

Originally Posted by BdSM n54iS

Local mechanic? So not an indy? I would say exact same problem.

Yes to clarify MY Indy mechanic. Sorry I’m new to the forums so I need to get up to date on my terms lol

[Kylee90]

Originally Posted by nsjames

clean it.

see if it comes back?

sure seems the logical way to diagnose it.

That’s what I was thinking, plan is to clean it tm so I’ll lyk what happens

[Kylee90]

Originally Posted by LemansE90335xi

Did he replace just the gasket or did he replace the valve cover at the same time? My indy will NOT replace just a valve cover gasket. He says the plastic valve cover gets very brittle from all the heat cycles and it is nearly impossible to change the gasket without cracking the valve cover no matter how careful you are. Even a tiny crack will grow with subsequent heat cycles and then you have another oil leak. So if that is the case you may very well have the same problem all over again.

I’m gonna have to check the service record to clarify this but I’m pretty sure he just replaced the gasket not the actual plastic valve cover.

[Kylee90]

Originally Posted by Kylee90

I’m gonna have to check the service record to clarify this but I’m pretty sure he just replaced the gasket not the actual plastic valve cover.

So update...my Indy shop had “valve cover set” written on the invoice so I’m assuming that means cover and gasket? But anyways I did a deep clean of the engine and topped off all my fluids and the car runs amazing now. Haven’t seen any white smoke since, and I was driving my car pretty hard td to see if I could make it f*ck up lol. Thanks for all your help guys !