Wierd Engine Problem

[ber55ber55]

Alright guys, about 2 weeks back I was on here freaking out about a head gasket.....but I dunno if that is actually the case....

I finally got around to lookin at the engine a little more yesterday

Took out the plugs, and they look all good.

Did a compression test. all cylinders between 9.5-10 bar

The more I start the think about it, I dont think it was white smoke, but more like black

The day I had all the black smoke coming out from the exhaust, when I pulled over, I accumulated a huge puddle of oil underneath the car on the side of the freeway. I dont know where this could have come out from. Any idea?

The engine did overheat...

The last couple of weeks before this happened, the throttle response was very terrible, and it seemed as if the car would almost always die at a start unless I gave it enough gas...

Does this sound more like the engine burning oil?
Bad valves, sleeves, etc?
In general, what else could this be

Thank you to this entire forum in advance

[Lordsneldon]

This sounds like it could be a couple of things, firstly if an engine is emitting black smoke it usually means its burning oil, this usually means the valve stem oil seals are worn but that does seem a little unlikely due to the relatively low mileage it has done,

Strange it overheated, I doubt the headgasket but i wouldnt completly rule it out, check for the tell tale signs i.e white gooie **** on the underside of the oil filler cap and or a radiator with a load of oil inside!!

Oil leak that bad is almost definately a failed gasket of some sort like the sump gasket best thing to do is to clean it all off, run the engine and visually look to see where its coming from.
All my e34's seem always leak from the power steering setup, always when i get underneath mine there is a misting of fluid all over the pipes!!!!!
hope this helps you.