Tragedy Strikes My 525i… Fatal White Smoke!

Greetings All, I have been away from the forums for a quite a while but I am back under unfortunate circumstances. It has been seasonably cold here recently and I am afraid it has taken a toll on my pride and joy. I started my car on yesterday to much dismay; plumes of white smoke out of the tail pipe. It was apparent that I was burning coolant and in no small quantity. I nearly wept wondering what terrible fate had befallen my baby. Nothing unusual in terms of engine noise, but I quickly shut her down to inspect. Nothing under the hood was out of order upon first glance. However I thought best to leave her be until help arrived. Tim stopped last night to lend a hand but the prognosis looks grim. When he pulled the dip stick there was a clear indication of antifreeze in the oil (milky). So, in addition to leaking coolant into the combustion chamber it is also leaking into the oil. I pray it is not a cracked block but what else could it be? Would a head gasket leak into the oil? Could water have frozen and cracked the block? I do not see any visible signs of leakage under the vehicle. It is being towed to my Tech today. Condolence cards accepted.

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Originally Posted by fab525freddy

Greetings All, I have been away from the forums for a quite a while but I am back under unfortunate circumstances. It has been seasonably cold here recently and I am afraid it has taken a toll on my pride and joy. I started my car on yesterday to much dismay; plumes of white smoke out of the tail pipe. It was apparent that I was burning coolant and in no small quantity. I nearly wept wondering what terrible fate had befallen my baby. Nothing unusual in terms of engine noise, but I quickly shut her down to inspect. Nothing under the hood was out of order upon first glance. However I thought best to leave her be until help arrived. Tim stopped last night to lend a hand but the prognosis looks grim. When he pulled the dip stick there was a clear indication of antifreeze in the oil (milky). So, in addition to leaking coolant into the combustion chamber it is also leaking into the oil. I pray it is not a cracked block but what else could it be? Would a head gasket leak into the oil? Could water have frozen and cracked the block? I do not see any visible signs of leakage under the vehicle. It is being towed to my Tech today. Condolence cards accepted.

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That sucks man...

My empathy goes out to you man... best of luck.

Water in the oil can come from a cracked block, head or bad head gasket. Its unusual to crack the block except in extreme cases. Most likely its a bad head gasket. Could be a cracked head. But more likely the gasket. How many miles are on the car? Has it had regular coolant changes (every two years)? What year is the car?

If you're lucky it's the head gasket. If you're unlucky, it's the block or head. Even if the antifreeze was old, it wouldn't freeze solid, it would just have lousy corrosion inhibiting performance and wouldn't do a good job of lubricating the water pump. You didn't have plain water in it, did you?

Unless you had no antifreeze in the engine, my money is on the gasket.