White Smoke!

[Roderick]

I have a 95 540i, 106,xxx miles with hi-flow cats, no check engine light comes up. Had throttle body resealed, new valve cover gaskets.I only drive the car on the weekend, noticed white smoke from tail pipe the other night during warm up. Keep in mind I haven't started the car in a week. Was told by a source that these cats with through the air/gas mixture off some and there are chips to take care of this problem. Need help with this info?

[markus]

in my experience from day to day driving the M60 has an exhaust system that can hold a lot of condensation. I wouldnt worry about it if its running fine. Even when the engine is up to operating temp and 30 minutes of driving the car will still have condensation at idle. especially in cold weather.

[Roderick]

in my experience from day to day driving the M60 has an exhaust system that can hold a lot of condensation. I wouldnt worry about it if its running fine. Even when the engine is up to operating temp and 30 minutes of driving the car will still have condensation at idle. especially in cold weather.
Markus thanks for the info, how do you like your car and how many miles do you have?

[shogun]

In winter time these cars are like smoke machines.
Same question comes every winter.
Especially in your case where the car is only used once a week, make sure that the exhaust is really at operating temp when you switch off the car.
Otherwise there might stay some water all over the week in the exhaust when it gets cold again.

[Roderick]

In winter time these cars are like smoke machines.
Same question comes every winter.
Especially in your case where the car is only used once a week, make sure that the exhaust is really at operating temp when you switch off the car.
Otherwise there might stay some water all over the week in the exhaust when it gets cold again.
Hi, I live in Florida, but when I started it at night and the temp was about 65 degrees.

[Fetch]

Hi, I live in Florida, but when I started it at night and the temp was about 65 degrees.

BMWs really are 'smoke' (steam) machines in cold/cooler weather.
If you arn't getting any check engine codes, then your O2 sensors probably are not damaged from coolant blowing past them (which is a cause of white smoke besides steam).

To put yourself at ease, check your coolant level after the car has been sitting for at least 10-12 hours, for example, each morning before starting it, to make sure your coolant level isn't dropping at all.

In short, I like to get a lot of good revs in during a drive and blow out all condensation in the exhaust so I don't have water sitting in there.

[markus]

im getting close to 125k on it. Got it with 123,300 so I havent had it for that long. I love this car most out of all the BMWs I have had so far, which were a 1990 325i I had for 3 years and a 95 M3 I had for 6 months. I miss my M3 but the 540i is a lot more refined, roomier and just more quiet and the engine can run on the highway all day no problems. Its a great car. I did however dump some money into it but thats ok since I knew what I was getting into before I got it. But the only real repairs I had to do was just last week when my thermostat housing cracked so i replaced that along with the lower radiator hose and the thermostat and everything is fine again. I also replaced my thrust arms, idler arm, control arms, tierods, swaybar links and center link. The vibrations whiole braking are gone, I also replaced the engine and tranny mounts and that got rid of some vibrations too. I dont regret it one bit. I had a twisted seatbelt and fixed that and both my headrests for free. One of the bulbs in my dash cluster were burned out so i replaced all those for $3 at autozone. My next project is to finish the suspension with some new shocks because one of my fronts are blown and put new dogbones in the rear. I want to lower it with a nice spring and shock combo but im still deciding on which to get since I dont want something that will beat me up when going over bumps like the M3 did. I also plan on getting some 18 inch M parallel wheels in springtime too. And in addition to that doing the stainless brake lines and 850i front calipers and hubs. Yea its a long ways to go but again I dont mind doing it. Sure beats any new car for the price of this thing.

[markus]

I have heard the M70s will even make condensation when its moderatley warm out.