My R56 has been a nightmare after nightmare. Thankfully, I'm very mechanically inclined and have repaired the clutch, timing chain, water pump, turbo oil feed line and water pump housing by myself while saving me thousands (now I have a ton of tools I'll probably never use again). By the way, it seems as though you have to drop the engine in order to do something as simple as changing a tail light. Anyways, I cannot figure out the cause of my latest issue. My car smokes when it reaches running temp at stops. And I smell the smoke inside the cabin at stops as well.

I read where there was a recall on the auxiliary coolant pump and that seems to be close to where I see the smoke. However, that was replaced in 2012. I replaced the valve cover gasket and it's still smoking. My car leaks a small amount of oil after sitting but not very much. I thought the issue may be the aux coolant pump. It does hum after shutoff but I thought I remembered it sounding more like a fan a couple years ago. All the symptoms trek me it's the aux pump but I cannot believe it would already fail again after the recall. Has anyone had any issues with the updated version of the aux coolant pump? Any other ideas of what the cause may be? No codes yet and no check engine light. Please help as this is very frustrating

 

the oil cooler housing is known to leak and drop on the exhaust right underneath it. the housing is right next to the aux water pump. i had the same issue a few months ago and had to press the recirc button to avoid smelling like burnt oil. youre going to have to put the car in service mode to replace the seals but theyre cheap and readily available at the dealership.

 

Does it smell like coolant or oil smoke? IIRC, the issue with the aux pump was the controller, not the pump itself. I could be wrong.

What year, how many miles, etc?

Any obvious leak areas (thermostat housing, oil filter housing)? If you haven't had to replace the thermostat, that could be cracked. It is on the driver side of the engine block, above the transmission. There is a lot of stuff there (air inlet/discharge tubes from the air filter, coolant hoses). Get a good flashlight and see if you can find any blue stains from a coolant leak.

The oil filter housing connects to the block with a seal that is known to leak as well. This would give you a track of liquid (oil, coolant, or both) that drips down right on to the exhaust where the clamp is.

Mike

 

Thanks for the advice. I believe you may be right about the oil cooler. That seems to be a common leak from what I just researched. I'll let you know in a few days how everything went. Is it best to just replace the oil cooler gaskets or the entire oil cooler?

 

The oil cooler is attached to the oil filter housing, which is attached to the engine block. There are two sets of gaskets, you should replace both sets. If you already replaced the turbo oil feed line, then you have practice getting the heat shields off. The oil cooler is right next to the spot where the line attaches to the block.

Its quite a bit of work, I would inspect the area closely with a flashlight from under the car. If you have wetness above the exhaust, it is probably the oil cooler.

If it is wet under the transmission (or where the engine and trans bolt together), that is probably the thermostat. Thermostat is a 2 hour job, the oil cooler is 4-6.

Mike

 

Thanks! I just replaced my second thermostat a few weeks ago. It is definitely oil that is burning. I hope this works because it has been an annoying journey. But I believe you are correct because I did see a small puddle of oil on the transmission right below the oil cooler. I just figured it was still from the bad valve cover gasket I just replaced. I'll get the gaskets from the dealership and replace this weekend

 

Just replaced my Oil filter housing gaskets when I replaced by turbo and downpipe.... my what a mess that was to clean up... oil caked everywhere below. Hopefully my oil use will return to normal!

 

Just changed my oil housing gaskets as well on Friday night...

 

How bad was the old one?

 

all the Gaskets were hard and one was torn...

 

oil cooler gaskets were really hard as well I changed Both....