Yesterday my wife and I drove about 2 hours for a football game. I just had the oil changed the day prior with Mobil 1 full synthetic and a wix filter. The car did absolutely great all the way there doing 80-90 on the interstate. When we got to the the game, I parked the car, went to the game for about 4 hours. When we left the parking lot I thought I saw some smoke behind me but decided maybe I didnt, because my car has never smoked before. We ended up going to a restaurant before heading home. We were sitting in traffic and I began noticing quite a bit of blue smoke rolling from my exhaust everytime I moved forward. I immediately pulled over, checked my oil, which was fine. I couldn't think of anything else to do, so we headed home instead of going to the restaurant. I never noticed any more smoke the rest of the day, at all. This morning I went to the store and noticed while idling in the parking lot, some more blue smoke started coming from my exhaust.

Now why would my car be smoking only while idling when car is warm? I'm stumped. Has anyone else had this problem??

 

You should post the year, model and miles. Will help with getting some responses. Could be any number of things. To rule out the most expensive, I would start with a compression test..

 

Do not use aftermarket oil filters, use only the Mini brand oil filters. Some of the aftermarket oil filters can shed their cheap filter material and clog up your engine! Your not saving money trust me, I purchased two Mini brand oil filters for $9 each the other day. I wouldn't trust those cheap oil filters on a $12,000 engine!

 

I didn't think a wix brand oil filter was cheap, I paid $15 for it. I have an 09 Clubman JCW with 72k miles. No mods.

 

You would pay more for a wix brand oil filter instead of a genuine Mini brand oil filter? Hay it's you Mini, do as you think best.

 

I'm not surprised by this at all. And I'm sure many others on here will agree that its not surprising. I started getting smoke exactly the same way you did. Not long after an oil change. Even doing a carbon cleaning on the intake valves helped. I think once it starts its there unless you do some heavy work. Such as valve guide seals or piston rings (depends on the vehicle and oil change history). I have even replaced the valve cover (PCV valve is built in) in hopes to keep the the smoke down. At this point I just keep the oil topped off and live with it.

 

It did it again today, while waiting in line at McDonalds, it began smoking while idling, but once I drove away, it stopped. I really am beginning to believe that the turbo needs a little pressure to keep the seals tight so the oil wont leak, but when idling for long periods, it doesnt have any pressure built against it, allowing the seals to let oil into the charge piping, burning the excess oil in the chamber causing the smoke. Thats the only thing I can really think of.

 

Did you use Mobile 1 0W-40 and before your oil change use 5W-30 oil? The turbo doesn't have seals between both exhaust and intake housings, it clamps together onto the turbo exhaust housing and the intake housing by pure clamping force. So there's no seals to go bad. Your issue just might be your valve guides leaking at idle, this is a common occurrence with Mini's or with any engine that burn oil at idle.

When you start driving your crankcase and intake manifold changes in pressure even when not in boost, if your turbo was leaking oil into the catalytic converter on the exhaust side or leaking oil into the intake tract it could only happen under boost pressure.

Also the oil pressure is highest in relation to high RPM's, more RPM's more oil pressure. If your turbo was leaking oil it would be when oil pressure is highest, only then could it squeeze by a warped housing surface between say the exhaust side housing.

Your turbo is fine, you head may not be fine. Valve guides.

 

Thanks for the reply. Im not sure how the turbo is setup, therefore I was to believe that theory. You make perfect since and I am now thinking it may be my valve guides if its only smoking at idle. When I changed my oil I put Mobil 1 5w-30 full synthetic with WIX oil filter. I will remember next time to order some filters from the dealership.

 

I don't believe Mobil 1. 5w-30 although full synthetic meets the mini spec. Hence you need the 0w-40 European formula or the mini/bmw 5w-30 that does meet the spec.

My personal opinion is that mini was negligent in not pointing this out more clearly to new owners.

 

As a heads up to everyone, the Mobil 1 0W-40 is no longer certified by the BMW/MINI LL-01 spec since November 2015. Apparently BMW changed their requirements slightly and Mobil 1 changed the formulation of the oil slightly, and something happened so the 0W-40 is no longer LL-01 certified.

It's important to note that the LL-01 spec exists so that BMW can say their cars do not require 5k-miles-or-less oil changes (thus the Long Life). Most of us here know that these turbo engines in the Cooper S/JCW and even the NA engines do much better with standard 5k mile oil changes, not the 10 and previous 15k that MINI had recommended. I personally will continue to use Mobil 1 0W-40 as I had for the last 3 years of owning my 08 S regardless of the LL-01 spec certification, but I thought it is important for everyone else to know about!

 

You might be able to find better deals on eBay for OEM filters - I just bought a pack of 5 OEM MINI filters for $50, whereas dealers may charge anywhere from 9 to 19 per filter. I did some really quick google searching because I hadn't heard much of Wix but everyone seems to agree that it is a high quality filter unlike some other aftermarket filter companies out there.

 

I'm having the exact same issue after oil change this weekend. Are there no valve seals on this head?

 

I think I've come to realize these motors are very easy to overfill. When I get an oil change, 9/10 times they overfill it just slightly. Let it sit over night, check it on a flat level surface and I guarantee you the oil is slightly high. Need to drain it into a clean bottle, then refill it to the appropriate level. Hope that helps. That was my problem.

 

I did it myself.

I did not overfill it but it is right up to the full mark.

I check the oil very often, and have to add oil regularly.

I do not make sure that it is right up to the mark tho. It's usually nearer the center or 3/4ths.

Maybe the car just doesn't like being full...? It's the first time I have changed the oil myself. Last one was free from the dealer I bought it from.