last week, I drove from phoenix to Tucson for the air show. I came up to a long line waiting to get onto the air base. stop and go for about 20 minutes before making the turn into the base.
at this time, I noticed a lot of white smoke coming out of the exhaust. I am thinking worst case scenario ( blown head gasket ). another mile to park and that took another 10 minutes.

after the air show, I googled up any temp fixes for a blown head gasket and was led to an additive called, blue devil pour n go. I noticed at this time, a lot less smoke out of the exhaust. I found an autozone and bought a bottle. I got to a grocery store. read the bottle..pour into the radiator ( no radiator cap ) or pour into the top radiator hose on a cold engine. I didn't have any tools and didn't know which of the hoses was the top one.
the car ran just fine...no misfires or hesitations or rough operation. I did take the oil cap off and found coolant on the inside of the cap.

me, being cautious. I parked it and had it towed to a shop. the next morning, the shop told me that they don't do that level of repairs. got a rental car and drove back home.

Monday, I had the car towed to a shop that specializes in European cars. they ran some tests and confirmed that IT WAS NOT a blown head gasket. the coolant reservoir had sufficient coolant, not a significant loss. I was super relieved. I got 2 quotes that day of $3,000 and $3,300 for a head gasket job.

they told me that it could be the turbo, since it's water cooled or the oil cooler.

they checked the turbo ( no sloppiness in the impeller ) that's all they checked from what I remember. they test drove it on Wednesday and less smoke, ran fine, sounded fine. Friday, they are going to take a closer look at the oil cooler and seals. do an engine flush also and then oil change.

the mystery is...how did the coolant get into the oil, albeit not much, but enough for a smoke show.?

 

I had something like that and it was the oil cooler..the oil cooler and the housing which the cooler fit on has seals when the got damaged the water or oil transfer to the other side and mix and make a big problem..that what happened to my car..oil mixed with water and I remove most of the front parts to change it and cleaned all hoses that the coolant goes in even the A/C heater pipes!!!
Maybe it is the same problem..the hosing coasting too much (including the oil filter and cooler in 1 set) or u can buy the cooler only..but I advice to buy the whole set..now if it was the cooler seals tomorrow will be the housing seal and u will do it again...That only if the cooler is damaged..but if it ok just change the seals for cooler and housing also

 

the shop couldn't pinpoint how or where the coolant got into the oil and it wasn't much at all...it smoked a lot in the morning, but when i got back to the car at 5pm, it was a lot less smoke and even less when the shop got it....their best guess was the oil cooler, so they changed it, did the engine flush and oil change...no more smoke. it seems good now. normal temps of 222 F at freeway speeds.

just the weirdest thing.

 

Oil Cooler should be it. Jack up your car and look under, locate the engine oil pan and look into the area behind the header down-pipe. See if you get oil leak there. I've serviced few MCS that has a bad oil cooler gasket and it usually gets associated to oil leaks in that vicinity, too. You'll see black gunk if there's a oil leak due to bad gasket (or bolts backing out, it does happen). Either case, you'll need to go after those gaskets and re-tighten the assembly. (There are two sets of gaskets, there's a oil filter housing set, then there's a oil cooler to the oil filter housing set). Both sets yield potential location for leakage therefore could be where your coolant/oil gets contaminated with each other.

 

If you're in Phoenix check out Bavarian Motors on 16th street. They're about half way between Thomas and McDowell on the east side of the road. They specialize in BMW and MINI cars and they'll take care of you.