serge718

I just got 2007 E63 and when i start the car especially in the morning the car shoots out A LOT of white smoke but only on the start up ? Any idea what is the problem ?

shardul

iTrader: (1)

does the smoke smell of oil

serge718

I don't think I smell oil but not 100% sure.

Ronan Mc Cabe

white smoke normally = head gasket issues

serge718

Can you tell me how expensive is it to replace head gasket on 07 E63?

Ronan Mc Cabe

No idea, but I imagine if you called some local dealers or independents they could give you a rough estimate.

Toadster

my 55 gives a puff every once in a while on cold startup - someone on here said it may just be excess blow-by from the EGR - shouldn't be a big concern...

maybe install a catch can to see how much oil is collecting

Manuyc

dang i would pay for diagnostics to check it out though

serge718

How hard is it to install a catch ?

typhoon43

Simplest way to check for a headgasket leak would be one of these:

http://autoplicity.com/products/2362...gn=GSNOFITMENT

Good luck with it man. Maybe it's just a leaky valvestem or something. I used to get a small puff on startup on my Typhoon, but it was more of a white/blue puff indicating oil. As they've said here, all white = coolant/moisture

serge718

Thank you ! I will order one today. But can anybody give me an estimate how much will it be to replace a head gasket ?

Ronan Mc Cabe

You could also check the oil on your dipstick (E63 has dipstick...right?), if the oil is foamy / whitish residue or smells of coolant probably head gasket.

typhoon43

conversely if you have oil in your radiator coolant it's another indicator. The tester I posted actually measures for combustion traces in your coolant, because you can still have a bad head gasket and have no milky oil or coolant. And for 30 bux you can get an answer that could save you an entire engine, because once you have an HG leak, if you keep beating on a boosted car it's just going to get bigger and bigger and then you run the risk of blowing some major internal pieces to hell.

I'm not finding any shop time estimates, but the gaskets are 75-80 bux a piece depending on what side.

cij911

I disagree with this statement since the OP stated that it happens just at start-up. My guess is it does not happen when warm outside and what you are seeing is just condensation (normal).

If you saw smoke all the time then it could be either coolant related (most likely a head gasket) or oil related (most likely valve guides or possibly a ring issue). Either way you can test easily for both scenarios if you are concerned.

vcci

how many miles on the car?

berti_00

probably looking around 2 grand if they knew what they were doing

vcci

if i had to guess i would guess the same.

serge718

Car has 98k on it. 2 grand - I'm so screwed ! Now I know why the dude that sold me the car was happy to take 20k for it... ;(

berti_00

sorry to hear that man, i know how your feeling... but you should of maybe looked more into it, an 07 E63 for 20k somethings gotta be fishy about it.... hopefully its not your gaskets if so than yahhh its a big job

vcci

i saw it too while looking for E63/E55. I ended up paying $30k for mine with 65k miles. I guess its still not terrible even if you had to dump $2k doing a head gasket, just hope its nothing more than that. plus theres always the chance that theres nothing wrong with it. try removing the oil cap and look for a whitish residue, that would indicate water in the oil. That was one of the first things i would do when I was in the car business. Good Luck.

FromM3toAMG

E63 with 98k.. wow.. 20K should have been your primary warning....i was hesitant to buy mine with 64K. this my friend is gonna be a hard lesson learned. Do yourself a favor and not cheap out on the gasket repair if thats really the issue. Either way best of luck.

Critter

Does the white smoke hang in the air or disapate quickly, does it smell sweet.
Not sure where you live but around this time of year we have in Canada cool evenings and then it warms up through the day. Condensation is normally seen a white,light, with little smell, of course as long as you still have the cats in place. As others have stated oil should not be milky, oil filler cap should not show condensation, and also coolant level in expansion tank should be checked daily/weekly to ensure no level change. Always check when stone cold for accurate measure. Avoid short runs where oil temp does not come up to normal, you will notice on one of the screens that the engine oil temp will flash until it reaches 80c which will take longer than the coolant temp. Good luck, do not worry yet!

Critter

Engine will certainly not run on all 8 cyl if there is coolant leaking into the cyl.

03'55AMG

Don't mean to thread jack but on my E55 there is a little bit of white smoke always coming from the tailpipes, but it almost seems like steam. It floats up not even a foot above the tips before it dissipates, and when you put your hand above it, it is literally like steam from a sauce pan with boiling water. Smells normal, and when going WOT it doesn't smoke, or even 15 mins after WOT. Is this normal?

Critter

Coolant/antifreeze will smell sweet and if the car is started in a small garage it would look like a fog bank if the coolant was burning in the cyl. Depending on the temp of the outside air and the humidity level sometimes you can see white/ clear smoke coming out. Coolant smoke will be thick and linger. If you really want peace, pull the sparkplugs and look for one or more that appear to be "steam cleaned" it will look like a brand new plug with no deposits on it, white porcelin included, this shows that coolant is entering and being burnt in the cyl. Remember sweet smell, dead giveaway!