Oil light on, engine failed

[rdhamill]

On her way from work, my wife had the oil light come on today, by the time she got the car stopped, the engine had quit.
I got her to have it towed home.
I found lots of oil on the dipstick, and some strange noises when it turn the motor over.
I'll pull the valvetrain covers off in the next day or 2, wonder what I'll find??????
Oil pump? Cam issues?
hate the thoughts of it!!!!

[kayger12]

Is she sure it was the oil light and not the coolant light?

I'd have a look in the expansion tank.

What color was the light?

[Newjack]

+1

Any engine codes?

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[rdhamill]

The coolant looks fine ( view from top of rad cap) I pulled the oil filter, well that looks not so good.
The Oil looks like chocolate milk. ( it was changed a week ago, about 100 miles ago)
Does not seem good.
more later in the week.
wish me luck

[rdhamill]

No codes, I thought that was a bit strange.

[Hornung418]

You're gonna need some compression numbers. It sounds like the Head Gasket went from your Chocolate Milk comment.

[kayger12]

Hmm. Did she get the red oil light, or yellow?

What oil was in there?

[rdhamill]

BMW brand oil.
I have no idea if the light was red or yellow. " I think it was red, but it could have been yellow" so who knows.
With the oil looking like it does, the color of the light likely does not matter much, I'll have to pull the motor either way.
thanks for the replies guys !

[danewilson77]

Weird. Definitely not a common failure or symptom.

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[Johnmadd]

You're gonna need some compression numbers. It sounds like the Head Gasket went from your Chocolate Milk comment.

+1, sounds bad. :(

[Scorpius]

yup...likely is antifreeze in your oil, i.e. blown headgasket. hopefully it didnt warp the head.

[RVAzhp]

I've recently read that if the oil separator (CCV) goes it can shoot oil into the engine and seize it up.

[danewilson77]

I've recently read that if the oil separator (CCV) goes it can shoot oil into the engine and seize it up.

Hydro-lock.

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[SoarinZHP]

I have always been under the impression there would be other systems prior to the CCV failing - especially rough inconsistent idling - similar to when the intake boots fail.

There is a crap test for the CCV - with the motor running, open the oil cap. Place a taught part of a plastic grocery store bag over the filler area. If the engine lightly pulls on the bag, the CCV is good. If not, there is a problem it should be replaced.

There is some shop here that measure the diaphram of the CCV and come up with some number.

It is also my understanding the CCV pulls oil blow off from the head and drops it back into the pan...

I would think the oil would smell funky with the coolant mixed in if it was a blown head gasket.

Curious how this shakes out.

[Nomar06]

Damn.....sorry to hear man.

[Johnmadd]

This is what makes me think blown head gasket

The Oil looks like chocolate milk. ( it was changed a week ago, about 100 miles ago)

[SoarinZHP]

^^ Concur

[JohnnyGraphic]

Whatever the problem is, I hope you can find it quickly and fix it cheaply.

[az3579]

But with a blown head gasket, why would the engine completely stop and make weird noises when started?

I get the feeling that oil light was red and the engine failure was a result of oil-pressure related issues. Let's hope that engine isn't toast...

I'm no mechanic, so I certainly hope I'm wrong.


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[jayjay_dee]

Whatever the problem is, I hope you can find it quickly and fix it cheaply.

+ 1

good luck...

[zj96sc]

If it ran long enough with antifreeze in the oil it could've toasted rod bearings.

Regardless, with noise coming from the engine on turn over and milky antifreeze, it is extremely likely this motor is due for a rebuild or headed for the scrapper. With no cylinder wall damage you may get away with a new crank and rods, but if bearings spun in the block you're hosed.

Luckily M54s aren't a bank breaker - keep your top end (provided it didn't warp, cams if it did) and DME, thread lock the new oil pump nut, and it is still a ZHP motor.

[rdhamill]

I'm leaning toward thinking that I have / had a CCV issue that froze and caused oil to be sucked into the intake.
Perhaps frozen sludge was in the CCV and that's what mixed with the oil to change the color.
I'll get into it more in the morning.

[nike001]

Sounds like a CCV problem to me. When the CCV quits, it either shoots oil out your exhaust, or back in your intake. Seems to me like it went through the intake this time..

[danewilson77]

Just for my own edification..... What state do you live in, how many miles are on the car, and what was approximate temp outside, at time of failure?

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[spencers]

You're gonna need some compression numbers. It sounds like the Head Gasket went from your Chocolate Milk comment.

+1 on the head gasket
And I'm willing to bet the oil light was RED!!!



I'm leaning toward thinking that I have / had a CCV issue that froze and caused oil to be sucked into the intake.
Perhaps frozen sludge was in the CCV and that's what mixed with the oil to change the color.
I'll get into it more in the morning.

Did she note a massive amount of smoke coming out of the tailpipe when it occurred? That's usually the sign of the CCV blowing

[rdhamill]

I'm in Canada. At the time of my engine issue, it was -20C ( about -2F).

[rdhamill]

no mention of any some.

[danewilson77]

I'm in Canada. At the time of my engine issue, it was -20C ( about -2F).

OK. That would have been my guess. Did you make a lot of short trips?

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[rdhamill]

Well I got a minute to have a look at my dead car, get this.....broken camshaft.
No oil on the top of the motor, so I have to think that it went further with the oil light on than I was told.
The motor has a bunch of yellow sludge that was still frozen. I have been changing the oil in this car every 5000kms (3000miles), and with BMW oil. This should not have happened !
I'm wondering if the CCV had a build up of crap that got into the motor and plugged the sump pick up. Oh well does not matter now. engine will be coming out.

[Hornung418]

No fucking way.

Pics when you get a clean hand. Stuart on e46fanatics is selling a set of ZHP Cams. New; never installed. Good luck!!!

Courtesy of Gingerbread...

[Oli77]

What an awful story to read!

Rdhamill, were your wife's driving habits mainly consistent of short 5-10 minutes stents with almost no time on the highway?

[rdhamill]

She drives to work every day on the highway, about 13 miles. Enough to get the motor warm, but maybe not enough to drive out condensation.
I'll take pictures of the mess and post them.
thanks guys

[iZHP]

Ouch sorry to hear that.

3,000 miles is also a little too frequent for oil changes IMO. BMW recommended something like every 15k but I change mine every 6k miles.

[rdhamill]

We tend to not put on very many miles, so the 3000 miles is really twice a year. car is not used much in the summer. Guess it won't get many miles now for a bit.

[danewilson77]

Damn.... Sorry to hear rd.

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[llll1l1ll]

What a bummer!

[nike001]

We tend to not put on very many miles, so the 3000 miles is really twice a year. car is not used much in the summer. Guess it won't get many miles now for a bit.

How may times would you change it if it got DD mileage? 2x a year is a lot for a car that doesn't move much. It's been proven that synthetic oils only get better with age... but we won't start another oil discussion here..

[rdhamill]

If it were a "DD" I'd still change the oil twice a year. Not that it has done me any good.
Check out what I found under the camcover!

[llll1l1ll]

I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Seriously. That sucks!

[Hornung418]

Ohmygod...what a nightmare.

On the upside, that cam will be easy to replace now that you don't have to worry about distributing the pressure evenly along the valve spring points.

[zj96sc]

Hah, replacing the cam is a non-issue....that head is junk too. Doesn't even matter.

That is a major bummer. So are we still suspecting CCV?

[rdhamill]

Yeah, I think the CCV might have caused the problem, still wondering if the CCV crap might have plugged the sump screen or the oil filter. don't want to draw conclusions, so I'll wait until it's apart to speculate further. Engine is coming out in a week or so, replacement is on the way.

[rdhamill]

Just noticed that I had not posted here for a while. Turned out that my sump screen was plugged with sh$T. the CCV was cleaned out, yet it didn't seem that bad.
Replacement engine has been working perfect. I will certainly be watching it close this winter. Switched from the BMW oil to Amsoil in hopes of keeping the engine cleaner.

[SoCalZman]

That sucks man but glad it's back on the road. How much is a ZHP engine?

[rdhamill]

I picked up the "new" engine from a wreck in Virginia for $1800 ( car was burnt) with a whole host of new pieces and parts, ( hoses, screws, seals etc) it's installed for $3000.
runs perfect, but does need a new tstat.

[danewilson77]

Great news. Did you do the install yourself?

[rdhamill]

Sorry for delay in reply. did the engine replacement in my garage. nice to have an engine stand and lift.
it's been working great.
hope to never do that again, well to my car anyway!

[Tnhl1989]

So I am planning on removing a engine out of my old car. Any advice on that? I been trying to search through the forums and no one has any details on removing an engine. I have the whole front of the car removed already so technically I can actually pull the engine from the front outwards.

[danewilson77]

So I am planning on removing a engine out of my old car. Any advice on that? I been trying to search through the forums and no one has any details on removing an engine. I have the whole front of the car removed already so technically I can actually pull the engine from the front outwards.

#43 help :dunno

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?p=37358

Sent from the HTC DNA, Williamsburg, VA and USA

[Dave1027]

Turned out that my sump screen was plugged with sh$T.
Can you be more specific? What exactly was it plugged with? Would you blame it on BMW oil or the filters used?

[rdhamill]

It was plugged with frozen sludge! It's only a guess, but I'm thinking that the T Stat was keeping the temp low, the trips to work were therefore not long enough to drive off the condensation. On a cold afternoon, the car was started with a plugged oil pick up, and therefore no oil pressure, then driven until the cam broke.
My best guess.
Replacement engine is running fine.

"Would you blame it on BMW oil or the filters used?" Never, BMW oil and Mann filters are not to blame, driver not reporting cold operating temp, and then driving with oil light on is to be blamed.

But that's behind us now.

thanks guys.

[danewilson77]

Glad it's sorted. There's a lesson here for all of us.

[SoCalZman]

I noticed a low coolant temp on my E34 and it turned out to be NO blades on my water pump. hah. Dodged a bullet there. Its still driving someone around SF apparently, solid as a tank.

I thought that our engine light was supposed to illuminate if the tstat malfunctioned?

[Dave1027]

It was plugged with frozen sludge! It's only a guess, but I'm thinking that the T Stat was keeping the temp low, the trips to work were therefore not long enough to drive off the condensation.
I got a feeling the CCV had something to do with it. Like it was not functioning. I wish G.A.S. would hurry up and finish their re-engineered CCV system.

[WOLFN8TR]

I got a feeling the CCV had something to do with it. Like it was not functioning. I wish G.A.S. would hurry up and finish their re-engineered CCV system.


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