Cylinder mayonaise E46

[sav325]

Hey! I have a E46 325Ci from 2002 that has driven 204.000 km. Normally it starts perfectly but today when it was -10-15 it really sounds bad and seems not to be running on all cylinders! I checked the oil and as always it doesn't use any but there was a bit of cylinder mayonaise. I know this is caused by to may short trips, but can it also cause the engine not to fire on all cylinders and will it be enough to drive a long trip and get it really warm to get rid of it or should I change the oil?

Hope someone can answer

[Esko]

You don't have to worry about that "mayonaise" in the engine. I'll recommend you to contact some person from this forum who can read the fault codes from your E46. I'm pretty sure that problem is with couple broken inginition coils. Pretty common problem with these M50-M54 series. But after reading those fault codes you find yourself much wiser..

[Kuqi]

Hope someone can answer

dude your headgasket must be end of it's road. mayo comes when cooling liquid gets together with oil. so it's no use changin' oils. if you're saying that your car sounds like it does't run with all the cylinders i think you need to check if the cooling water is leaking to the cylinders.

propably you should take your car to specialist 'cause i think that is too hard for you to fix on your own if you're not too aware of the system.

EDIT: answered only by how i first found out that my ex-325's cylinder head was totaled, allthough it used much of water..

[Juppe]

It is still quite uncommon that M54 suffers from a bad cylinder head gasket. It is possible but unlikely.

[Esko]

It is still quite uncommon that M54 suffers from a bad cylinder head gasket. It is possible but unlikely.

That's what I'm thinking too. Of course if there is lots of that mayonaise in the engine and cooling system, then it's sure thing but I think the problem is still with those inginition coils or possibly broken spark plug (rare thing too!) or you have oil in those spark plug holes which causes missfire..

[Risto113]

Your head gasket is just fine, mayo can be found in every single one of these engines (in city driving, longer trips tend to clean this...).

When you find mayo in your cooling system, its an other story...

Remove the coils, and inspect for cracks etc. Clean the spark plug wells, if very oily, change the valve cover gasket. Misfiring is common, due to oil leaks under the coils.

Might be a good idea to check the oil separator and hoses, insulated versions are available, which prevent freezing...

[Tommy T]

Might be a good idea to check the oil separator and hoses, insulated versions are available, which prevent freezing...

I´d bet this is your problem.

[Dualfun]

I´d bet this is your problem.

+1.

If not equipped with scandinavian model hoses and separator, this is a very common problem in the winter time with these engines and short trips.

[huru-ukko]

pressure regulating valve...(frozen breather pipe?)

[xBimmerSakex]

+1.

If not equipped with scandinavian model hoses and separator, this is a very common problem in the winter time with these engines and short trips.

And still if it is equipped... That return pipe or separator could still freeze. It just happend to me last week ... That was crappy thing to fix, because we had to take out intake manifold and everything else in N42B20 engine. There was no room to make it other way.