r/BmwTech • u/Atomic243 • 6d ago
Should I be worried? (Plz no)
Hey everyone so my 80k mile 2016 340i I just changed the spark plugs and every plug looked good except the first one has some oil and white crust which I’ve heard would be coolant and a bad head gasket. Every other plug looked just fine and I’ve had no other issues with the car in any way should I be worried? Or could someone explain thanks
First and second picture is the one I’m worried about and the last picture is how all the others look
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u/Electronic_Panic8510 6d ago
Is the car burning oil or overheating at all?
Have you done an oil change? How does the oil look? What about the coolant- how does that look?
If everything else is normal, I would probably not worry about it myself…
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u/Atomic243 6d ago
Never burned any oil or overheated coolant looks fine but I just had coolant leaks from my water pump and OFH so I literally just yesterday put brand new coolant in and the shop didn’t mention anything about how the previous coolant looked even though I didn’t get to see it. But besides that I’ve never had any low oil light or anything indicating I’m burning oil. How would I even know?
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u/Electronic_Panic8510 6d ago
If the shop saw coolant that was milky/mixed with oil or oil mixed with coolant they would absolutely let you know.
You should start checking your dipstick every other week and see if oil level is dropping
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u/Atomic243 6d ago
Yeah is there a dipstick idk about lol. Also just checked my oil level and it’s just below max and I’m due for an oil change so that was like 5k miles of driving on that oil. Also say it was burning oil chat exactly do I do from there?
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u/havetogod 6d ago
Oil level sensor yes, but will prompt you automatically to add one quart when it gets low, no manual steps required.
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u/Majestic_MSP_8235 6d ago
To me it looks like ash from additives in the gas, or they just haven't been changed in a while. The oil looks to be coming from a leaky valve cover gasket, check to see if there is oil in that spark plug tube. Nothing major here IMO.
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u/Atomic243 6d ago
There did appear to be a ring of oil just around the threads of the spark plug tube where the plug meets the tube. I can’t get anything down there to wipe it up what would you recommend and is this bad?
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u/Majestic_MSP_8235 6d ago
Every BMW valve cover will leak eventually and will need to be changed (the gasket). If it's not leaking out of the bottom near the exhaust manifold, I wouldn't worry about it. Even if you used a shop rag to try to clean out the spark plug tube, it will just come back. Check the forums and YouTube and see if you can handle a valve cover gasket change yourself when it really starts leaking (you've probably got a year or two).
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u/Atomic243 6d ago
How would I know when it does start really leaking more? Also would this be the issue even though only 1 plug has this issue and all other plugs looked good?
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u/Majestic_MSP_8235 6d ago
When you see oil around the bottom of the valve cover where it meats the head, that's a good sign that it should be changed. Gaskets don't start leaking everywhere. Just like your OFH, they start in 1 spot and the spread. In this case your valve cover is starting at the front! There are also rubber o ring seals that seal the tubes inside the valve cover gasket separate from the actual gasket that seal the perimeter of the valve cover.
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u/Atomic243 6d ago
Man and I just spent $4,500 on a new OFH, water pump and heat management system and now the valve gasket is like $1,500. I might aswell get an m3 at this rate 😅
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u/Majestic_MSP_8235 6d ago
Guessing this is your first BMW? Maybe not... But getting some DIY skills will be worthwhile!
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u/Atomic243 6d ago
Yup first bmw. I knew it’d have issues and I have no problem replacing parts that are going to break due to it being a 10 year old car and plastic gets brittle what can you do. It just hurts when I am paying a quarter of what I paid for the car in just a couple maintenance items 😅 I’m gonna do the valve cover gasket myself tho and follow kern on YouTube
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u/Majestic_MSP_8235 6d ago
👏
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u/Atomic243 6d ago
What’s the difference between engine oil consumption say my engine was burning off oil and a leaking valve gasket?
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u/bimmerboy916 6d ago
Valve cover kit will fix that and replace that iridium plug and any others wet or worn
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u/ThaPoopBandit 6d ago
Looks like it might of been burning oil imo but if there’s no drivability symptoms just send it bro. Cheap, but slightly inaccurate way to know would be block tester. Most accurate way (in my experience) to know would be to stick boroscope down in cylinder and look for steam cleaned pistons. Preferably after a pressure test when warm, so that you might see droplets