[01bird]

Hey Guy's,

I have been trying to figure out for two + weeks what the issue is with my car. My car has puff's of gray smoke that comes out of both tailpipes (warm and cold). I have an 08 E92 335i with 51k miles on it. I am FBO with BMS catless DP's and catless mid pipes with a Bastuck muffler. I notice it smokes more when the engine is cold. It does smell a bit like oil, but is water that is coming out. I have also noticed where the mid pipe and x-pipe connect there is water build up. I can see water on the right mid pipe. If I unbolt the pipe a lot of water comes out. I have tried catted DP's and same result. Changed out my PCV valve and cap and same issue. My Valvle cover gasket was leaking and was in bad shape. Just got that replaced about two day's ago. I also have an BMS OCC. Can anyone shed some light on this? We also checked the turbo's and they "looked" fine and were dry inside. Thanks a lot for any help as this is driving me nuts.

[boostaholic786]

This looks pretty normal as long as its not oil....this looks like water condensation which is very normal since our cars have oil and water lines ran to the turbos for lubrication of the turbos and water to cool them down...Since your all the way cattless and even with high flow midpipes, its still going to happen... Seems normal to me

[01bird]

Gotcha,

right now I am fully catless besides the Bastuck muffler. I am going to put two resonators on since it is to raspy for my taste. I agree some water is normal, it just seems like it is smoking more then it should IMO. I will upload a picture of the pipe that has water on it.

Added a picture of the pipe where you can see water. That is water that came out of the pipe.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

That does seem a bit excessive!

I mean condensation is common in the exhaust but it seems like it's building up and getting stuck?

[01bird]

Hey Jeff,

That's what I am thinking. I know to expect some, but that seems like a lot. Do you have any idea what could be causing that? I am most likely going to put my stock mids back on and cut the cats off and weld in two resonators as they fit better on stock mids then the riss racing ones.

[BMWM.D.]

You should have seen how much water was being "stored" in my stock mufflers when I removed them. It was a lot; way more than you would think.

Nothing detrimental is going to cause excessive water in the exhaust system, though. If it were raw fuel, then that's obviously an issue. Coolant would be an issue as well, but it would smell sweet and you'd be noticeably losing coolant.

I'm not sure what (if anything) to suggest. Steam out the exhaust is pretty normal in cooler weather.

[Red_Bean_Bun]

The cats are suppose to make part of the hydrocarbons into water ..... Maybe have your cats checked out .....

[BMWM.D.]

Originally Posted by Red_Bean_Bun

The cats are suppose to make part of the hydrocarbons into water ..... Maybe have your cats checked out .....

He doesn't have any cats on the car......

[napeHbNYC]

Condensation is normal. I have removed my PE yesterday after running fully catless for a couple months and there probably leaked out a cup or two of water when I standees it up.

[01bird]

I believe my 02 sensors need to be replaced as well. Could my car running rich cause more fuel into the cylendar, which could add more carbon dioxide and water? It's has an oil smell to it, but looks like smoke/steam when coming out of the exhaust. I am going to replace the 02 primary sensors and see if my injectors are leaky. My car is consuming more fuel than normal. The smell from the exhaust is not fuel but burnt oil smell. It is quite a bit of smoke/steam coming out then it will stop for the most part after warmed up or getting the water out. It then rarely smokes unless the car sits for a bit. I am going to change my oil filter housing gasket, transfer heat gaskey and primary 02 sensors to see if that does anything.