Help please. Camshaft, gasket or valve seals??

Tonto86

Hi folks, mite be the wrong section for this but what the hell.

I think i got myself a bad camshaft, head gasket or valve seals on my 97 bmw 316i. Last nite the engine started making a loud clicking noise that got faster with the higher i reved it.

Then i got a loss of power and its unable to hold the idle (ie it just die's). It revs up horribly like its got a blown spark plug.

The head gasket was only done 30k miles ago so i dont see how it could go again. It wasnt overheating either, although I am gettin white smoke out the back and the spark plugs are covered with oil.

When i start it now it'll die unless i put the foot down on the petrol and even reving it up its throwing out a bit of smoke and struggling.

I've had an oil leak around the top of the head for the past few months but a mechanic told me not to worry bout it and just keep the oil topped up. To be honest i feel feckin stupid for takin that advice.... Is it possible my valve cover gasket has leaked so much its ruining the compression of the engine and letting oil into the cylinders?

Any help'd be great, cheers folks

Captain Slow IRL

Tonto86 wrote: »

I think i got myself a bad camshaft, head gasket or valve seals on my 97 bmw 316i. Last nite the engine started making a loud clicking noise that got faster with the higher i reved it.

Check your engine oil level, on level ground.

Tonto86 wrote: »

Then i got a loss of power and its unable to hold the idle (ie it just die's). It revs up horribly like its got a blown spark plug.

The head gasket was only done 30k miles ago so i dont see how it could go again. It wasnt overheating either, although I am gettin white smoke out the back and the spark plugs are covered with oil.

When i start it now it'll die unless i put the foot down on the petrol and even reving it up its throwing out a bit of smoke and struggling.

I'd suspect a pcv valve (item 1 here) before you start to worry too much - if the diaphragm gets punctured in it, it'll start sucking oil into the engine via the inlet manifold. It would be wise to get a compression test done as well, to confirm there is no fault in that aspect.

Tonto86 wrote: »

Is it possible my valve cover gasket has leaked so much its ruining the compression of the engine and letting oil into the cylinders?

No, this would allow oil to escape the engine or work it's way onto the top of the spark plugs - not actually into the cylinders. A damaged head gasket would allow oil into the cylinder - you would need to do a compression test before this is condemned.

Tonto86

thanks for the reply mate, have a mechanic on his way down 2day to do a compression test.... fingers crossed