Alright folks, looking for a bit of your collective knowledge and opinions on this one:
Two days ago, when i was up north, the engine warning light came on my dash. Looked it up and it says "exhaust emissions have significantly deteriorated" or something similar. No other symptoms of a problem that i could see.
Guy from work used to be a mechanic and he gave the car a very quick look last night, the oil was a chocolately brown colour and smelled a little like petrol (not strongly). There was also gunk in the cap of the same colour. I also get, in my opinion, quite alot of white smoke from the exhaust - however i have been putting this down to the cold weather. I wouldn't consider it excessive.
He showed me the large pipe that goes from the coolant to the engine and told me to give it a squeeze after a 30min journey to see if it was still soft like it was on startup. It wasn't, it was quite firm and very hot. Does this indicate a problem?
Bear in mind the last service was possibly excess of 12k ago.
It's booked into BMW anyway for tomorrow however I do like 2nd 3rd and 4th opinions, as reputable as BMW are they are still in the motor trade
Cheers, Rob.
BMW Z4 2005 2.5l
Two days ago, when i was up north, the engine warning light came on my dash. Looked it up and it says "exhaust emissions have significantly deteriorated" or something similar. No other symptoms of a problem that i could see.
Guy from work used to be a mechanic and he gave the car a very quick look last night, the oil was a chocolately brown colour and smelled a little like petrol (not strongly). There was also gunk in the cap of the same colour. I also get, in my opinion, quite alot of white smoke from the exhaust - however i have been putting this down to the cold weather. I wouldn't consider it excessive.
He showed me the large pipe that goes from the coolant to the engine and told me to give it a squeeze after a 30min journey to see if it was still soft like it was on startup. It wasn't, it was quite firm and very hot. Does this indicate a problem?
Bear in mind the last service was possibly excess of 12k ago.
It's booked into BMW anyway for tomorrow however I do like 2nd 3rd and 4th opinions, as reputable as BMW are they are still in the motor trade
Cheers, Rob.
BMW Z4 2005 2.5l