[Cubieman]

Originally Posted by Dave92N54

I deal with dorman parts on a daily basis... I would be much more likely to believe it is the dormans and not the valve stems. Did you do the install? You would have noticed a valve stem seal leak if it were the issue at that time. If it's only happening at higher oil temps, i'd be even more inclined to believe it is the turbos. I have warrantied/returned so many god damn garbage dorman seals in my life it isn't funny. Failed turbos will look clean for awhile when checking the exhaust if it's not too bad, this is because it's leaking when hot and everything is burning off/traveling down the exhaust. I know this because when my rear failed, I checked every 2 weeks for 4 months, nothing in the exhaust. It was a very slow failure. Month 6 when I finally replaced the turbos, there was a very small amount of oil on the exhaust side of my rear turbo. Smoking issue has never come back.

Valve stems usually only smoke on startup as well.

I did not do the installation of the Dorman turbos, the PO owner was in a rush to sell it and slapped them on so unfortunately I don't know the condition of the exhaust stem seals.

If I'm getting new turbos I'd like to go aftermarket but am wondering if I want to even keep this car, I have an E46 M3 that I don't want to drive as much and want a different car that I can compete in roll races and the like. The 335i seemed like a good choice but man there seems to be so many issues with these vehicles, worse than any E60 M5 for that matter.

Sorry, don't mean to bash the N54, just frustrated with my purchase, rushed into it, should ha e held out for a better car with lower miles etc. The PO knew about the smoking and did not tell me, I test drove it last winter so it never got hot enough to smoke.