Smoking 1993 300e M104 2.8
 

I have some smoke coming off the back of the engine near the fire wall. i just finished my head-gasket replacement, so i know for sure that this not something related to the head gasket or the valve cover ( i checked, everything is nice and clean)...the smoke smells like burning oil, and it appears when the car sits for a couple of hours or even over night.....this problem was in the car when i bought it in July, and i assumed that it was related to the large amounts of oil coming out of the head-gasket. but i guess not....

so what else can leak oil back there? something should be leaking on the exhaust or on a very hot object to cause such smoke......smoke disappears after a few minutes...

any ideas? transmission is fine and car shifts and drives perfectly and smoothly....

Hopefully no more major work as the head-gasket really drained me out....

thanks,

Its gotta be the valve cover. I'm not sure about the M104, but the M103 has a semi-circle at the back which tends to flop out of place. I'd start by resitting the gasket first before doing anything else.

what about the transmission ? the valve cover parts are nice and clean ...

You said its coming from the back though. Are you sure its clean and not leaking right at the very back? It's out of sight.

yes, the smoke is coming from the passenger side mostly. i did suspect the valve cover and i used a telescopic mirror to check the back of the head...all is excellent back there....