My check engine light has literally been on and off for months, and my usual mechanic is out of town, so I won't be able to get it fixed for a while. But let me tell you what it's doing.

When its running, I can smell burning oil. Sometimes after a long drive, it will even smell like burning rubber, or candles. Occasionally the engine bay will smoke a little bit, but nothing major, and it only ever happens when i park after driving over an hour. If the engine is up to temp, when I remove the oil cap it will steam, and it appears that oil is spilling out of the cap and down the side of the engine.

I have been told everything from over-compression to a blown head gasket to a bad cat. CEL scans only ever tell me that somethings wrong with the cat, but that would happen if it burns any oil. I guess i can't know for sure until I see my mechanic, but I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem and what the fix was. I'm trying to get this sold so I can buy a truck. Thanks for the help



Also, an unrelated problem, when driving down the road you can hear squeaking, almost as if one of the wheels needs to be lubricated, or something along those lines. It doesn't matter if the road if bumpy or not, and gets faster the faster you drive (which would rule out suspension?)

 

I'm thinking it's a broken Crankcase ventilation hose or part of that system.
In mine it's part # 058103213
Of the X5, NA A4 B5 1800's I have, 4 of them are cracked, one simply fell apart - mostly where the clip is, ones end where the hose connects broke off, two have splits in the plastic.
The fifth, I think has been replaced at some point. They let crankcase fumes into the engine bay, & water can get into the crankcase, particularly if it's been washed or way under the bonnet. So you end up with condensation under the oil cap.
It's a cheap part. I would replace the whole system, all of the valves, plastic housings, O rings & rubber hoses.
It's not easy to get to, it's directly under the intake system, it's even hard to see what's under it. But, there's little clips you can unclip to remove the intake system without removing the manafold.
After the systems removed it's very easy to access ( & clean! ) everything you need to get to.
The clips probably have a special tool to undo them, but I found a pair of pliers with parallel end jaws, a smaller version of what's used to pull out nails from wood, & a screwdriver to push one end of the clip sideways, would work.

I'm getting the parts at the moment & will repost once it's been done.
This is my part



This is a good YouTube video of a similar part & what happens when you touch it..

https://youtu.be/Awkz4wAJHkc


https://youtu.be/eBbN3ba4IAQ
https://youtu.be/tqx9UZyHosQ