I smell a burning rubber smell from time to time out of the vents on my 2003 530i. Sometimes I see a light white smoke out of the hood. I don't see any burning under the hood, and it doesn't happen when the a/c is on, just the heat. Any help would be appreciated.
I have a 2000 BMW E39 528i and had the same burning smell coming from my vents when the heat was on also. I took the car into Patrick BMW in illinois and they said that the vanos like was leaking onto my headers and that my head gaskets needed to be replaced. After the work was completed i have not had the smell at all since. Hope this helps.
Similar issue I have also had the same issue with my '01 530i. I replaced the valve cover gasket and it seems to have worked.
Just had the same thing happen on my wife's '97 528i. I replaced the valve cover gasket and the problem seems to be solved. The old gasket was pretty brittle in places.
Hey, did you have the head gaskets replaced or the valve cover gaskets? If it was the head gaskets, were you leaking oil into the cumbustion chambers and did white smoke come out the exhaust? I am having a very bad problem with white smoke coming from my exhaust particularly when starting the car. I have had an oil leak for some time but the issue of white smoke has only recently surfaced. I pulled the plugs and they appear slightly oil fouled, but the car appears to idle ok and have power when accelerating.
When I took it into the BMW dealer they gave me a service list that all of the gaskets for the head gasket and the valve cover gasket were replaced on my 2000 E39 528i. The car had originally come into the shop because I was leaking oil onto the headers and that was the burning smell that I smelled. Patrick BMW replaced the problem head gaskets and then came back and said that while they were in there they would easily be able to replace the valve cover gaskets as well so I went ahead and did the service. I have never had white smoke coming from the car so I'm not sure what would cause that other than oil leaking into the engine. Hope this helps out.
