I think my vanos oil pressure accumulator broke in half if not worse.
Was driving the other day and noticed that the car suddenly started shaking at idle and the tone of the exhaust seemed different. Was driving spiritedly but didn't hit any potholes or debris. Car was smooth once moving if not a little bit louder than normal. There was no CEL or any other warnings on the dash. Didn't seem down on power or like revs were limited. No knocking or ticking sounds. I drove for about 5 mins like this on some slow streets, going less than 2 miles.
It started to smell oil and noticed little bit of smoke in the beam of the right headlight. I pulled over and shut off the car to see what it was. Oil was pouring out from the right side of the engine at an alarming rate. There was also a trail going back from where I stopped. I couldn't tell how long the trail was because it only became a steady stream in the last few feet. There was no low oil warning and no oil pressure warning when I turned the car off. Dipstick was dry, and the puddle ended up huge didn't look like 6 quarts. Oil kept coming out well after I shut off the car.
I came across
this thread on Z4-forum where someone's vanos oil line falied so I suspected that to be my problem. I took a look today and the line is fine at the typical failure spot at the top so I traced it down with my hand and found that the bottom of it is hanging loose with half of the vanos oil pressure accumulator still attached to it. I can't currently jack up the car so I'm not able to see what it's like from underneath. I couldn't feel if the other half of the pressure accumulator is still there or not.
So is it possible my vanos oil pressure accumulator cracked in half? I can't find anything about this happening to anyone else. My other concern is that maybe there's a hole in the engine block in that spot due to a snapped rod but the car was driving relatively normally so that doesn't seem likely.
If the only thing that failed was the vanos pressure accumulator, is there a possibility of damage from oil starvation? Again, there was no oil pressure light when I turned the car off.
I'm having the car towed to a mechanic tomorrow. Every other issue it's had either I fixed myself or took it to my previous mechanic who no longer works on cars so I'm researching shops. Probably going to to go with VT Motorwerks in Pleasanton, CA.
Has anyone else experienced or heard of something similar happening ?