Just did the CCV the "Stock" way simply because I need to replace the OFH gasket (leaking like crazy at 116K miles), and since I already bought the CCV parts.

At 116K, surprisingly, the stock CCV is still OK, dipstick no blockage at all. Probably because the was had highway miles and not stop and go. So I replaced all factory CCV parts. It took the whole day because of the OFH job in addition to CCV DIY.

Coming from E23 (1983 735i), which has a simple tube slanting upward (the I.M. sits above the M30 engine), the BMW M52 and M54 CCV engineering design is absolutely stupid, cannot believe the German engineers designed this stupid thing.

At the next CCV job 100K+ from now, I will do the mod as outlined in this thread, which is better, cheaper and no fighting with nuts/bolts and convoluted factory setup.

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1998 E39 528i 5sp MT
2006 E53 X5 3.0 6sp MT