JCL,

Thanks for the advice. I took the morning off work yesterday and did an oil/filter change on my 4.6 and put my winter wheels/tires on. I did an examination of CV boots, brakes, rotors, and all the usual suspects before putting the winter wheels on. I have elected to take her to an Indy mechanic to replcae the CCV and the oil separator before year end. I would attempt to do this DIYS if the weather was warmer but we have been dipping into the minus temps lately so I am not so inclined.

While I was changing oil and filter I inspected the oil filler cap for gunk. There was none. I am not sure how to inspect the the CCV but I assume it requires removing the plastic cover on the top of the engine (4.6). I have a Dinan strut so I am uncertain if I need to remove that to inspect the CCV. Do you know if I take the Dinan strut off, will I need to do any alignment afterwards? Since I was heading out of town I did not want to mess with trying to get to the CCV right now. I spent a couple of hours reading up on why this valve fails and all but am still confused on how to inspect and clean it. is there a DIYS link you can point me to? I got the car good and hot before and when I was done there was not a leak to be found. But then the temps were above freezing so I will just keep on eye on it.

Since both of my X5s are long out of warranty I do all the oil changes myself and have bumped them up to every 6K miles. I had a hard time with the 15K that BMW suggests and followed for the first 50K miles.

Thanks again for all your help and happy holidays to you and your family.