3.0L: CCV Failure and Replacement

[nate13]

Wanted to share this here for anyone else dealing with the issue

Conditions of failure:

• Short (<15 minute) drives in -0F temperature
• Idling of car for extended periods of time (>10m)

Mode of failure:
While driving, vehicle emitted large amount of smoke, low power. Turned off the road, turned off ignition. Tried to start car, would not crank.

Cause of failure:
Crank Case Ventelation valve assembly frozen to a position that causes oil to be vaccumed into the intake. Depending on failure, can result in burning oil to hydrolocking the engine (this case).

Repair (from an e46, same engine, same principals)

I've gone one step further in this case, since the hydrolock condition. I've removed the intake manifold (instructions) as to clean the oil, ease the installation of the CCV, and inspect related components. Here's where I'm at now:


My next steps are to replace the valve cover gasket, remove oil from the cylinders by cranking the engine, and reassembly of the parts.

I'll post updates here as she goes back together!

[Ricky Bobby]

Let me know what the date stamp is on your CCV when you remove it. When I did mine last June it was stamped 9/2003 which meant it was original to the car. I did it preventatively and was lucky to be honest it made it 11 years on the original valve.

Winter of 13-14 had some interesting howling noises on a cold startup until a few mins of driving, I'm guessing from 10+ years of condensate buildup in the original CCV.

To be honest I'd say BMW should put a bulletin saying that they should be swapped out every 5 years just to play it safe.

Be sure to put in the Cold Weather updated parts, and the Cold Weather dipstick guide tube, since you are in Fargo.

I didn't need to remove the manifold to do mine, but since you froze up it would be prudent to clean up in there while its open.

[bmw_jeff_X5]

Happened to me in February. Cold weather kit means nothing if you are going to do short trips like me. Taking off the oil cap after a short trip to vent the engine seems to prevent the mayo buildup. I also believe that up to a 45 minute drive is required to burn it off if it's cold. As soon as you stop and park it after any trip regardless of distance, the mayo build-up begins again. It's a never ending cycle.......unless you remove the oil cap to vent. This of course is problematic in a blizzard as an example.

[BMWX5CHI]

I've never had a problem with the CCV. The only time I've had a problem was when my original CCV finally gave out a few years ago. I live in Chicago and these past 2 year have been cold as fuck! Still been able to keep my CCV clean with the method I use even with the short trips.

[BMWX5CHI]

Originally Posted by trader4

How do you know it's clean? The return hose and dip stick part,
for example, isn't easily accessible, without removing a lot of stuff,
no? The one here was totally clogged, for God knows how long,
with no symptoms. That would seem to me to be a big part of
the problem, it's not easy to check and/or replace.

I took these a few months ago when it was really cold here. CCV looks clean to me. If not perfect then damn near.

[BMWX5CHI]

Originally Posted by trader4

That's the oil fill cap. This is the CCV system:

RealOEM.com * BMW E53 X5 3.0i Crankcase-Ventilation/oil separator

The X5 here, the bottom of the oil cap looked OK too, the CCV drain
back to the crankcase was totally plugged with mayo. I don't think
the lack of mayo on the fill cap means much of anything. That cap
is exposed to the hot engine. The oil separator, drain back hose,
are outside the engine and much colder.

I know what the CCV is i also took a shot of the CCV hose that goes to the crankcase. Somebody correct me if im wrong but if there was major mayo build up i think it would show in the CCV hose as pictured.

[nate13]

Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

Let me know what the date stamp is on your CCV when you remove it. When I did mine last June it was stamped 9/2003 which meant it was original to the car. I did it preventatively and was lucky to be honest it made it 11 years on the original valve.

Winter of 13-14 had some interesting howling noises on a cold startup until a few mins of driving, I'm guessing from 10+ years of condensate buildup in the original CCV.

To be honest I'd say BMW should put a bulletin saying that they should be swapped out every 5 years just to play it safe.

Be sure to put in the Cold Weather updated parts, and the Cold Weather dipstick guide tube, since you are in Fargo.

I didn't need to remove the manifold to do mine, but since you froze up it would be prudent to clean up in there while its open.

5/2004, since this is a MY 2005 looks like factory part. Interestingly enough, this was a southern car that came with the ZCW package, and it had a cold weather CCV kit from the factory.

I can attest to the lower hose (CCV-dipstick) being the most problematic of all the hoses. In theory, if this hose is "backed up" with frozen residue, the CCV will become full of oil/ water mix. When I removed the lower hose, it tore and was covered in oil. I would say this hose was the primary contributor in the failure.

Since the engine does a pretty good job of being warm, and since the CCV is insulated under the IM near the engine, I'm assuming that the lower (and therefore colder) part of the CCV system froze closed, which pressurized the crankcase. Once this was in effect, it quickly moved oil from the crankcase to the intake, which resulted in the smoking and oil in cylinders.

Point of the matter is: driving the car long enough for the engine to heat the oil to full operating temp (~180?) and preferably parking where the ambient temperature is >32F should allow the CCV to return all oil to the pan, while separating the moisture and recirculating that into the intake.

[nate13]

Next up; a question. I have so far removed a fair bit of sensors (entire drivers side harness: TB, ICV, Intake temp, brake solenoid, etc; the injector harness, and intake manifold).

However, I have yet to crank the engine to remove oil from the cylinders. Does anyone know if I will be able to crank without these sensors plugged in? Logic is telling me that I won't due the ECU needing to see a TB position, but I'm not sure how much reassembly I need to go through?

In the case I cannot crank with these sensors installed, my thinking is I will continue working (doing cooling system, hydraulic tensioner pulley, and OFHG), reinstall everything, then crank out the oil, then give it a start.

Thoughts?

[Ricky Bobby]

I did mine with the manifold in place since my repair was preventative and I didn't need to clean out the cylinders, can't help you there.

Your original parts lifespan seems to be what I had as well.

I'd be very surprised if you have the updated Cold Weather Dipstick guide Tube though, the part wasn't on a service bulletin until 2009, as well as the Cold weather CCV, since your original was stamped 2004.

See this SIB for the part numbers of the updated valve and hoses, just because the car had Cold Weather package has nothing to do with whether the CCV was insulated. Note that the hose on top of the manifold runners is insulated from the factory, its the crankcase hose, the dipstick return, and the S-shaped hose that most likely broke when you removed the valve that were wrapped in insulation per the SIB.

http://chrisparente.com/Images/530/CCV-SIB110803.pdf

[mcurcio1989]

Kind of just checking in here more than anything. Vehicle in my sig now has 130k and its def time to replace this. I first noticed (maybe 7 months ago) some mayo in one of the lines when doing the vanos rebuild. In the mean time I have noticed some mayo in the oil fill. I have also noticed increased oil consumption. I recently replace my OFHG awhen my alternator failed and the thing stumbled like crazy after start up and had a noticeable whistle. Perhaps even before that but certainly for the next 15-20 startups it seemed like it almost wanted to die when starting. That has since gone away. I remembered this issue and checked today and it is sucking a decent amount of air through the oil fill. I am also hoping that this takes care of an odd sort of engine flutter i have at the mid range rpm's in second gear.

I am looking at ES 1905414 and ES#: 24265. Geneuine BMW kits sold by ECS tuning - CCV and hose kit and the second is the cold climate dipstick. total with tax and shipping is 307. Is that par for the course? I like ecs tuning and they are close by so I am a bit partial.