Oil fill cap blew off!

[canadianboy]

I'm hoping someone can share a little insight regarding the problem I had with my X5. It was about -30 degrees celsius going up to Visit my family, about a 4 hour drive. Pull into the driveway, shut the vehicle off and didn't start up until the next morning at about 10. After letting it idle for about a half hour, I was driving around town taking it easy then decided to accelerate momentarily. At that time i heard a pop and a slight smell of burning oil, pull into the driveway, lift the hood and notice the oil fill cap missing, and oil spray covering the hood and other components. So after a slight panic I phoned the local BMW dealership, they told me that the crankcase breather line had froze up and likely caused the cap to blow off. I can understand a little blowby coming from the engine but i didn't think that the engine could build up that much pressure. Anyway I took it to a shop I used to work at and let it thaw out for 12 hours. Only thing I've noticed is a Check Engine Light comes on sometimes. No real performance problems though. Does or has anyone encountered this problem before on any BMW product? Advice would be great!

[xnsf]

wow...i've never heard of that happening...i would guess that the engine became too hot.

:xoutpost:

[wees1234]

:xoutpost:

[JCL]

Very common problem on early X5s, particularly in the ambient temperature ranges you were in.

Replacement breather design did not freeze up as much as the originals. If you just let it thaw out, I think it may happen again, whereas the replacement breather is more robust. Not sure when the design changed, I thought the 2003 had the new style but I may be wrong.

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