Oil separator/Valve cover gasket

[X5 Meister]

Hey Pipes what year is your 4.4i, what engine, and how many miles?

[bjr7141]

hey guys this is my first post ...

just bought a 2000 X5 4.4i loaded, every option ... even a vhs player in the back for the kids. 71,856 miles ... for $10,500 ... pretty good deal

BUT yep there is always a but with german cars

Ive had the car exactly a month and i have already been a victam of propbably the two most common winter X5 issues

1. door handles/lock/latches freezing ... easy fix
A. park it in the sun
B. spray the the inside of the door with anti freeze once every other week
c. carry a can of lock de icer in the car

2. the oil seperator ... a night mare ... so there i was driving along on the merritt parkway, and i start to smell something burning, open the hood oil everywhere

take the x5 to the new bmw of west springfield mass

right away they new what it was, left it there for a week, the replaced the seperator and the something to do with the valves ... now that im reading i guess i should have had them replace the hoses as well, with some that are more winterized ...

cost me $1,100 (with all my discounts, damn germans) and forced me to drive the 911 turbo a few times in the snow

besides changing the hoses ... do you guys know anyway i can prevent this from happening again?

anyone have a link to which hoses i should be using?

BTW i was told never ever ever ever to drive if this happens agein, "driving like this is a quick way to kill the car"

[flyingmachine]

Originally Posted by bjr7141

hey guys this is my first post ...

just bought a 2000 X5 4.4i loaded, every option ... even a vhs player in the back for the kids. 71,856 miles ... for $10,500 ... pretty good deal

BUT yep there is always a but with german cars

Ive had the car exactly a month and i have already been a victam of propbably the two most common winter X5 issues

1. door handles/lock/latches freezing ... easy fix
A. park it in the sun
B. spray the the inside of the door with anti freeze once every other week
c. carry a can of lock de icer in the car

2. the oil seperator ... a night mare ... so there i was driving along on the merritt parkway, and i start to smell something burning, open the hood oil everywhere

take the x5 to the new bmw of west springfield mass

right away they new what it was, left it there for a week, the replaced the seperator and the something to do with the valves ... now that im reading i guess i should have had them replace the hoses as well, with some that are more winterized ...

cost me $1,100 (with all my discounts, damn germans) and forced me to drive the 911 turbo a few times in the snow

besides changing the hoses ... do you guys know anyway i can prevent this from happening again?

anyone have a link to which hoses i should be using?

BTW i was told never ever ever ever to drive if this happens agein, "driving like this is a quick way to kill the car"

most likely the hoses were replaced when they replaced oil separator. check your paperworks. it should say something like oil separator/crankcase vent hoses. it's #4, 5 here

not sure if they did an oil change for you as well. but check your engine oil cap and dipstick to see if you have the yellowish cheese like stuff. if you see it, get an oil change too.

[X5 Meister]

I would imagine all the related hoses would have been replaced. Your car has the M62 engine which involves installing the heated wrap, etc. it's a pretty involved job. In any case could you post all the info from your invoice such as the part descriptions and numbers. BTW, can you post some pictures of the VHS player setup? (Launch a new thread for it)

[djmilleroh]

yeah i want to see this vhs player too.

[fiber46is]

Damn, I got the same thing, oil separator and/or hoses froze and I need to replace the separator and hoses that are designed for winter conditions, also the valve cover gaskets needs to be replaced.
But, the Service Advisor said that the cylinder heads needs to be taken out and flushed/washed just in case the oil gel/foam has gone inside the channels and if not done it may cause serious trouble when the channels get stuck.
I quess this may happen if the oil gel/foam ends up to oil pan when oil separator is not working properly when it is frozen.
Haven't seen that anyone else have made this kind of repair.

[Pipes]

So It's been a couple weeks now no problems, including a -20C day. So I took the intake manifold off to replace the culprit rear cover, which is pretty much a super-sophisticated PCV valve. Also found the oil return hose rotted off.

I broke apart the old rear cover to check it out, and the diaphram inside looked cracked in some areas, hence why it wasn't working.

Well so far so good!

Total parts needed:

1. Rear intake manifold "cover" (PCV valve/diaphram) & gasket
2. Oil separator and hoses
3. Oil return hose
4. Valve cover gaskets
5. Oil & Filter!

[Weasel]

Now not only is it fixed, but you have a full understanding of how it works!

[X5 Meister]

Interesting that the diaphragm inside was cracked. Must be something BMW has realized since they appear to sell a part called "Repair Kit, Pressure Regulating Valve" It's #13 on the link.

RealOEM.com BMW E53 X5 4.4i Cylinder head cover

UPDATE: Answered my own question. There was a recall on defective crankcase ventilation valves covering N62 engines and called for their replacement due to the cracking diaphragms. The repair kit noted above represents the upgraded parts. See attached SIB 110306 (broken into two attachments due to forum size restrictions) on the recall. "Voluntary Emissions Recall 06E-A02: N62 - Crankcase Ventilation Valves Replacement"

[Weasel]

Yeah, those are extra easy though... but only on the valvetronic motor. What Pipes has is this setup, #2.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...81&hg=11&fg=40