Beating A Dead Horse

[djmilleroh]

So I have been through about every thread on this site about the oil seperator valve. I was driving my car and smelled burning oil, opened the hood and found oil in the engine compartment. BMW diagnosed a bad valve cover gasket, said nothing about the oil seperator valve. The adviser said it was ok to drive the car, my mechanic is going to replace the gasket, is it ok to drive the car or should I not take any chances. I have no smoke out the exhaust, no low oil level. Also what are the step I should take,

1-replace the valve cover gasket
2-replace the oil seperator valve and hoses
3-then get a oil change.


The worst thing about this whole problem is the BMW advisor made it sound like a bad valve cover gasket and said nothing about the oil sperator valve, he actually told me I could hold off on a oil change for another 3,000 miles.

[lo_jack]

Pull the adjuster unit out of the intake manifold and look for oil. If there is oil in there and your valve cover gasket is toast, the separator is probably done also...as in super likely.

For the amount of money the separator and hoses cost, it really makes zero sense not to replace it if it is original and you are having associated symptoms, so I have no idea why service wouldn't replace it. It takes little time for a real tech who has done at least one separator to do it.

The adjuster is bolted in with two hex head bolts, and has a push lock electrical connector on it. That's it. Check for oil on the butterfly and oil in the manifold. If it is clean, he is right.