CCV Cleanout with Pictures - Page 2

Seabass · #11 02-21-2009, 11:53 AM

As promised, here is a picture of my right side CCV valve. This picture was taken 6 days after the last time I cleaned it. In the past week, ambient temp was around -10°C. The X5 took my wife to work and back 3 times (60km each way on the highway). It also went on a few assorted trips around town (each time at least 20 minutes of driving in manual mode to get up to operating temp quickly).

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primetime · #12 02-21-2009, 03:30 PM

Great pics...wow that is nasty. Seems like way too much for 6 days?!..

X5 Meister · #13 02-21-2009, 05:23 PM

That is just simply amazing. Something must really be wrong because I cannot imagine that to be normal by any stretch. I would think that at that kind of rate you are at serious risk of destroying the engine. Anyone by any chance have a similar X5 to yours that lives nearby so that you can compare? I would also suggest perhaps you have it documented by your local BMW dealer and call up BMW Canada and maybe get an extended warranty pronto.

Seabass · #14 02-21-2009, 07:32 PM

After much head scratching and discussing with the mechanically-inclined father-in-law, I may have come to a realization....

As I stated earlier, there is no cheese buildup on the left side (old style integrated CCV and insulated hose into bottom of intake manifold). After getting the engine up to operating temperature, I noticed that the left CCV and hose is nice and warm.

One the right side, I have the upgraded parts with the un-insulated CCV in the middle of the hose. I noticed that this CCV was cold to the touch after driving. I've been driving without the engine cover and my cooling fan is undoubtedly keeping the CCV nice and cool(duh). Of course, the warm moisture condenses when it hits the cold valve!

I'm off to Home Depot to locate some type of insulation that I can wrap the CCV in (and I'll replace the engine cover). Results to follow...

X5 Meister · #15 02-21-2009, 07:34 PM

Seabass, I know you are in Canada, but is your car a CPO (if they even have that over there)?

Just read your last post. Maybe you can try a heated wrap type of fix that was done by BMW on the M62 engine.

Seabass · #16 02-21-2009, 10:24 PM

Nope, my car is not a CPO. My dealer covers their repairs for 2 years so another CCV freeze up on the right side would be covered by their service warranty.

I found some great pipe insulation at home depot (seems very similar to the type on the left hose). I'm gonna MacGyver something together on Sunday.

X5 Meister · #17 02-21-2009, 11:07 PM

Hope it works. Good luck! I was just suggesting making a heated wrap like BMW did by tapping a power source in the engine compartment, etc. It might be extreme, but then again it seems like you have an extreme case of the problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seabass

Nope, my car is not a CPO. My dealer covers their repairs for 2 years so another CCV freeze up on the right side would be covered by their service warranty.

I found some great pipe insulation at home depot (seems very similar to the type on the left hose). I'm gonna MacGyver something together on Sunday.

BennyX · #18 03-07-2009, 05:53 AM

Hi there. I have the ultimate piece of junk, 2003 X5 4.6. Don't get me wrong... it's nice to drive. Just wish I could get more than a few days out of it at a time. Latest complication was quite similar to this thread. I live in edmonton, alberta. Things got cold and I had a ccv freeze up, blew the valve cover gasket, and it puked oil all over. Took it in to Eurasia auto where one of the guys (Ralph) was a service mgr at a bmw dealership. $700 later and it's fixed. That was a week ago. Today I am driving and a huge cloud of oily smoke blasts out the exhaust pipes. I found oil coming out of only the driver's side tail pipe, but oil burning smell coming out of both. I got it to a heated shop, let it unthaw and restarted it. Tons of oily smoke poured out the pipes. It seems to run ok otherwise, and doesn't have any horrible noises. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

primetime · #19 03-07-2009, 11:07 AM

Benny..that means the same thing happened.. Your Valve Cover gasket probably blew again..It doesn't take much. And if the shop did not use the proper gasket sealant on the half moons of the VCG then it is more then likely to do this..Take it back to the shop, they should re - do the job.

Now thats only if it was smoke coming out of the tail pipes or engine bay. If there's actual OIL coming out of the tail pipes thats an entirely different situation..And more serious. GL.

JCL · #20 03-07-2009, 01:00 PM

Primetime, that doesn't compute. He has smoke coming out of his exhaust pipes. A leaking valve cover can cause smoke in the engine bay, but there is no path from the engine bay to the exhaust pipe. If it is smoking out the tailpipe, the engine has oil inside, not outside.

Back to the shop to find the source of the oil in the combustion chamber.

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