Oil Separator Info / True solution.

[MosH]

LOL, you and your oil pan...

[ecproductions143]

remove the fan clutch/blade helps out a lot with fast warm ups maybe not a good ideal in the summer but I will put it on I am keeping a real sharp eye on the temp. My reason for even taking the fan off in the first place was do to a faulty fan/clutch it oscilated and broke into many pieces in 5 degree weather one night which took out the radiator. I replaced the water pump hence the 80k on the orig and I had all that stuff out so hell why not on $60 from napa lifetime waranty, also replaced alternator do to battery light starting to flash. BOSCH reman was put on at 60k by me so I took it back n swapped for a good one hence it had lifetime warranty.

I am also trying the dipstick trick, makes lots of sence

[J.Belknap]

Did you just have a seizure?



With the mechanical fan installed or not, the engine will warm up in the same time. It has a temperature-controlled clutch, and will free spin when cold. Keeping a sharp eye on a temperature gauge won't help, as it is not anywhere near precise.

[papasmurf]

My personal solution: remote start. My car warms up before every trip, so moisture does not accumulate as easily.

Honestly though, I have no idea if that's the trick, but so far with my first winter in this truck, I have no residue on the dipstick or oil cap.

[primetime]

[QUOTE=papasmurf;710918]My personal solution: remote start. My car warms up before every trip, so moisture does not accumulate as easily.

QUOTE]

You will later..its not a matter of IF, its a matter of when...BMW also reccomends against "warming the car" up during idle...You should start your car, wait 30 seconds to a minute, and begin driving..

[chefwong]

I thought the whole idea of 3K oil changes, 15 minutes of sitting idle warm up, went away with the 90's......

guys, short idles, slow driving to warm up is much more efficient for the cars...

[papasmurf]

Originally Posted by primetime

You will later..its not a matter of IF, its a matter of when...BMW also reccomends against "warming the car" up during idle...You should start your car, wait 30 seconds to a minute, and begin driving..

Meh, I like getting into a warm car. Besides, I live in the Northeast, and I check for condensation fairly regularly, and it has not built up. So besides the remote start warming up the car before I get in, I'm not doing anything else. Knock on wood, I have not had a separator problem, and it's my only explanation. Common sense tells me that if there's a problem with condensation in the oil turning eventually into ice, by warming up the oil and letting the water evaporate, there will not be a problem.

Besides, nothing beats getting into a warm car for the morning commute.

[BlondyFA]

A friend of mine referred me to this post and my wife has been quite active on it. I finally had time to dig under the hood and see what had been damaged when the OSV froze in Jan. The week point(s) on her X were two hoses that went to the OSV. They both blew wide open draining all the oil from the vehicle.

Well, now that it is March and the OSV has thawed I replaced the two hoses, did an oil change and fired it up. Aside from the Destroyer sized smoke screen it laid down for the first two days it is now running fine. Since I am not a big fan of paying the dealer anything I bought hose at O’Rielly Auto parts and cut it to the proper length and used some hose bender things and made my own custom hose.

Thank you all on the forum.

JC

[330]

JC, sounds like you did OK. I'm glad the post helped you out. Since my post this discussion has taken several directions. But you have picked up on my original intent, that is when this happens there isn't much wrong with the car other than finding the "weak point" where the oil came out. In your case it was only the hoses, in my case it was the oil cap. These $2000 repairs from the dealer are not needed. Problem is this could happen to you again, I'm up to three but my last was from the dip stick. I just pull it up so only one O-ring is holding, the system is normally under vacuum so it doesn't cause any issues, but if pressure builds up it will shoot oil out of the dip stick vs. damaging some other part. Also it this happens, you only have to wait 5- 10 minutes and the OS will defrost, from the heat of the engine. That’s how mine went last time, it was cold so I kept an eye on my exhaust, as soon as I saw the extra smoke I pulled over. When I opened the hood I saw oil squirting from the dip stick tube, it was just getting by the o-ring but the o-ring and dipstick stayed in place. Then I shut off the engine and it stopped. Waited 5-10 minutes and started the engine again, this time no oil was coming out and I continued to work, about 1 quart came out total, just topped it off later. I have 30K miles on the car with the dip stick in this position with no problems.

[alefcole]

Sorry for my ignorant post, is this oil separator issue seen just in the E53 or is the E70 affected as well. Did BMW do something different in the E70?.