PLEASE HELP Oil Separator 2001 4.4 X5 (FIXED w/ lessons learned!!)

[bdcanetti]

After changing the O.S. and 2 sets of plugs and 2 weeks of paying for a rental car I'm out of the woods. It was 1 single coil. My brother OHMed out the coils and they checked good. So he then suggested checking them "oldschool" by removing the plugs one by one and with the coil hooked up, ground the plug to the engine and start the truck. Whala! The first plug we checked had no spark! We changed that coil and spark checked it. So after all that aggravation and money, it was one stupid coil. Although I am glad I changed the O.S. and all hoses, as they were in really bad shape.

MY CONTRIBUTION TO THE O.S. DILEMMA:

No where on here does anyone mention removing the housing for the cabin microfilter (middle part of the firewall). It's only two nuts and makes accessing the O.S. and hoses ten times easier. INTAKE MANIFOLD REMOVAL IS UNECESARRY!!!!

Also: DO NOT follow the DIY on the home page for the Oil Separator on this home page if you have a 4.4 like me. It's not even close to the required procedure!!