CCV Valve - Oil Separation Failure due to cold weather...anyone else?

[davintosh]

I've been reading up on this issue a lot lately, but this is the first time I've seen this thread. Read through the whole thing, and... Wow. The engine fire scares the crap out of me, because my wife is the primary driver of the X5.

We only bought the X5 last September, and I've noticed the sludge inside the valve cover and on the dipstick, and an oil usage rate that's higher than I would expect (the M30 engine in my e32 with 200,000 miles on it doesn't use any oil between changes). I recently went through the maintenance records that the previous owner provided, and what I read scared me about as much as the report of the engine fire. The records I have go back to about 70,000 miles; it now has about 150k on it, and show that the oil separator has been replaced three times, most recent time was about a year ago. In addition to the OS, the valve cover & gasket have been replaced twice, and the intake manifold once (with the heated unit.)

From what I've gleaned from my reading, BMW still hasn't come up with a real resolution to this problem; that's pretty disappointing.

When I changed the oil yesterday, I took some extra time and did the vacuum trick to try & suction some of the sludge out of the OS pipes. Got a little bit of sludge out of it, but not much. There seemed to be a lot of moisture in there though; not sure what to think of that (coolant level hasn't changed since September.) Does anybody know of any new information on this issue?

[upallnight]

Originally Posted by davintosh

I've been reading up on this issue a lot lately, but this is the first time I've seen this thread. Read through the whole thing, and... Wow. The engine fire scares the crap out of me, because my wife is the primary driver of the X5.

We only bought the X5 last September, and I've noticed the sludge inside the valve cover and on the dipstick, and an oil usage rate that's higher than I would expect (the M30 engine in my e32 with 200,000 miles on it doesn't use any oil between changes). I recently went through the maintenance records that the previous owner provided, and what I read scared me about as much as the report of the engine fire. The records I have go back to about 70,000 miles; it now has about 150k on it, and show that the oil separator has been replaced three times, most recent time was about a year ago. In addition to the OS, the valve cover & gasket have been replaced twice, and the intake manifold once (with the heated unit.)

From what I've gleaned from my reading, BMW still hasn't come up with a real resolution to this problem; that's pretty disappointing.

When I changed the oil yesterday, I took some extra time and did the vacuum trick to try & suction some of the sludge out of the OS pipes. Got a little bit of sludge out of it, but not much. There seemed to be a lot of moisture in there though; not sure what to think of that (coolant level hasn't changed since September.) Does anybody know of any new information on this issue?

I bet with your E32 you don't go 15,000 miles between oil change. With the free maintenance program that BMW offers to entice new owners the normal oil change interval is 15,000 mile or until the oil service light comes on. Less frequent oil change only benefit BMW because they won't be shelling out additional money for additional free oil change. With people using their cars to make shorter trips this is harder on the engine because the engine never really get hot enough for a long enough time to burn off any condensation.

Don't get me started on the "Life time ATF" that is in all their trans, whether it's a ZF or GM.

[DTMdan]

Just to make sure, can the Cold Climate Version be used on 2000-09/2003 3.0 models?

*Edit: Nevermind, found the insulated kit: BMW E53 X5 M54 3.0L > Engine > View All > ES#25781 Oil Separator Repair Kit - Basic - 11617534237

[SlickGT1]

ahahahah, that's the insulated kit. I think I can put on more, and better insulation from leftover construction materials.

[upallnight]

Originally Posted by SlickGT1

ahahahah, that's the insulated kit. I think I can put on more, and better insulation from leftover construction materials.

You can get a can of this stuff at any home improvement stores.

[myzhik86]

Originally Posted by hbhavsar

Please anyone help me with the question about from where vaccum line comes to oil separator valve on 2002 X5, 3.0 engine.

I am tired with oil separator valve going bad and I am going to try out modification with the placement of oil separtor valve at easy to access location within the engine bay. For this purpose, I am going to break off old pipes going to the separator valve and leave the bad valve in its own position. I am going to run separate flexible hoses from valve cover and intake manifold and run them to the space near headlight on left side as a new location for separtaor valve installation. My problem is I can not see from where the vaccum line comes from to the separator valve. Once, I know from you guys, I can run the vaccum line to the new location and that way at later time it will be easy to change the valve.

So please anyone quickly help me with the information about origin/starting point of vaccum line coming to the separator valve. I sincerely appreciate your help in advance. Thanks

Hemant

Is it really the valve going bad...?
It freezes up then forces oil out of the weakest point in the engine.
Once it is thawed isnt it back to normal...?
Now you have to find where the oil is forced out of.
Thats where im at. Its happend a second time to me.
My wife was driving it and pulled over after smoke started rolling out of every where. Ofcourse i come to the rescue. check the oil and its fine.
I drive it home with smoke pouring out. I end up going back to work.
At the end of the day I pop the hood look around and see oil on the ground.
I cant find where it is leaking from.
What are the the typical culprits when this happens...?
Ive replaced the valve cover gaskets ccv and pcv...
It looks like now oil is coming from the front of the engine...

[SlickGT1]

Clean it all up. I'm talking decent amount of brake cleaner. Then watch where it's coming from.

You can buy some die and add it to the oil. You can get a kit on Amazon with the light.

[JCL]

Originally Posted by myzhik86

Is it really the valve going bad...?
It freezes up then forces oil out of the weakest point in the engine.
Once it is thawed isnt it back to normal...?

No. The valve doesn't freeze itself. The condensate paste, which contains water, freezes. If it freezes in the closed position, then pressure builds up in the crankcase and forces its way out, often through a valve cover gasket.

If the condensate paste is there, it can freeze again.

[myzhik86]

So I dont think this problem will ever go away unless I move somewhere where it doesnt get below freezing temperature.
I have learned that if you drive gently and try to stay below 2k rpms the car will drive fine.
I drove like this after the most recent time the ccv froze. The x5 ran fine no smoke or anything.
This morning i thouhgt i would test my theory so I bump the gas twice so the rpms would go above 2k quickly... sure enough the x5 began to smoke like crazy!! previous times my wife was driving it so i didnt experience the the problem.

This time I was driving, the car was stallling and there was smoke behind me for a 1/4 mile. Not kidding! I couldnt see the cars behind me.

Im guessing the oil is entering the intake and flooding one or more of the cylinders.

Is this a possibility? Im not familiar with the setup. Just wondering if there is a way for a gasket to blow and allow oil to enter the cylinders....?

I just bought this recently, from a single owner who owned it from brand new with 130k. Its in really nice shape. But i dont think my driving style is a good
fit for the car as i dont do long trips just short ones.

[Nick P]

The problem has nothing to do with the crankcase ventilation design - it's all the excess of water in the oil due to the wearout of piston rings.

There's nothing to do about it exept for oil catch tank - but it's not a solution of the problem, it's just to send some amount of oil in to the tank to keep the engine save. The solution against frozen CCV is a engine rebuild or a new engine.

I never had such a problem in my 4.6is in 6 years of ownership, using it even at -30°C. The condensate/oil sludge is an evidence for not getting the engine warm as it should be - and there's no other explanation for that.