2006 4.4 N62 Oil Separator/Crankcase vent repair

[pgage]

so I am working through some oil separator issues. Very common as I have seen on this board, but I figured I would throw in my 2 cents, as well as add some information.

First of all, 2006 has a different oil separator than its 2001-2003 predecessors. I used procedure B on this form BMW SIB as my guide

Symptoms:
rumbly squeel sound at start up. I thought it was cold belts.
rough idle after about 2 minutes
Service Engine light came on one time after I immediately started driving after starting cold car

Mechanic Diagnosis:
Running lean, several engine misfires

Cause:
Water condensation in pipes mixed with cold weather. I am in Spokane, WA but problem first arose after an overnight drive through montana with zero degree temps.

Mechanic wants $450 to fix, so I decided to look into the problems. All the parts are easy to reach and relatively inexpensive. At this point I have spent nothing on parts - only cleaning my existing parts, but I have ordered aftermarket valve caps and they were only $35 for a pair, shipped.

The repair:
Take of the Crankshaft caps carefully - pulling the tabs on the caps up and jimmying it until it comes loose. As of now my new valve caps have not arrived so I just cleaned the existing ones to see what kind of difference this made.

I also removed both hoses - you just squeeze the ends and they come loose. This can be a little difficult so I used a pair of channel lock pliers. The hoses were pretty clogged so I flushed them out, then cleaned with a rag and pipe cleaners.

After putting it all back together the rough idle has completely disappeared, but I still get the "ripping" sound on my first start of a cold morning. After a week I checked the cheese buildup and found some was returning. My next step is to completely replace the valves. This is an obvious step from the get go, but I only did the cleaning since I was waiting for the new parts.

Also, I did an oil change - Castrol Edge SPT 0w-30 GC seemed to be the most recommended oil for cold weather so thats what I went with.

I will update after I do the full valve replacement and see what that does.

Note: I know the updated system has the valves on the hoses. I may end up doing that complete upgrade, but for now, this repair is worth trying.

[SlickGT1]

Good job. You reminded me about when I did this as well. I'll have to put up pics from my n62 4.8is.

Those valves were $14 from ecstunning, BMW brand. Just thought I let you know.

that is a lot of cheese. I heard that those valves, the rubber part rips, making ripping sounds. Dunno, mine never did that, I just replaced because it was very cheap.

I too had a bit of cheese. But a fraction of yours. Car came from Florida, so that explains it.

How many miles on yours?

[SlickGT1]

Oh and what new system are you talking about? Do you have part numbers?

[pgage]

slick - here is the part for the updated system.

11617563476 (11 61 7 563 476) Crankcase Vent Hose for Cylinders 1-4 NOTE: Also use- (1) 11 61 7 547 186 Hose manufactured by GENUINE BMW for $68.63 at KO Performance

The vent is now on the hose. The current crankshaft covers are replaced with ones that don't have the little valve stem. This is apparently just the left side. And also not completely sure if this solves the problem, so for now I am just replacing the current setup.

I am at 168000 miles. Bought it used last year though, so I am just getting to know this guy.

I did get the ecstuning caps...they were 13 each plus shipping.