Oil Separator
 

Monday before Christmas,my son calls me from the gas station,tells me the X is smoking from under the hood.I call the tow guy,he looks at it and tells me it's the valve cover gasket.He hauls it to Plaza Motors here in St. Louis.The next morning they call me and tell me it will cost $580 to fix.3 hours later they call me back and tell me that the oil sepoarator froze and collapsed,sending pressure into the oil pan and block,causing the valve cover to blow out,over $1300 to fix.So I call back and talk to the head service tech,explain to him the car only has 68 k miles.He tells me he will look into it,calls me back 30 minutes later and tells me there was a recall in 03 and they are going to cover 100%.2weeks and 200 miles later the check engine light comes on and the heater will no longer work.I take it back in,they check it and tell me the electronic thermostat is bad,could have happened before or after the separator problem,so they fix it and again cover 100%.I can't say enough good things about the dealer,but now I'm starting to worry about the X,should I keep it,or is this just the beginning of things to come?Has anyone else had any of the same problems or something worse ?

The oil separator freezing up is a well known issue, made worse by short trips that don't allow the oil to burn off all of the condensation. The condensate freezes when it gets cold enough. There have been a variety of factory fixes; while they appear to have helped, I think the vehicle is still subject to this problem at times. Do a search on this site on 'oil separator freezing' and you should find quite a few posts.

Sounds like you have a good solid dealer, which will serve you well. As to whether this is the start of a slow decline, well, it isn't a new vehicle any longer. If you have an extended warranty you are in better shape, but you should expect some problems as it ages.

I never knew this was a issue was recalled, is this for all X5's ?

Mine is an 02.The service adviser found a recall from 03 and used it to repair mine.It was nice to have my $1300 bill covered a week before Christmas.

So is there an actual recall on the oil seperator? What is the process of me getting it replaced if it is a known issue?

I believe it is an "after failure" campaign, primarily because the vast majority of X5s don't have a problem. There are enough examples that BMW has a fix (heated/insulated breather lines) when required.

If someone has an example of a broad recall for unaffected vehicles, please chime in.

That is the exact time to expect the seperator to fail, cold or not. I have posted on this before. The seperator system is of a design that requires parts be replaced instead of a built in, permenant system that arguably works less well.

I doubt there is a model wide recall, but plenty of these have been done under warranty.

Yes, things are going to start breaking at 70k. The cooling system will probably be next; waterpump would be my guess. Though I am at 80k and haven't had to do either yet. But I will.

are all 2000-2006 the same?
 

Hi,

I had 2000 323ci with the 2.5 liter inside and I never had this problem. Though, I to am getting the white cream in on the oil cap in my 2003 X5.

Is it a different system?

The white creamy substance inside the oil cap comes from moisture in the engine that doesn't get burned off because the engine never really warms up. The moisture is held in suspension in the oil. The solution is to get the engine hot enough every now and then, as short trips are the usual cause.

Recommend that you change the oil, get it good and hot, and then change the oil again. That will usually clean it out.

The oil separator freezing is caused by the same moisture in the oil as I have described above, but the oil separator isn't causing it.

thanks for the reply
 

i will do it this weekend. though, how would you know if your oil seperator is failing?

at the time it takes, would someone just have to wait it out?