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?

If your seperator is failing, check everything that could have oil in it for oil coming out of it. Valve cover gasket is a good one, but the dipstick and breather lines are as well.

Seperator failure and the freezing situation are slightly different. You can have seperator failure at normal temps. Mine failed in Houston at 80* F.

Hey Gents,
It's look like this oil separator was a real issues on X's (4.4i /2002), it happen to me last year, around Feb/2007 it's around -20C out temp. and noticed black smokes coming out from the exhaust. had it towed to the dealer and it cost me $1300for the repair.
Is there anybody recovered any repair cost for this particular issue.

I had the same problem back in Feb. 07, after waiting three weeks (sixty something cars ahead of me with same problem) the dealership did the entire repair at no charge.

Now here is the kicker it just happened again last night. We are having extremely cold weather in Minneapolis this weekend, and while my wife was driving home the same symptoms showed up: black smoke, SES light came on, and Check Oil level indicator message popped up, as well as a big pool of oil underneath the X. I am assuming there is a one year warranty on the parts, I am now desperately digging for the receipt in my records to see if there was a warranty period, I am assuming there should be. Anybody here work at the dealership, got any advice?

freeze up
 

You get 2 years part and labor warranty. I've changed and run Mobil one oil. Change oil more often in winter. Always have this issue in mind,ALWAYS. So far no issues on either of my cars. With no updated parts. This issue can cause hydrolocking and bend connecting rods.

I would be more worried about the valvetrain than the con rods but anything is possible when you try and compress water.

So here is the update. . . after taking it in to the dealer, they did the repair free of charge!!!

While that made my day, I am sad to report i will be trading in my X this weekend...loved her but she betrayed me one too many times... :(

I just had this oil separator issue as well and BMW said they would not even cover the parts on my 01 X5 4.4i. May end up costing me over $2,000. If I could turn back time, I would have sold my BMW when I had 80,000 and still had 20,000 on the extended warranty. My tranny went out at 102,000 and BMW (gracious as they are - not) gave me 50% off on the parts. How nice, eh? I think I'll stay with the Germans next time, but give my money to Audi.