Oil Seperator
 

I am sure many have replace their oil seperators on their X's But does anyone worry about having them fail again? Is their an alternate or better fix? I just replaced my water pump and then this happens 3 days later, ontop of all that I have a new abs sensor on the way and My air bag light is on! So this is my merry Christmas! Just my Rant!! I am at cross roads with this thing! Do I sell it or keep fixing!! AAAHHHHHHHH
Thanks For any tips or advice!

Sorry to hear about your problems but wanted to wish you Happy Holidays anyways! :thumbup: :D

Thanks hopefully they end better than they started!

klnteg, I know how you feel. I had the same frustration last winter, after I had the oil separator freeze up twice. Each time resulted in the valve cover gasket failing. During the first repair, the oil separator was "cleaned", not replaced. A few weeks later, the thing froze again. This time (a different dealer) informed me that there was an update to the oil separator design. They said the new design would not freeze up. I'm on my first winter now with this new design, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Good luck! I recommend getting the new separator. There was a recent DIY on the separator. I've taken mine off once to make sure that it was not clogged. It's fairly easy to do... long arms help :)

I had my oil seperator replaced about two years ago and have not have that problem seen, but after oil seperator replaced the next thing happened was the valve cover crack.

My valve cover cracked, my valve cover gasket got blown, and I had a toasted Oil seperator. They're all related to the seperator issue. Just get it replaced to avoid the other problems...

Yes, you may need to replace the separator or separator system multiple times, even if it is not freeze related because of it's job and how it does it. I might add it is very good at that job, much more so than any of the GM, Chrysler or Ford systems I have seen, at a cost less performance. It is a consumable part/system however.

By the way, if you are questioning selling or keep fixing, you should probably sell. These cars require maintenance. More than a toyota or GM or whatever. They use more consumable parts to squeeze more performance out of a shorter part lifecycle. That is the philosophy, and it is a tradeoff.

I am not trying to be mean, but it will break again. Something will need to be replaced. You could get a car with less consumable parts, less required maintenance, and get less performance out of it. It's a choice. BMW sells you this choice normally with a warranty and the concept that in 2-3 years, you will be trading it in, or paying to keep it up. It is a different paradigm than low performance, low maintenance, 175k mile parts for everything possible. It is the same with their electronics. They work better for shorter, and give you more conveneince for a shorter period of time than an American or Japanese manufacturer would. This is my conclusion after working on this car for 3 years, and domestics for 20. :dunno:

BTW I am not just telling you this and enjoying my non-broken separator. I replaced it for the second time last week, after it failed, ruptured and spewed 4 quarts of oil in 1000 miles all over my engine block.

Lo jack you replaced the seperator again? In your opinion how long will a seperator last? I got mine replaced last february.

See that is the funny thing. I asked my buddy the tech and he didn't have a clear answer on this. Obviously, if it went 70k the first time, you would expect similar. It could be that I have other compounding problems as well though, like it is time for new 02s.

where is the oil separator on a 2001 3.0i? I can't locate the thing.

You have to take the engine cover off. Its towards the back of the engine if you're looking at it from the front of the car..

He is asking about the 3.0 L engine. Many of us get confused between the two engines when we talk about the oil separator. The oil separator for the 3.0 L engine is located under the intake manafold and thottle body. It is very hard to find/see unless you take off the intake manafold.

Cliff's notes: Do not pull the intake manifold to get at the separator. It is unnecessary. I have R&R'ed mine twice, and my manifold has never left the engine.


You do not need to take off the intake manifold to find/see/replace the separator on the 3.0i. Take off the air box, the silencer, and the throttle body boot. Remove the nuts/bolts that hold the vacuum manifold (gray box with lots of hoses and wires going into it, located under #7 in this diagram. Push it aside, and disconnect whatever electrical leads allow you to do that. There are several right there, and they are only long enough to get to what they are supposed to go to, so do not worry if you need to disconnect them. They are spring loaded and go back on easily.

With that out of the way, you should see, under the intake manifold, a black plastic part with several hoses coming off of it. That is #1 in this diagram.

There are two screws that hold the separator to the engine. They are not easy to get at, and the lower one requires taking of the throttle body (#5 here), which is held on by four bolts. Just take it off the block and let it dangle back towards the firewall.

If your separator has never been replaced and needs to be done, I would recommend replacing all of the associated hoses , 2, 3, 4 and 7 in that diagram, plus the distribution piece (#5 here, which comes with new #6's installed).

That is the entire system. It takes blowby gases, unburned hydrocarbon (all bad for the crankcase), funnels them into the separator which sends liquid oil back into the pan (hose that comes off the bottom) and gases up to the distribution piece to be sent to every cylinder to be reignited. A good way to tell if your separator is working or not is taking off #7 in this diagram and seeing if the insides of the manifold are covered in oily goo. If it is, the separator is not working right, as oil is getting sent back into the intake where it does not belong. This is usually accompanied by decrease in mileage, as the oil in the chambers forces the computer to add fuel via injectors to achieve the correct air/fuel ratio.

thanks for all the input guys! I bought my X almost 2 years ago knowing it was going to need maintenance. I bought it without warranty becasue I am very mechanical myself. I just figured it wouldn't need so many things all the time! They are a very quirky machine. Its almost at the point where I am scared to drive it because something might go wrong again. Its sad really because I get into my 94 jeep grand cherokee and it just goes and goes!! so you put out over $20000 for a BMW and then $3000 for the jeep and its more reliable? But I do understand the theory of more performance more maintenance! Thanks again guys!

And your jeep is slow, isn't it? I know it is; I have two v8 Chryslers and they are slow.

Yes its really slow!! but the only good thing about the jeep is that I am not scared of what will go wrong everytime I start and Drive it!

How long should replacement take, better to do it on ramps? Is that the best way to access it? Or does come from the top? Please help !! Thanks.

I have a stupid question.... what does the oil seperator do? Go ahead, make fun :-)

Reread post #13. :thumbup:

Thanks... I need to skim info less and read the whole thing.:wow:

lo_jack,,, need some help ! got the air box out, removed 1 bolt, i nut of vacuum manifold but can't find another bolt or nut holding vacuum manifold in place. what/where is holding manifold ? i don't have a bentley so i'm just following your post here. appreciate more help, thx.

That manifold shares a bolt with the throttle body, if I recall correctly. If you have the nut and the bolt off, there is one left and that would be it. I had to find it blind just shoving my right hand in there and finding the mounting bracket. Also, it is not going to move a lot once the bolts are off - I just swing it down towards the driver frame rail so it is mostly out of the way. You can get the separator out over it then, no problem.

I will be going in for service soon and was wondering if this is something I need to have checked out/replaced. I have 65k miles on my X right now and the dealer replaced all 4 crankcase hoses about a year ago. I don't believe the oil separator was ever replaced.

Since I live in So Cal, should I get the separator replaced? Also, I have the BMW extended warranty until May. Would this be covered? Thanks.

I'm in the same boat as MB above. I have a 2005 X5 3.0i with 52K miles and I'm taking it to my indie mechanic next month for oil change.

Do the '05 models have the same problems with the oil seperator as the earlier year models? I'm wondering if I shouldn't have mine replaced as preventive maintenance.

...add another 'new' '01 X5 owner to the boat - 62.5k miles. I'm figuring with the age of our SUV's and lack of quality warranty protection that it's in our best interest to 'preventative maintenance' as much as we can to help ensure a long (and expense-LESS) X5 driving relationship!

Maybe we should start our own 'Preventative Maintenance (for higher mileage/older) SUV' thread!??

Guess What!!!!!! yep it went again!!!! just got a bill for $782 on Dec 12 08 and it failed again! I see a puddle of oil under the vehicle. I think I read somewhere that there was an updated seperator for the X5? Not sure if they put the new one on or an old stock new one? anyone know that part # my part number was 11-15-7-560-068 is this the new or old one? Any ideas?

Thanks

Mine did the same after changing it out. Was leaking out of the oil fill cap. Did they change the oil as well? After I replaced the oil it has been fine.

I think that the replacement separators are the updated ones, not sure though as they have the same part number.:dunno:

The updated seperator has an insulated wrap that goes around the hoses so it won't freeze.. Thats what you need. And yes when you change the seperator you need an oil change too to get that old crap in the old oil out..

Is that "updated" or an "upgrade"?

Updated supposedly.. It does work though.. Also alot of people in colder climate winters switch to 0w - 40 oil during the cold months. Seems to help also, from what they say.

Out of curiosity klnteg - what is the condition of your oil filter housing seal?

I ask because I am wondering if there is a relationship between separator failure and filter seal failure. I don't have any data besides my one point, but I wonder if 1) a leaking filter housing seal could aggravate separator problems, or 2) vice versa. I am fairly certain of number 2 (this is like the valve cover gasket problem), but I don't know about number 1.

not sure of the conditon. I normally do my own work but I have no garage at the moment so I had to send it in. how many of you changed to 0W-40 oil? Should I be changing to that aswell? Also? What relation would the oil filter housing seal have to do with separator? I just dont see the link there?

Thanks

I think that it just another route that the oil is blowing out of, other than the valve cover gaskets or oil fill cap.

I think because the system is pressurized is why it would be a concern?:dunno:

That's where I was going with that. Separator failure tends to pressurize the lube system and blows out valve cover gaskets. Certainly, if your filter housing seal was already shot, a dead separator would help blow more oil out of that location as well. What I am curious about is any correlation or causation relationship between the filter housing seal and the separator - either way, the same way we mostly know to look at separators if your valve cover gasket is leaking.

But there isn't enough data for that.

after my separator went the first time my valve cover gskts were leaking but very little. So I left them alone, and I will replace them in the spring. Is there any way someone could send me a picture of the new separator??

What years is the oil separator a problem?

They go at a certain mileage range...around 70k to 100kmiles... If you're asking what models have the most problems it is the 2000-2003 models that usually have the most seperator problems..

Is valve cover gasket a witch to replace or is it bunch bolts and piece of rubber. I don't want to start doing if it takes too long.
What are the part numbers for valve cover gasket replacement + separator.
This is what I have found here: http://www.bimmerspecialist.com/usa/...ls/11617534237
only 2 hoses. Will it be OK to replace 2, is it the right part? Indy shop wants 1600(everything). Thank you all.

lo_jack, I think you are correct in the relationship of the oil filter seal with the oil separator issue. After my oil separator went, I replaced the valve cover gasket, separator and hoses. A few weeks later I found that my oil filter seal had failed too. I think it failed as a result of the over-pressure from the separator failure.

This separator system design is just plain amateur, sub standard, POS, whatever you want to call it. BMW should be embarrassed with this design. I've never had this issue with any other car.

This winter I've decided to keep the X5 in the heated garage, no driving whatsoever. I'm driving my Ford in this sub-freezing temps.

I hear ya brother.. Be sure to drive the bimmer on some of the days though, you don't want to let her sit too long with out starting her up and driving her around for a bit. Otherwise you might experience some other problem because it had been sittting too long..

Man, whatever would posess BMW to make such a complicated, hard to get to design for a PCV valve? Nuts.

All of my other cars, It's always been easy to get to, and the valve costs a whopping $3 or $4 at Walmart or Autozone. Why not make a more simple, easy to service design, even if it required more frequent replacement...?

A PCV doesn't separate out the oil mist, it just vents. The crankcase ventilation valve includes a separator to keep that mist out of the intake.

Well, as far as I can tell, the X5 system separates oil and drops liquids back down, and lighter blowby goes into the distribution piece where it is added to every chamber for recombustion. I emphasize this because every domestic PCV system I have ever seen does this part only in theory, but if you pull the intake manifold(s) you will find only 2 or 4 (depending on number of cyls) cylinders actually get oily and dark from this practice. Therfore, one can only conclude that the X5 system applies the recombutibles to every cylinder so they go less lean over time, have less variance in A/F ratios across cylinders and therefore are easier to accurately control for performance purposes.

Not sure about what years are worst, but BMW has issued 3 SIB's on the issue so far to cover the 3 main engines M54, M62, N62/62TU, which are present in a lot more models then just the X5.

That is true, but only for the M62 engine. The M54 and N62/62TU updates do not have any wraps and are completely different fixes.