I believe killcrap mentioned that after so many interm. lever replacements they sometimes replace the heads. Something to bring up to the dealer. Good luck.

An improved crankshaft casing and battery powered heater on the CCV valve?! I never heard of that stuff. Was this a BMW dealer or an independent repair shop? If a BMW dealer, can you post the information from your invoice (part numbers, etc) and also post a few photos? Thanks.

It was at a BMW dealer.

I've looked into my invoice, in the comments in the top, there is this description: "Replace the intermediate levers and upgrade crankcase". They told me that the upgrade was for cold-climate. So they improved the cc, they didn't installled an improved cc, sorry for the confusion.

From the part list, I think these are the one related to the cc fix:
11-12-7-563-474 (cover)
11-61-7-563-476 (pipe)
11-61-7-550-466 (heater)

I have other items that seems more related to the intermediate level change.

I would be glad to send a few pics, just help me locate the interesting spot (all I know of my engine is what's visible from the top, valves covers, spark plugs). I have no idea where the cc is...

:)

Hey this is some great information and hopefully a few people will chime in as well. First off, what is your car's date of production and would you mind posting all the parts that were done in your repair?

Now it appears that your symptoms were most likely related to the intermediate lever issues and that those were all changed and hopefully will fix the problem.

http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum...ssue-06-a.html

What is great is that it looks like you've got a great service advisor over there because when they had the engine stripped they also (properly) upgraded all your CCV valve parts (new cylinder 1-4 head cover that no longer has an integral CCV valve and a hose that now has a integrated CCV valve). However the last part you posted, 11-61-7-550-466 (heater), is very very interesting. A search on Realoem shows that it isn't a part for the E53 X5 at all and in fact it is for Europe only cars, specifically some 1 series, 3 series, 5 series, and 6 series models with these engines.

N43 engine - 4 cylinder 2.0 liter gas & diesel, 2006+
N53 engine - 6 cylinder 2.5 - 3.0 liter gas , 2007+

List of BMW engines - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I wonder why, and where!, they installed it? Anyone with a clue (weasel, killcrap, jcl)?

As far as pictures go, you'd have to remove the 3 plastic engine covers to photograph the relevant CCV valve parts. It's not hard to do, just a little bit of a pain, let me know.

See also this thread.

http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum...-pictures.html

True about the great service that I have,

I'll get you more information later but about the "heater", my advisor told me that it is installed either around or inside the CCV. He told me that before they did the installation, they had to ask to "engineering" (BMW's? I dunno), to make sure it was doable or not. With their blessing, they proceeded with the install. This gives to your "foreign part" theory a lot of sense. BTW, I'm in Canada where winter is still, even today, a reality...

Great. More information would be great and if you wouldn't mind, certainly before they forget, could you talk to your service advisor, and even better, the mechanic, to find out how that part was integrated, etc. There are a few top notch guys on this thread and given enough information on this issue I'm sure they can makes heads or tails of it. There are enough people on this board with CCV valve headaches that I am certain would be very interested in a better solution to the problem.

My car is at the dealer for a few days, so I'm not able to provide any pictures now, but I spoke with the mechanic and he said that the heater is installed inside the 1-4 CCV (the one external) that was probably modified in some way to get the heater in (drilled?). I'll get you some pictures later, that I will probably post on the CCV cleanout thread instead of this one.

Please understand that the external CCV valve is part of the hose. So you mean the heater is somehow attached to the hose? I'm also curious how he tapped the power to the heater, etc. Did he explain the rationale behind this? Was their a new SIB issued or something (any such thing on your invoice?)? I can't wait for the photos.

the parts are usually retrofitted after replacing the CCV more than 2 times. the parts are always goodwilled(if out of warranty), and the labor is to be paid by the customer. most of these parts must be ordered by VIN so all installations are by BMW authorization only, so you will most likely not be able to order these parts. all this new stuff is not documented publicly, that is why you dont know about these. the stuff here is not technically new, as some are as old as 2006. there are no repair instructions that you can find online to install them, they are PDF documents that are sent with a parts list, and labor operations(sort of like pre SIB's.) they are not to be shared with anyone.

I didn't realize the need for military level security in order to keep a CCV valve from crapping out! Can you at least guess where such a heating element was installed in order to be effective? Seems like a number of people on the board have had multiple failures and this is the first time ever I've heard of such a fix. Seems to me that if it works it will be a nice alternative for many people, including those screaming class action.