Thanks. I have the 4.8 and it looks like from your pic its easier to get to the oil separator on the 3.0.

I've never checked my oil separator yet. Maybe I should.

I just left the dealer. I was going to buy the parts and the parts guy asked if it blew up( NO), how did I know it was bad (I don't really), did I ever have it upgraded to the cold climate (Yes , 60,000 miles ago, 3 yrs ago).?

He said I'll sell you the parts if you really want, but he said these are made to last longer than 3 years. If I take short trips then just take it apart and clean it. So tonight I will be getting dirty.

I will take pics of the results.

I am going to try the prevent vaccum work that ARMYX5 does. Thanks for that tip.

Is the cold climate the same as what's being called the newer design of the CCV? I thought the major differences from the old and new design were:

- Oil separator itself was insulated
- Hoses were insulated with blanket wraps
- Redesigned single wall oil dipstick tube

If you already have those then there's not much else to do (as far as replacing) but clean the separator/hoses and check for cracks. I'm just going off memory so don't hold me to it.

I can't remember if there's a diaphram that can go bad in the oil separator itself or not.

TwinsPoppa,
Yup apparently that's what I have cold climate upgrade is what my dealer calls it:dunno:

As for replacing it or cleaning it that was the purpose of the thread. I have read the 3 forums I know about and almost everyone just replaces the unit as preventative maintenance if they are going through the trouble of removing it in the first place. In the 8 cylinder parts are around $400 in the 6 cylinder parts are around $200.

Posters claim the rubber breaks down and becomes brittle from the heat, yada yada yada. So replaceing it with all the parts is the overwhelming opinion.... I am trying to save $200 to prolong the life of my money:D and thanks to Army find a way to maintain a claener CCV so I don't have to worry about this.

Apparently I take short trips because I have milky white crap under my cap... I do about half 10 mile trips or under and half 20 mile trips or over... I always thought the longer trips would balance the shorter ones and burn the crap out...

But apparently people in Germany drive 100 miles and go 90 mph on AutoBahn just to get a gallon of milk. If you don't you are a girly man and should have your hood stripped of all Rondelles and you should be shipped off to concentration camp for hard labor and re-education.... stinking, stupid American, with 7-11 one mile from house... we spit in your general direction... getting milk should be hard like working on German car

Yeah, if I don't havet to replace it I don't want to. I assume I still have the original in mine and if I run into problems I MAY just replace them. We just went over 80K miles in our X.

My wife does short trips in it all the time daily but haven't had problems - yet. Last couple of years has been bad winters around here so I think I need to check for the paste in ours.

Good luck on the cleaning!

Ghost-Flame, sounds like you want to play around with you X huh? becareful -Sometimes it costs alot of money to play around with the X :D If you replaced CCV 60K ago and keep changing oil every 5-7K miles, you still have another 60K before thinking to clean or replace another CCV.
Did your X engine sound horrible when it's cold?

When i replaced Valve Cover Gasket, I also check the vent pipe that connect to oil separator - it looks good to me, there're some condensed oil stuck around but not bad at all. Last week i spoke to my tech person, he said i don't have to replace oil separator (crankcase and ventilation) until 120K or 130K or unless it's starting and running rough in the cold weather. My X is ~90K and it has the original CCV system.
I change oil for every 5-6K miles, most of the time oil change at 5000 miles.

^I did change oil every 6 - 7 thousand, since 82,000 miles. I did get the insulated upgrade from a dealer cuz the ccv blew up on the 2nd day I owned it.. the engine sounded fine. But, I got that whistle (siren sound) at 24 degrees F. Just like the sound that occured seconds before the ccv blew up last time.

My engine was super sludged when I got it at 82,000 miles. It was owned by a70 yr old grandmother that lived on a 1/2 mile dirt/gravel road. I'm sure all her trips were short and judging by the oil I drained out of the engine after purchasing, it was like chocolate pudding. Had not been changed in years. I took some of the oil to my indy mechanic and asked him if it had coolant in it. He said no. he filled the radiator and asked me to bring it back in 1 month. No coolant had been leaked out as it was still full.

I'm thinking she didn't drive much herself in the cold, she had a ton of oil condensation in the oil that looked like it was way more than 15,000 miles. The oil filter was CAKED with black solids... like wax between the folds. Some of the folds were bridged with solids. I changed the oil 3 times over the next 3000 miles.

I think that the CCV was gunked up pretty bad. It hasn't been cleaned since that episode. and the sludge condition presumably existed for at least the first 3,000 miles. Who Knows.

I changed the oil 1200 miles ago. I cleaned the cap with wd-40. I checked the cap this after noon and it looks like enough mayonaise under the cap the smear your turkey sandwich.

So, Tomorrow I'm going to use army's technique and see what I get. I can't do any damage there. If I pull out a ton of milky gunk I will take it apart to clean and replace if I have to, meaning I break it.

I don't want it to blow up again in January when we get single digit temps.

Army how far into the valve cove pipe did you feed the tube (I'm assuming you pushed in as far as you can)? Did you seal the tubing in the vacum hose or did you allow some air to enter around the tube?

I was under the impression the 4.8 got the redesigned unit. We should not be seeing this problem. Or maybe is that for the 05-06 models?

The redesign was basically insulating the oil separator and hoses.

So, condensate can still freeze and plug the hoses and separator - just not as easy as the older design.