Thermostat first?
 

I read extensively yesterday about cheese whiz in the oil hole. Last autumn/winter, I noticed my temp needle rarely got above about the 11pm position. and the heater takes FOREVER to work properly.

I am thinking I need a new thermostat for starters. Then a few hot oil changes.

I did a little experiment this morning after driving for 25 minutes in stop & go city traffic. Here is the result (first pic below). Would you guys go for a thermostat R&R first off ? is the thermostat stuck open, or i am just making too many short trips? temp needle gets to TDC in the summer, but if it's under 70 degrees out, temp needle is shy of the 12pm mark.

found this DIY (post #20) about CCV cleaning on an X5.



https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2879970/hos...0_09-36-24.jpg


my oil cap:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2879970/hos...0_09-37-19.jpg

If your CCV was never changed, you might want to consider changing it out. You also need more hot driving. As in fully warmed up to minimize the cheese buildup. I don't know about the 3.0, but my 4.8is gave me an error when the thermostat got stuck open. Funny thing is, when I took it out, and tested the Tstat with a torch, it functioned perfectly. For me, it must have been the sensor itself.

i've been reading about changing the CCV. good God. my e28 has a custom turbo motor and i have done some painful crap on that car, but this looks like one for the ages.

This car was raised in Louisiana so very little cold weather to deal with. Not too bad here in N. Carolina either but is definitely colder.

i have to take it out to bed in new new brakes so that should help in heating things up. as far as hot oil changes, what are the advantages of that versus a shop-vac cleanup ?

luckily i saw at wal-mart the other day where they have 'house brand' 5w-30 synthetic that's substantially cheaper than the decent stuff. i think $15-20 for 5qts.

looks like i should probably do both (T-stat AND CCV). a clean CCV isn't gonna allow the engine to warm up more effectively i don't think. there generally seems to be an issue with how slowly the motor warms up, and frankly, whether it will warm up at all.

My commute is less than 2 miles, and I don't have cheese whiz. I can clear 100 C in just a few more miles of driving. If you drove around in goldilocks weather and that's your engine temp, then yeah, you do need to deal with that quickly. Not for the cheese whiz. Because if you don't get much warmer than that, your engine 'puter is going to run things rich, and combined with the cooler cylinder wall temps you are operating at you will have wash-down of the oil film normally helping your pistons and rings live a long and healthy life, you will have contamination in your oil as you already realize, AND you can potentially trash your cats, adding more $$ to the misery.

T-Stat first, then oil change, then worry about the CCV.

i took her out at lunch again to run some errands. it's about 64 F outside now. it got a little bit closer to temp but still not hot enough, not by a longshot.

i pulled off the ccv hose connected to the oil filter housing and it actually didn't look too bad at all. no yellow stuff at all. the yellow goo under the oil cap, now in slightly warmer weather, looked to have turned brown mostly.

so...this is exactly what i'd hoped to hear. T-stat, oil change, then CCV. last winter in the dead cold...20 deg F maybe...the worst symptom i ever had was a slight shudder sitting at the exit to my neighborhood. otherwise the engine idles like a kitten, and rarely if ever exhibits signs of CCV cloggage.

so T-stat this weekend. i will let you know how it goes. thanks for the input!!

Are you Russian?

No, but here's a hint: I like cats.

well....SUCCESS! replaced the t-stat this weekend and the needle is at high noon about 5 min down the road. previously, i'd been driving for 25 min (see first post) and it never warmed up fully. hope this helps with my oil cheese!!

incidentally, i drove her hard this weekend and heated her up and then went to Wal-Mart and bought 2 jugs of sacrificial quaker state 5w30 synthetic. only $20 a jug. did a hot oil change and then drove her hard again. did ANOTHER hot oil change with the good stuff after that.

pretty wild that after driving on new oil for only about 30 minutes and then draining it, it was already chocolate colored. DEFINITELY not clear.

I'm having the same problem with my car not heating up all the way. I figured it was the thermostat but I went to order the part online and it also mentioned a thermostat for the expansion tank.
Could anyone confirm that the expansion tank one is NOT the one I need, and maybe tell me what it is for?

2002 X5 3.0i

Confirmed. You need the one off the engine. Search on Realoem.com your car, find the part number, and search with a part number.