The E53 wasn't designed to meet then current emissions standards, it was designed to exceed them. Reference the ULEV standards, and BMW advertising from 2000-2001. At the time, there was a lot of resistance to the E53 from BMW traditionalists, with calls of it not being a true BMW, and BMW was making points out of the 'safest SUV' and 'cleanest SUV' memes.

The only way I can feel good about my gas guzzler is if my ccv lowers emissions. You know it is my diet coke with my cheeseburger and fries :rofl:

BMW doesn't think, it just reacts to the Green Party
 

This was what drove the massive amount of engine losses in the e36 from Mattel style plastic parts. I used to know all of the numbers, but it hardly matters now.

The Green Weenies (I have a BA degree in Environmental Engineering, so not tossing that out lightly) drove BMW to a set percentage of recyclable material. Well it worked, as nearly a 100% cooling system failure rate caused all of the cooling crap to be recycled. I replaced it all on mine, and went Aluminum and braided hose everywhere. Hey, that stuff can be recycled when I get to 500,000 miles!

The whack jobs always cause "intended consequences" when they step in.

What's worse about all of this is the extremely poor quality of fastening materials and the typical year 2000+ BMW thinking of cheap build by robot and screw any human repair. Getting to the CCV requires a massive amount of work, no matter which approach you take.

However, regardless of what is driving the design, the continuing degradation of material quality coupled with "cheap build, F the customer" thinking is killing BMW. Case in point: over 100% failure rate for X5 window regulators. BMW knew days after the first sale of the E53 that they had a defective design. Yet they tossed more garbage at it under warranty and never changed the design, nor materials in the E53 run.

I have three BMWs, have previously owned several before. But we're done with them. Just plain garbage for the money. What's next? Good question and we're discussing it. But we know what is NOT next!

3000 mile update
 

Just passed 3000 mile with this mod. Amazingly oil level still at the max and absolutely no visible side effects. Hope it will stay this way with no long term impact to the engine health. At 192000 miles, decided to leave it on and hope for the best ;)

Glad to hear man thats great ^ How is she running?

Mine is doing OK so far with far fewer miles. The burned oil smell is gone, too.

Why wouldn't taking the heated insulation off of E60 CCV pipes and installing them on the hoses of an M54 CCV system work? Power wiring somehow I'm sure could be accomplished. Take a look on realoem.com:

03 Vent pipe 1 11157522931 04 Return pipe 1 11157567801