I just went through replacing all of this (due to failure) and trust me when I say it is not a fun repair. I got a lot of preventative stuff done too but it was pretty expensive.

My normal commute from home to work is only 5-10 minutes so clearly not enough time for the car to heat up. Since I got the car back, I've been staying with this girl :thumbup: who lives about 35-40 minutes from my work. This way my way to work and my way home from work, the oil temp gets up to operating temp and its there for 1/4 to half the trip. I'd rather pay a little more in gas then pay for the repair again that I just had done.

the 4.8is has a two valves in the cam cover (See below Part # 13)
11127547058 SET: REPAIR KIT, PRESSURE REGULATING VALVE 2 REQ $24.05
They sit closer to the heat of the engine so they are not effective by the cold as much as a long hose in the fan wash would be, as found in the inline 6 cyl (3.0) X5.

Once a week drive for 1 hr at highway speeds, have lunch and come home should be all you need to keep it happy.

For the V8's it is not so much that the cold weather is the issues , but the fact that the CCV tears and oil is sucked into the intake manifold through the torn CCV.

my 3.0i hydro locked on me almost a year ago in march,smelled oil in the house and went outside engine still running ,oil dripping out the exhaust ,tried starting the engine a wham engine hydrolocked with lots of oil in the cylinders. in the spring I took out the bmw ccv and put an oil catch can and no problems since ,just need to empty catch can every month in the cold weather and when I do its only about 1/4 full. some mayo but mostly water.
so the m54 engine is much worst than the v8`s for this cc failure.

Thank you guys for the replays and posts.. good to go that the V-8's have less of this issue happening the other models... been warming it up really good past 2-3 days, been driving for atleast an hour before i turn it off and let the cold set it.. freken next week they taking about -1F at night... ughh .. i am not a cold weather person I tell u that.. it might be fun in the snow for a day or two but it wears out fast..

The CCV shown in post #12 are cheap enough to make them a preventive maintenance item once you have more than 75K on it. The real challenge is to make sure they (the CCV 4.8is versions) are functioning as designed not clogged up with oil and water vapor or as Upallnight mentioned having a torn diaphragm which allows oil vapor and oil droplets to run into the intake system, causing more complex issues.

I am sure there is a simple bench type test with a vacuum source to confirm the operations but it is easy to remove them for a visual inspection.

Or we can all just park them inside a nice warm garage at night, drive only when temps are above 62 degrees, and for trips longer than 20 miles at highway speeds. I think that was the engineering bench mark for the systems.

Think Spring. PS: find "Phil" the groundhog and lets cook his ass for seeing his shadow.

I already doing that with the LOTUSES and PORSCHE.

lol i wish I had that luxury to keep the car in a garage.. preferably in a heated one... wow that would be good!! or just drive it during summer.. but that would mean either i would need a second car, and all insurance and payments associated with it (which I dont have $$ for) or I would have to shell out approx $1,000 a month to rent a garage in brooklyn NY - as they are more expensive around here then some fking apartments... so im all out of luck when it comes to the garage.. ive been looking for a year - there is one for $600-800 but its outside, interior (heated) ones are a furture to rent around here where parking is hard to find....

so I have two choices: either drive the car, or take the subway to work.. having my 4.8is - theres no way in hell i am taking the dirty subway... fk that shiiiieett... so i guess its a game of will i survive this winter or not... i swear i never have any issues in summer time or fall, in winter, they all start popping up.. Last year was the battery, alternator, fuel pump... This year it was the seals/gaskets which i took care of 2 months ago... it cost me $3,800 to get them all fixed... for that amount you can buy a decent working used car... dealer wanted $5,600 but i told him to screw himself... I got every seal/gasket replaced by a local bmw repair shop, including the dreaded rear antifreeze seal/gasket the one in back where u have to drop the entire transmission to get to it... So got new belts, new spark plugs 2 months ago.. and just when i though i dont have to worry about anything this winter, now its the freken CCV... ehhh..... man is this annoying.. I fixed the freezing/stuck door by spraying a bottle of WD40 into the inside of door through the side seal, that fixed the door issues, but this CCV freezing up is on my mind everyday... last thing i want is to blow up my engine over a stupid $20 dollar item..

thank you STEPHEN for atleast letting me know that it sits closer to the heat of the engine and are not effected by the cold as much as the 3.0L models with the other engine... i guess that's a little weight off my back...

the 4.8is engine is a monster to warm up.. to heat it up fully - its an hour - even if you drive - its 45-50 min to get it to normal oil temp in 18-20F weather... where a normal litttle honda you can get hot in 15 minutes, this is a tank, weights as much as a freken cadillac 2x its size, my engine mounts alone have more steel then a fking prius, lots of steel, hence the warm-up is long on this baby... gotta get that engine hot,, once its hot it runs amazing!! but ohhh boy it really does not like the bad cold... like anything above 32F it is fine... anything below its like a different car the first 10-15 minutes.. thats why during summer-time i seem to enjoy the car lots more... nothing to worry about, no warm ups, sunroof open and bam!! but then again - i love it during winter time too.. the 4x4 is superb.. i have never gotten stuck in any snow.. no matter if 12 inches or 18.. beats my neighbor spinning his M3 wheels like a madman when trying to pull out a little spot... thats where i cruise by him with a smile... :-) with the 4.8is i find you get the best of both worlds... fast.. strong.. and capable in snow/mud/freken anything u throw its way it eats it up and spits it back the rear end.. just man... after such a long production run i would figure something as stupid as this issue would get sorted.. i guess not..... ehh... ticking time bomb?

another way to get it heated up a bit faster is to drive in manual mode and rev the gears a little longer (say 2.5-3k rpm instead of the auto shifting at 1.8-2k).

^^^agree. And as i said earlier turn the IHKA off till warmed up as it helps hear the engine up faster when fan isn't running