The that your using oil is OK. It is the fact the the inline 6's need longer run times to warm up everything when it is zero degrees outside. As posted the "mayo" will return to oil/water vapor when it gets hot. The CVCC will separate it as it is designed to and send the oil to the pan.

Try this trick also, as yours is an auto, manual select the gears each trip and let the engine run higher revs a few times each trip. When merging on to the hwy, nail it and hit the rev limiter. These higher rpm runs tends to heat the engine nicely and accelerates the process.

Change then oil more frequently in cold winter months as it fall into severe service.

I think this oil cap removal thing works from I can tell. However, I'm not sure I'm willing to live this way next winter.

Think Spring Time!

Weather is warming up so the issues will go away until next year.....

Couple of observations the past week or so:
1 - You really need to drive like 45 minutes on the highway to burn any significant mayo build-up off. Everything I saw after the CCV replacement was gone after that type of drive.
2 - Regardless of the 45 minute drive if you let the X5 sit in cold temperatures the build-up starts immediately. The way to prevent this appears to be to remove oil cap. Can someone design a pressure relieving oil fill cap that auto opens when the vehicle is turned off?
3 - I'm not clear what the temperature is but it appears to be as high as 45F that the may build-up happens. Could be higher. Will see as we head into summer.
4 - Have fun explaining to your co-workers in the parking lot why you always pop your hood and "look at the engine".

I was having oil consumption problems with my car. It was using around a quart every thousand miles. We put at least 2 thousand miles on the car every month. I had to do something, and decided to go the PCV route. I followed the instruction in this post: http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...-problems.html

I also added a catch can. Five thousand miles later, and the car hasn't used any oil. I drained the catch can at the same mileage. The can had collected a 4 ounce mix of mostly water and a little oil. It had a milky appearance. Without the catch can, that mess would have collected in the engine. If I didn't drive the car so much it would be sludge city.
I am glad I went the route I did instead of replacing the factory CCV system.

I ended up with a hydro locked engine a couple of months ago when the ccv broke. After changing it, I had a noticeable reduction in both oil AND gas consumption. 2 months later, I definitely am using less gas.

Has anyone else noticed such a side effect of a new ccv?