Crankcase Breather (cyclone valve)

[Jackster]

Hi All
I have had a problem on my 3.0i M54 for a while, of oil consumption, around 1 litre every 1000 miles. From looking on the net this seems to be expected of the M54 so I was not too worried. A couple of weeks ago I was accelerating to overtake and got a huge amount of white / blue smoke from the exhaust. James Bond would have been proud of the smokescreen! I pulled over turned off could not see any obvious damage, drove home. From searching the web popular opinion seemed to point to a blocked crankcase breather valve. The M54 seems prone to this, especially in the x5 for some reason, between 50k and 100k miles, I am on 94k. There is nothing in my Bentley manual on how to change this. Fortunately youtube came to the rescue with a three part series on how to replace the affected parts courtesy of Bavarian Autos. http://www.bavauto.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWXtiCwRH-k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amHwxoFAl7I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7AyOmqhlBk

I ordered the parts from Dick Lovett Specialist Cars Limited at £110 all in. This consisted of the valve and four hoses.

This is the valve in-situ, the two torque screws were a pig to get to even though they look easy here!

The old parts removed.

Nasty Mayo 1.

Nasty Mayo 2.

The parts with mayo seemed to be the valve and also the hose that went to the rocker cover. Apparently caused by condensation build up.

I cannot overstate how helpful the videos were. The air did turn blue at various stages throughout but did get immense satisfaction from completing the task.
The car started up fine on completion and was good on a short run. Will take it on a longer run tomorrow.

Cheers

Kev.

 

[GazHyde]

Someone asked what a cyclone valve was on here a week or so ago, so I guess that answers the question.

I'll copy this to the knowledgebase...

 

[Zteve]

I can second that...those videos were first class, just spent the day doing the same job on my E39 530i.
Pig of a job but the satisfaction of having completed the task makes an evening single Malt taste so much better...

 

[Tufarlian]

Sounds like a fair few hours work but having watched the videos I'm seriously considering it.

Do you have the part numbers handy?

Thanks
Mark

 

[Jackster]

Do you have the part numbers handy?

Here we go

B11.61.7.501.566 Valve
B11.15.7.532.649 Hose
B11.61.1.432.559 Vent Pipe
B11.61.7.504.535 Tubing
B11.61.7.504.536 046018/Tubing

I found that the special tool featured in the video was not required.

Hope this helps

Kev

 

[Tufarlian]

Brilliant. Thanks.

Did you replace the throttle body seal like he does in the video or was your old one ok to reuse?

Mark

 

[Jackster]

The old seal was fine Mark, I took it out, no nicks cracks or signs of perishing, light grease and refitted. Had the car on a longer run today and feels much more responsive now.

Cheers

Kev

 

[Tufarlian]

Thanks again.

Well, suppose I'd better dive in then. :-ss

 

[Tufarlian]

Well, while you guys were all at Silverstone I did the crankcase breather job on my Zed.

The videos were absolutely invaluable. Most of it is just nuts and bolts and wiring to disconnect and reconnect but there are a couple of steps that I know I would have struggled with without the videos. Breaking the old valve makes it easy to remove. Connecting one of the pipes to the valve before working the new valve into place, then turning it to lock it is obvious when you know.....

There are some differences due to the videos being on a left hand drive car but all pretty obvious and it seems a little easier on a right hand drive.

Many thanks to Jackster for posting the videos.

Only question is why does the guy on the video wear a watch while he's working?

Cheers
Mark