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However, if I were you, depending on the vehicle age, I would just replace the valve cover gasket, do the CCV repair and while you are at it, and replace the lower intake elbow as well. If you have a warm place to work on he car, do these things not and you will not regret it!

 

Be sure to get the rubber grommets with VCG as that is where your leaks is coming from right now. In addition jfoj is spot on with his advice especially in your cold climate. I had the same leakage problem when I purchased my car at the end of summer but when I accomplished mine I did the Vanos while I was into the job, even though I did not have all the symptoms of a bad Vanos. It made quite a performance difference in the car. I do not know the mileage on your car but all of these suggestions are the right move if you have the money. It seems the CCV can be especially catastrophic to your engine or at minimum make you do your VCG again due to pressure build up. Good luck with the job and feel free to write back or Pm me.
Tom

 

^+1 on the rubber grommets. As I recall, the "valve cover" gasket really is a set of gaskets that you have to order separately. Not sure if any of the parts suppliers have "kits". Be careful about the bolt torque, they are small and can break easily.

I am sure there is a VC gasket DIY here somewhere, use the SEARCH function and you will find plenty.

 

Thanks Guys. I just updated my initial question...when I pulled the #1 & 2 coil (haven't pulled the rest yet). The plugs are swimming in oil...to the point I can't even see the top of the plug in the #1. I'm new to the posting so not sure how to add picks, but before I removed the coil there was some spattering on the metal grounding rail around the #1 coil...So I'm assuming that the VCG let go at this location... Is there any chance this is a head gasket??? only 115000 km's on the engine, but I did have a rad hose blow off and the car overheated. The dealer fixed the problem (that they caused) and assured me that there were no leaks and no damage to the engine....this was 2 years ago though so a long shot head gasket???.

 

The vcg gets very hard and brittle. Be super careful with it as it tends to fuse with the valve cover and will take pieces of the cover with it. My buddy (who is a certified BMW tech) and I did it yesterday and sure enough the corner of the cover broke off. When we threw the gasket in the trash it literally shattered.
My ccv is also on the way out, but I will take care of that in the spring.
Did the vanos seals as well. Best upgrade yet. And an instant noticeable difference in engine smoothness.

All of that stuff should be done at the same time. It is a very easy job. We had the cover off in under 20, and vanos off and rebuilt in under an hour.

 

Not clear of who did what...but the chance of head gasket issue is small...unless you're seeing oil in coolant or coolant in oil...or mysteriously losing one or the other without any evidence of a leak.

I think it's just that the gaskets over the cylinders failed too...and maybe the ccv.

I had a little oil around my plug in cylinder #6, and a lesser amount around #5 when I did my vcg...so don't panic...get the oil out, and frankly if it was me as 'filled up as you,' I think I'd replace plugs and coil boots...great time for that...but if not, just remove the coil boots and clean them and the plugs well.

HTH

Doug

 

It's not a head gasket, it's your valve cover gasket. +1 on getting the 15 rubber grommets.

As an aside, this is why I do not keep my plugs in service for 100k miles, had you at least looked at the plugs every 30k or changed every 60k you may have spotted this leak earlier. I hope your coils are still good.

 

This quite normal when the VCG goes. The VCG is actually a set of 3 gaskets, the one that goes around the perimeter of the valve cover, and 2 that seal around each spark plug well. The VCG set looks like this (#16 here):

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=AV53&mospid=47725&btnr=11_2172&hg=11&fg=15

These smaller gaskets are the only thing that seperate the oil inside the valve train area from the wells leading to the spark plugs. When they fail, pressurized oil vapor enters the spark plug well. A bit messy but totally harmless. It is not considered an indication of a blown head gasket.

 

Thanks a million guys. I really appreciate the feedback. I changed my plugs about 25000km's ago and didn't notice any oil at all at that time. Sospect that the CCV valve froze as the temp on the day it happened was -15C....

When I got the VC off i sure noticed a lot of condensation on the underside of it.

So a question to you all....it's in the garage now and warmed up above freezing. The temps for the remainder of the week are going to be above freezing. Will the sludge that I see in the VC and am assuming is blokcing the CCV valve liquify when the engine is hot??? and the blockage clear itself? or is there a way to disolve the stuff in the ccv by sending something like a throttle body cleaner down the return line from the Valve cover....wishful thinking but thought I'd ask the dumb question.

 

Clean up what you can where you see it. And, I have to say that there was a time I worried that I hadn't cleaned my guidetube thoroughly enough, and did seem to catch a clog...but hard long driving seemed to clear it up.

But, if ccv is clogged, and you know that for certain, I do know that I'd read of a fanatic (who I think was a bmw guy of some sort--mech/parts/etc.) who said that 'knowing what he knows now, that he would just clean the ccv.'

Most shops wouldn't consider what you're considering--it is a 'rubber' diaphragm at its core, and 'rubber' and oil and heat just seem to make for a situation where it's just not going to make it. Hoses get brittle, o-rings dry, tabs break. Sorry.

I get lost in threads, but has someone mentioned how vcg and ccv are often related? Many have heard the recommendations that when doing one, do the other. They can both do 100-150K, but neither seems to do any more anyway.

Wishful thinking...sorry to destroy the dream!

Doug

Me? I think you should change your oil. Oil, itself, is a great sludge remover, but, I just learned here that it can cause metal to rust, so I don't think you should put it in your engine anymore. You'll have to find something else...like maybe a nice solution of alcohol and salt...that might work!

 

I often question if these CCV issues can sometimes be aggravated by a poorly functioning thermostat. Many times thermostats in these cars fail (they usually fail in the open mode), and these cars can run colder than they should without at times triggering any CEL.

Would suggest you get into the OBC secret menu, monitor the engine temp and not drive these cars short distances in really cold weather. In order for the moisture to boil out of the oil, you need to the oil temps to get up above 220 degrees for a long period??

 

The valve cover isn't seated right with the valve cover gasket

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL