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CCV time, oh and DISA too.

13K views 12 replies 5 participants last post by  geekminer 
#1 ·
Not sure if anyone has had to do this yet but thought I would share my experience. Roughly 2 weeks ago my wife's 04 2.5 (I have the same year 3.0) had a rough idle on start and the accompanying service engine light. I hadn't installed the BMW scanner in my garage computer yet so I used the generic scanner and found it was running lean. A quick browse on the internet suggested it could be the mass airflow sensor or a leaking intake hose. No problem I thought, just swap the sensor from my 3.0 to hers and check. Not so fast quack foo. The sensors are different diameters which makes sense given the engine size difference so that idea was out the door. Checking the intake hoses is not a simple matter as they appear to have built the vehicle around it so I opted to take the lazy route and ignore it until I can come up with a better idea.

A few days later (she continued to drive it) she told me that she had a cloud of smoke on engine start which gave me more information to diagnose the problem. Well, really it was a google diagnosis but the long and short is that these symptoms were indicative of an oil separator failure. This is also known as a ccv or cvv and is basically a high tech pcv valve.

Now that I knew what the problem was, I needed parts. Fortunately the link I looked at for the diy included a link to Tischer BMW which sold a kit which included the cvv and the necessary hoses for 150 bucks shipped. Ok, not too bad. Let's give the Henderson BMW folks a call and see if they can come close (when possible I like to support the local businesses). First they advise me that they don't sell it as a kit and second, all the parts I required would be roughly 450 bucks. And he didn't even seem embarrassed about this. So much for shopping local. 6 days later, UPS is at the door with my parts. Thanks Tischer.

So now, onto the repair. First off, I did not take pictures and really, if you look at this link the process is almost identical and I couldn't do as good a job documenting it so why bother. Fantastic diy by Starless.
http://www.forums.bimmerfest.com/showthread.php?t=417819

This repair was on a 3 series but almost identical with these few exceptions.
1- You will have to remove the strut bar.
2- The intake hose is one piece and is a pita.
3- Oil dipstick tube is attached (bolted) to the motor mount and bolt will have to be removed.
4- You do not have to remove the cabin filter area as the X3 has enough clearance.

Things proceeded fairly well however the DISA valve (this sits on the side of the intake manifold) is a major pain to remove as there is very little clearance between the strut tower and the manifold. You can remove a fastener on the plastic liner attached to the strut tower and push this in which will buy you fractions of an inch more which basically works. Ok, DISA out but hmmmm, why is the DISA flap moving back and forth with no resistance. Time to google again. Ok, not good. Common failure and potentially another couple hundred bucks. But wait, gotta love YouTube.


So I mix up some epoxy, do the DISA repair and let this set while I complete the rest of the cvv repair. The hose which runs from the cvv to the oil dipstick tube looks ok but when I pull back the insulated cover, it appears to have melted and sucked inward with a dime size hole (see pics at bottom of post). Well that's good news and means I am on the right track. Perhaps the cvv is fine but at this point I am going to replace it anyhow and quite honestly I don't think I could have replaced the rest of the hoses without pulling out the cvv anyhow. The rest of the repair was fairly simple and total time including the DISA repair was 5 hours. Having done this once, I am pretty sure I could get this down to 4 hours. Connecting the hoses to the cvv was fairly easy and didn't require a lot of extra effort, which after having read the original diy had me concerned.

Anyhow, fairly simple job and running well. As a side note, from the time we purchased this we had noticed very minor surging at lower rpms during a constant speed (say roughly 30-35 mph). I am wondering if the DISA failure was causing this and while I didn't notice it after my test drive, too early to declare this resolved.
 

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#2 ·
Good job, I did this to our e46 last year. Tighter spaces=not fun to work on.
 
#4 ·
CCV is complex on most cars now

This complexity is due to emissions requirements and testing.
 
#5 ·
Well it seems like a good design but the hoses are the weak link. Most of them were very brittle with the exception of the oil return hose which was very soft and appears as if it wasn't really designed for this. That said I am not an engineer and I will leave that to others. What was interesting is the CVV valve itself which has a winter option when you order it. Life in Vegas never really gets that cold so I opted for the standard one however when I removed the old one, it had a two piece foam jacket over it which was held together with O rings. It took but a few moments to swap the jacket over to the new CVV so if yours is designed for cold winter climates, ordering the standard one and swapping the insulation is an easy solution. Of course, you won't really know if yours has the jacket until you get it off so this advice isn't worth much.

Very disappointed in the DISA design as this is pretty much guaranteed to fail. Fortunately not too difficult or very expensive to repair or replace.

The good news is pulling the airbox exposed the serpentine belt which appeared to be original and at 80,000 miles was in terrible shape. Fairly easy and quick job to swap in new belts (20 mins or so).
 
#7 ·
Disa Valve ?

I tried to inspect my DISA valve. I was able to get out enough to see it moves fairly easy - but with no spare part it did not remove. How much play should there be in this part? I was able to push flapper with not much pressure to get it to turn. How much do you have to push the strut tower in to get this thing out? Looks like a royal PITA!
 
#8 ·
After looking at my 3.0 I guess the ease or difficulty in removing the DISA depends on which engine you have. It should come out fairly easily with the 3.0 but the 2.5 has it pretty tight against the fender well. You can remove a plastic screw from the plastic lining the fender well and push it in enough to remove the DISA but it's a tight fit both in and out.

As for resistance of the flap valve, it's spring loaded by way of the vacuum valve and should be tough to move. If you can roll it back and forth for a full 90 degrees, it's toast. Once you have it removed you can pull on the vacuum valve and restrict the movement of the flapper valve. If it stays in one spot as your moving the vacuum valve then it's definitely shot.

Hope that helps.
 
#10 ·
It appears that unplugging it should stop the noise so this may not be your problem. That said, I am not sure that unplugging it always eliminates the noise. I have read that you can also place your ear on the DISA while the engine is running and verify if noise is coming from it. From what I can gather, the failure points can either be a loose valve on the shaft or a failure in the vacuum system which creates the noise. Mine was a loose shaft and I don't recall any noise from it.

The system is basically a butterfly valve controlled by a shaft which is turned by vacuum actuator. While the actuator uses engine vacuum to move, it's actions are controlled electronically.

This is a good link to show how the valve is connected to the vacuum actuator.


DISA noise video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrXhuvgJuqs&feature=related
 
#12 · (Edited)
I appreciate the advice. I'll have to stick my ear closer to the valve and see if I can verify if this is source. Thanks!
Get an automotive stethoscope, there's no best thing to pinpoint noises in the engine bay. Naked ear is just not too acute. There are dozens of moving parts and sounds going at the same time in a running engine.
I was able to identify a whistle coming from the alternator pulley with one of those, really worth the money!:thumbup:

http://www.amazon.com/Performance-Tool-Automotive-Stethoscope-W80582/dp/B0002KO39W
 
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