Why not just replace all of what you need with the original type of parts including any related hoses, etc? It's not worth the hassle or grief of a makeshift system that will probably never perform adequately.

 

You didn't read my second to last sentence, love online discussion

 

what year/model do you have? the CCV delete/catch can didnt become necessary til 2001 with the M54 engine. 2001 and back with the M52 dont have the problem.
if you have a suspicion of vac leak(s), run a smoke test on the engine and see what/where you have em if any.
are you seeing oil consumption?
de nada

 

2002 530i

Tried a homemade smoke test and it was garbage so I ordered one, came today and it's been raining all day, can't get in my garage so I'll do it tomorrow.

Not noticing any real oil consumption if there is, it's very little

 

oil consumption is one of the signs of a CCV issue on the M54 engine which you have. if you were consuming oil, it could also be a clogged oil ring on the pistons. (see M54 piston soak if you come up with it)
good thing you ordered a smoker, the homemade ones just dont cut it, and the system spec test pressure for an adequate test is 10 PSI.
my input is....fix any and all vac leaks, leave the CCV as is unless a problem occurs that indicates the need to replace.

 

Thanks for telling me it's 10 psi. I've replaced the VC gaskets twice now and am hoping I don't have to do it again and it's something simple

 

edit: deleting double message

 

Before doing any CCV delete , I recommend doing the " 02 Pilot CCV mod " ...
Even the 50's kid recommend it as well ...

 

Yeah I've seen this but haven't looked into it I guess because my main goal was removing old hoses that could possible create Vac leaks and removing the CCV that everyone seems to talk down about and goes bad

 

Thanks Jason

 

you took it out yourself?

in all the time ive owned my 99 528i (over 10 yrs), i replaced the CCV and all hoses right after acquiring it as i did with many other things not knowing the history of the car. ive only had to replace the the hose from the CCV up to the top front of the VC, but that was my own damm fault. personally, ive never talked down the CCV system, nor had any ill feelings towards it. and its actually all pretty easy to change, and no one doesnt need to remove the intake manifold to do it.

 

Me? I haven't taken anything out yet until I do the smoke test. Just replaced the VC gaskets twice, cleaned the IAC and intake manifold, and fixed the DISA.

 

I'm just running lean and poorly idling so I'm tracking down the leak. I guess my thought was if I can remove some unnecessary hose and bypass a part that could go bad it's one less future vac leak problem. But I need to go through the proper steps first. New mad and intake boot as well

 

how would one smoke test their appendix?

 

I was kidding, referring to the CCV as an organ you can live without

 

Oooooh don't be mean now 🤭🤭🤭

 

What's the problem, oil consumption or vacuum leak?

For oil consumption, you can soak your rings overnight. For me it didn't help, on my M54 oil consumption was about 1 liter per 1000 km. I jacked each side on the engine overnight, to get the pistons horizontally flat. Then poured that GM/Acdelco (forgot the serial number) stuff to get the rings unstuck. Did that on each side, but didn't help. I have a feeling that it just leaked past the rings and probably didn't even get into the grooves to dissolve the carbon build up.

Only when I added a bottle of Lucas synthetic oil stabilizer, the honey-like stuff, did my oil consumption drop to 0 liters per 10 000 km.

For the vacuum leaks etc., I too decided I could outsmart bmw engineers, and read and watched all the videos that exist regarding CCV delete mod.
First I installed the oil catch can, but I was sick and tired of constantly emptying it.
Then I removed the oil catch can and just routed the hose directly, like in this video

It didn't help with oil consumption either (before I used lucas).

If I could go back, I would have replaced the oem parts instead of doing these ghetto mods.
If and when I remove the intake manifold again, I will definitely reinstall a brand new oem system back.
Yes it will fail at some point, but probably after 100 000 km...so I'm sure it will outlive any of the DIY methods.

Yes 50skid is a great guy and I learned a lot watching his videos, but whatever he's doing with this mod is pure speculation, he's not an automotive engineer.

My 2 cents

Looking forward to see your test results with the smoke machine

 

Yes 50skid is a great guy and I learned a lot watching his videos, but whatever he's doing with this mod is pure speculation, he's not an automotive engineer.

That may be, but I went from the engine drinking more than Otis, to near zero oil consumption, using the mod Jason shared.

Hey, I'm no Gynecologist, but I'll take a look...

Hb

 

oops

 

Matt,

You haven't removed your own appendix?
And here I've held you in such high esteem for your expertise in DIY...

A reevaluation is in order.

Bones McCoy

 

done a few practice ones before i do my own, none have been successful. just learning and awaiting the first survivor case.

 

I had an e46 m54b25 for a while, it had about 240,000 miles on it. I sold it to my nephew.

Anyway, it burned oil and had vac leaks (I got a proper smoke machine and love it). As far as I could tell the hard coolant pipes were original and so was the CCV so I took the intake off and replaced all of that stuff.

My takeaway is that the OEM stuff lasts a very long time so why change it? Do your coolant pipes and replace the CCV. I also used the Liqui-Moly engine flush and did 2 oil changes/treatments in about a month’s time. Best I can tell the oil rings freed up and the oil burn slowed significantly. I put the engine flush stuff in and drove about 100 miles (not what they recommend) each time.

 

Sounds like I'm undertaking the exact same project now. About how long did it take you?

 

Update:I ran the smoke test but just before that I saw coolant puddled up on the waffle area just below where the hard hoses would be, glad I saw that, but the smoke results weren't too bad a very small amount from that difficult small hose to the Idle air intake, so i pushed that on a little farther and tightened it. But then plenty of smoke coming from above coils 3 and 4. Video: Difficult to take video with only two hands.

I remember the last time I did the VC gasket overtightening a bolt and hearing a small crack but pretending I didnt and everything was fine lol. So oddly and luckily last time I was at the yard I actually grabbed an entire VC from a E39 that they just got in that was the cleanest I've ever seen, seals and all not a spot on it no oil the thing looks brand new. So I will replace it with that for the cheap.

But I've made the decision after watching so many videos just to take the entire air intake manifold off, replace the two coolant hard hoses, replace the entire CCV and hoses, gaskets/seals, replace any other suspect vacuum lines, and clean er up.

Thanks for the help all

 

What smoke tester did you just get? It seems to have a pretty good volume that it can deliver.

 

we've had 5 e46s now, and in this cold (near canada), the OEM CCV has gotten clogged. on the first e46, that caused oil consumption, high vacuum (can fail either low or high vacuum), just a PIA. i first replaced the OEM CCV entirely with the OEM cold weather version, which has insulation on all the parts. that went about a year, then failed again.

from there, pulled the entire OEM CCV, and put in a catch can with a PCV valve from Dorman. The object of the PCV valve is to keep vacuum in the engineered range, which for M54 engines, is not a high vacuum, just consistent. the catch can worked ok, but oil consumption was still pretty bad, about a quart in 400 miles.

when we got replacement cars, the go-to fix was replacing the M54 plastic valve cover with the M56 engine aluminum valve cover. all the CCV components are inside the cover, instead of being spread out all over under the intake.

so with 4 e46s running the aluminum M56 covers, all the old CCV stuff removed, never had another problem.

the cost is about $250 with a used ebay cover, a couple of pieces of larger hose, a couple of fittings, and about a day of work. plenty of tutorials around for this mod.

 

I've seen this M54 VC being swapped and didn't quite know why. That's good to know since I'm across a small river from Canada. This might be my second option if this replacement doesn't fails. I did get the child weather ccv hoses.

 

I've seen this M54 VC being swapped and didn't quite know why. That's good to know since I'm across a small river from Canada. This might be my second option if this replacement doesn't fails. I did get the child weather ccv hoses.

all good. if you want any help with an aluminum VC swap drop back in and I'll do what i can.

 

Get your spray bottle with Dawn dish soap and clean all the gunk out from behind the intake.
Works great.
I think I went and replaced the starter just because.
The V8 can be replaced in less than 30 minutes R&R.
Not so with the I6...

 

I6 of course we wouldn't want this to be easy and quick haha

 

It's a nice Saturday project.
A six-pack and half a pack of smokes...
It's a healthy project, but not difficult.
Hell, getting the fan shroud off is probably the hardest part.

 

Thats all?

 

ccv and all hoses (without removing IM) took me about 3 hrs. as youre gonna remove the IM and change the hard lines as well, that job is about a 6 hr job, minimal additional time for the CCV.

 

Oh wow. I was getting ready to buy a diesel garage heater and dedicate about 3-4 weekends to it ha. I've watched plenty of the removal videos, doesn't seem difficult, just figured it would take far longer than expected, as usual

 

It took me a day to take it apart and put it back together. Definitely not a fun job. Take your time, label all the connectors, so you don't get them mixed up. Changing those 2 hard plastic pipes is an excellent idea. At some point URO had a metal version, but not sure if that's needed or still available.
I would definitely replace the starter as well "while in there".

 

Yeah happy to hear it's not going to be a long process and I can buy a much cheaper garage heater. You read my mind about labeling the connectors. First thing I thought while watching the video was that gripping the bolts and taking pictures at each step. Thank you

 

I bought something like this

Amazon.ca

Super handy for labeling everything
I always put the bolts and nuts back on, once I remove the component, that way I don't mix them.
I'm sure you'll know but just in case, replace the o-rings on those pipes.

Also, you might know this already, but i just found out. Open the hood all the way, but disconnecting struts on both sides and installing bolts. Makes a huge difference, and hood doesn't block the lighting on top

 

I did not know about that hood trick that looks super handy wow thanks for that tip

 

In some cases it is not possible to use the bolt, so tools like these are used:

Amazon.com: CTA Tools 1077 Hood Extenders - Compatible with BMW : Automotive

Buy CTA Tools 1077 Hood Extenders - Compatible with BMW: Hoods - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

didnt even know that option existed...thanks redram

 

Only one of them is used at a time. Two different sizes to accommodate a range of vehicles. I found out about those because of my E63.

 

Several parts coming in in the next few days so hopefully we can get this started this week or weekend.

Anyone recommend replacing the plugs while I'm in there or is that throwing more money into the wind? If you do what type of plug is required I've seen a lot of back and forth on this topic

 

age /miles on the plugs? if low/moderate mileage i wouldnt worry, theyre easy enough to change.
bosch or ngk on the plugs. buy from a reputable supplier, counterfeits are known to be out there on the e-auction site and the one named after a south american river (or big muscular women, never knew which one they referenced for sure)

 

Unfortunately I don't know, didn't ask when I bought it last spring. I guess I could pull one and check it out. RockAuto always unless I'm not thrilled with the brands they have, no powerlifters.

 

Any brand recommendations for the VC Gasket and Grommets?
First time I did it I went cheap cheap from amazon and it was a terrible fit, redid it again with Elring, which is still on the cheap side but it fit great. The parts are just adding up and funds are adding down, so Idk if genuine is on the table.