My Solution to the famous Oil Separator problem

[ArmyX5]

As my title said, this is my solution to the famous oil separator problem that some of us are having because of the short distance we have to drive in a regular basic. I am not going into the how to replace the oil separator because there are numerous posts on that subject already. My intent is to share with you all what I have being doing with my X5 3.0i, in order to prevent my oil separator from freezing, causing a major engine breakdown. It should also work on the M62 engine. It will be to you to determine how much prevention you want to do. This is only preventing me from having to remove the oil separator valve from the hell hole that BMW decided to place this piece of equipment in. I would recommend that you change the oil separator and all 4 vent hoses if you have not done it and your vehicle have more than 50K miles, depending on the condition of the parts, you can reuse them once they are cleaned. (See pic 1).
Tools that I used in this process ( pic 2)
(1) Vinyl tubing 3/8” X ¼”,
(2) A Shop-Vac portable with a small attachment.
Like I said before, you will determine how much maintenance you want to do. The first time I did it, I removed the Crankcase cover and have it a good clean out. Now, I don’t because I can get all the yellow stuff out with the shop-vac.

1. Remove Crankcase Cover and clean it (pic 3)
2. Remove the Intake manifold distribution piece and clean it (pic 4)
3. Remove the Oil Dip Stick and clean it (pic 5)
Once you remove these three pieces, you will have 4 vent hoses to clean. (pic 6-8)
Use the Vinyl tubing and the Shop-Vac to suck the yellow stuff out of the oil separator and the vent hoses. Once you get the majority of the yellow stuff out, connect and reinstall all the part in reverse order. Leave the vent hose in front of the engine unhooked (the one that attach to the Crankcase cover). The last part will be to attach the Vinyl tubing and Shop-Vac to this vent hose (pic 8). It will be a little difficult to get the vinyl tubing in there because of the 90 degree angle in the hose. Just bend the tip of the vinyl and make it more flexible. You will have to push in a little harder to get it in. Once it’s in, turn on the shop-vac and let it run until you can see black oil coming out (pic 9). Don’t forget to check your oil level.
The number of time you would need to perform this preventing maintenance will depend on your driving condition and habits.
I hope this help anybody.


PS. I forgot to mention the best part.
The only thing I do now is connect the Shop-Vac to hose number 4 in picture 8 as soon as I see some yellow stuff getting buildup.

[rph74]

Wow, that is amazing stuff! I would love to do this in the future.

Are these hoses as accessible on the 4.4's as they are on the 3.0's?

[ArmyX5]

I am not sure how accessible are these hoses in a 4.4. Hear is the diagram for the 4.4.

[davintosh]

Thanks for sharing this fix; I did it on my X5 yesterday. One thing I did differently was adding an intermediate catch bucket in front of the vacuum; took an old (but clean) plastic bucket and cut a hole in the top big enough for the vinyl hose to fit into tightly, then cut another hole in the top large enough to fit the crevice tool that came with the shop vac. Then just hooked the vacuum hose up to the crevice tool wedged firmly in the top, and the vinyl hose to the CCV hose that connects to the front end of the valve cover. The bucket caught most of the slimy sludge; I didn't want to have that gumming up the flexible hose on my shop vac. Worked pretty well.

[upallnight]

Since you had the valve cover off you should also do a valve cover gasket replacement.