Two Puzzling Concerns

[fortunateson]

I have searched and searched but still I need more guidance. First, I keep getting codes relating to the SAP on my m54 engine. I checked the pump and it works. I took the valve off and cleaned out the carbon and then sucked on the vacuum tube to see if it would close which it did. However, I still get the codes. The vacuum line to the back looks good. Is there anything else in this system that could be checked/replaced? The code comes on after about 5 minutes of driving.

The second is excessive oil consumption. A little blue on start-up which is getting worse, a big puff if I park it about three hours, especially on a slight reward incline, powering up after rolling down a steep grade, and lastly WAY too much oil consumption. The CCV system was replaced last summer and I would think should still be OK. I thought about pulling the dipstick tube and seeing if it is clogged and then deal with that. Would other hoses need to be cleaned out? I did do the mod O2 Pilot suggested on another thread but that didn't help really. I hope it isn't the valve seals or guides.

Any proven advice. Again, I have gone through a heck of a lot of threads and I feel that I'm in a vortex just spinning around with all the responses. I need definitive please!

[JimLev]

If you haven't cleaned the oil dipstick tube yet I'd do that next.
Do you have vacuum on the line to the sec air valve when you start the car and the pump turns on?

[RuskiE39]

If you have already replaced the CCV and have no other oil leaks, your car naturally burns oil. If you want to understand why it burns oil, watch this video:



Synopsis: The piston rings in the M54 are crap, instead of a 3 piece spring design like the M52TU they are a two piece that fail after a while due to ware and heat exhaustion causing a significant gap. Yes you can break down the engine and use M52tu piston rings.

[edjack]

A stopgap measure is to apply a suitable solvent to soak the rings. The M54 suffers from carboned-up rings.

There is a GM elixir that seems to work. Do a search on M54 rings. If it works, sure beats pulling the engine apart!

[easymoney]

A stopgap measure is to apply a suitable solvent to soak the rings. The M54 suffers from carboned-up rings.

There is a GM elixir that seems to work. Do a search on M54 rings. If it works, sure beats pulling the engine apart!

GM elixir (ACDelco upper engine and fuel injector cleaner X66P) is exactly the same as BMW Group fuel injection and induction system cleaner concentrate P/N 82 140 428 376. Exact same container different labeling.

[fortunateson]

If you haven't cleaned the oil dipstick tube yet I'd do that next.
Do you have vacuum on the line to the sec air valve when you start the car and the pump turns on?

Cleaned it last year when I did the CCV replacement, wasn't really dirty. There is vacuum when I start the car.

- - - Updated - - -

I've heard of that process. Does the car have to sit at an angle for this to work? More importantly, does it really do anything positive? Long term?

[edjack]

Might be a good idea to jack the right side to make the engine vertical.

Some who've tried it say that it works. They report much lowered oil consumption.

[adm750]

I've done mine.... 2 oz. of the GM stuff in each hole and no adjusted angle of attack. Meaning, I did not jack the car up. I tried, and did put a level on the rocker cover to note the change, but for how far you can actually lift it with a jack, the angle change was pretty insignificant....so I left it flat.
I used a vacuum pump (small handheld) to suck out as much standing liquid as I could prior to firing it up...refit the old plugs...and cranked till she started. Make sure the windows to the house are closed when you fire it up the next morning...oh, and maybe your neighbors windows too...lol..!! Or...simply wait till mosquito season and you'll address those buggers like a pro !!!
It ran fine as I cleared the junk out...although it did $#!t a coil the next morning which I am sure was totally coincidental...but I messed with it, so something else has to break ya know...
The plugs looked good and only had about 60k on them but I changed them anyways when I picked up some returning misfire hits after clearing the faults from the cleaning....(then the coil failed the next morning...). I did save the old plugs to re-use when I do this again.

The consumption (which was at 1qt every 750 miles, was cut by about 1/3rd after and it felt much better on the throttle. Consumption became 1qt every 2500-2700 miles but this has recently returned to 1qt every 1000+ miles. I figured that I needed to do this a couple times to get this all addressed so expectations of 1qt between oil changes after treatment were not on my mind. I was hoping to improve it, and it worked, but is backsliding. So..I'll do this again some time and see if I get another, more permanent, improvement.

[fortunateson]

I've done mine.... 2 oz. of the GM stuff in each hole and no adjusted angle of attack. Meaning, I did not jack the car up. I tried, and did put a level on the rocker cover to note the change, but for how far you can actually lift it with a jack, the angle change was pretty insignificant....so I left it flat.
I used a vacuum pump (small handheld) to suck out as much standing liquid as I could prior to firing it up...refit the old plugs...and cranked till she started. Make sure the windows to the house are closed when you fire it up the next morning...oh, and maybe your neighbors windows too...lol..!! Or...simply wait till mosquito season and you'll address those buggers like a pro !!!
It ran fine as I cleared the junk out...although it did $#!t a coil the next morning which I am sure was totally coincidental...but I messed with it, so something else has to break ya know...
The plugs looked good and only had about 60k on them but I changed them anyways when I picked up some returning misfire hits after clearing the faults from the cleaning....(then the coil failed the next morning...). I did save the old plugs to re-use when I do this again.

The consumption (which was at 1qt every 750 miles, was cut by about 1/3rd after and it felt much better on the throttle. Consumption became 1qt every 2500-2700 miles but this has recently returned to 1qt every 1000+ miles. I figured that I needed to do this a couple times to get this all addressed so expectations of 1qt between oil changes after treatment were not on my mind. I was hoping to improve it, and it worked, but is backsliding. So..I'll do this again some time and see if I get another, more permanent, improvement.

Thanks for your experience. I just changed the spark plugs when I replaced my VCG. This thing burns about 1 litre for around 350-400 KM. WAY too much. I will probably take out the dipstick this coming weekend and may even try the piston ring cleaner trick. How long should the cleaner remain in the cylinder? Like the car but it is starting to piss me off with some of the BS engineering. I could take the pistons out some point in the future but I don't have a lift to drop the oil pan to get to the crank. And then there is the SAP issue, and the ______ issue that will surely follow and then the next ______ issue......