Smoking sometimes, looking for ideas...

[georgebest]

It took me a minute... Lower Timing Chain Guide!!! Got ya!!!! Good idea!!! I've got a CCV ordered, valve cover gaskets ordered, MAF/TB gaskets ordered, and all intake gaskets ordered. I'm hoping that will solve my smoking and stalling on cold start/miss/ruff idle till warm issue. All my problems scream vacuum, so I'm sealing it all up!!!

Thanks george for the great idea! And thanks clark for the OSV clean out idea. I think you posted it on my other tread too, but if I drop the oil pan I'm doing both for sure!!!

Since you are removing the valve cover, chances are you can inspect the guides quite well. As Schaffner wrote above, it's almost always the V shaped one (BMW calls it DEFLECTION RAIL
what comes apart, cause most tension is there. At least that was the case on my car. You can check it with a flashlight when the valve cover is off, if looking good and nothing in the oil pan either than you probably have no TCG issues.

Have you checked the engine for error codes? They could be also helpful sometimes.

[951Dreams]

Well, I was finally able to tear into this last night. There was oil spilling out of the TB, in the tube from the MAF to TB, and the intake is COVERED and swimming in oil inside. That explains my smoking!! I'm sure now the CCV is my problem. I've got the fuel rail detachIed, but I'm still struggling with getting it moved aside. The passenger side has two wires that vanish back behind the pulleys and belts. I can't see where they go at all. I read about just tipping it over to one side, I think I can get enough slack on the drivers side to tip it over to the passenger side to get access to the intake. But I still have some stuff to investigate. I'll report back once I have the CCV done.

BTW, per my other thread I'm removing the intake because I've got what I believe to be massive vacuum issues. All gaskets on the top side are getting done including valve covers.

[robo740il]

The two wires on the passenger side go down alongside the dipstick. One goes to the oil level sensor and the other goes to the transmission, I believe. Go underneath the car and unplug them (see first pic), then you can feed them back up to the top. There is a clamp which secures them that you have to release in order for the plug ends to fit through (visible in second pic).
My pictures are not too good.

[951Dreams]

The two wires on the passenger side go down alongside the dipstick. One goes to the oil level sensor and the other goes to the transmission, I believe. Go underneath the car and unplug them (see first pic), then you can feed them back up to the top. There is a clamp which secures them that you have to release in order for the plug ends to fit through (visible in second pic).
My pictures are not too good.

Thanks for the tip! I ended up just undoing the alt wire on the drivers side and "flopping" the whole thing over to the passenger side. It worked, but if I do it again I'm going to do it "right" like you described.

Once I got the intake off, I was dismayed to discover someone has already done this. All the bolts on the CCV had been swapped out for hex head. I hadn't even checked since I was already planning on doing the intake gaskets. This worries me, has someone already tried fixing this smoking issue and failed??? Or had the "new" CCV just gone bad? I don't think it was brand new, but no idea how old it was. My entire intake and every vacuum line in the whole system is gunked up with oil, so something isn't working. I did a "test" of the OSV, I used a length of silicon hose I had and butted it up against the OSV hose that feeds off the CCV and blew into it. There was no resistance and I heard air in the block. So it doesn't seem clogged....

I guess I'll find out more once I can get it running again....

[951Dreams]

Since you are removing the valve cover, chances are you can inspect the guides quite well. As Schaffner wrote above, it's almost always the V shaped one (BMW calls it DEFLECTION RAIL
what comes apart, cause most tension is there. At least that was the case on my car. You can check it with a flashlight when the valve cover is off, if looking good and nothing in the oil pan either than you probably have no TCG issues.

Have you checked the engine for error codes? They could be also helpful sometimes.

George, somehow I missed this post till just now. Got lots of codes, misses on all cylinders, and lean codes, max fuel trim codes. All seems vacuum at this time. We'll see when I get it running again where I'm at.

I checked the top two guides, and they looked good. I saw the other one, and meant to take a good look at it, but I forgot. I'll look tomorrow. Thanks for the tip!

[951Dreams]

So I think the new CCV fixed my smoking issue. Only time will tell for sure (my intake could be filling back up with oil as we speak) but I've had no smoke on startup, and no smoking after sitting in a drive thru then pulling out on the highway. Every day when I did that till now I did a James Bond smoke screen impression all over the highway. I'm about 90% sure it's resolved, but I'm not holding my breath just yet.

Based on the condition of the gasket, I'm guessing the CCV was replaced about 5-8 years ago? That's just a guess. I used a cheap URO one (the one on there also seemed to be aftermarket), since I wasn't sure if it was the problem or not. URO calls it the "new and improved" design. Whatever that means. If it last 5 years and I still have the car I'll be happy, and replace it with a BMW one at that time. If it fails soon, I'll clean out the OSV (just to be safe) and replace it with BMW. No biggie since it's got hex head bolts.

All in all, I'm very happy with my outcome so far. I even think I've solved my oil leak issues. No more puddles since the work. But time will tell all. So far everything is fixed and holding.

[georgebest]

Every day when I did that till now I did a James Bond smoke screen impression all over the highway.

Lol! Relevant:

[Timm]

Those PCV valves cause a lot of trouble - and don't think BMW learned their lesson - my 650i has TWO of the same design!

http://www.meeknet.co.uk/E64/BMW_E63...eplacement.htm

..at least they put there somewhere easier to get to I suppose....

[georgebest]

Those PCV valves cause a lot of trouble - and don't think BMW learned their lesson - my 650i has TWO of the same design!

http://www.meeknet.co.uk/E64/BMW_E63...eplacement.htm

..at least they put there somewhere easier to get to I suppose....

At least they are cheap

[951Dreams]

I think I got a puff of smoke today. BOO!!! It could be taking a few days for my intake to fill up again. I'll pull it back down to the TB and see later this week.

Disappointed. I'll keep this updated on what I find.

[R Shaffner]

If the OSV is clogged, you'll keep getting smoke and the CCV will blow again. If so, you'll need to either: 1) replace the OSV, 2) remove the oil pan and try to unclog it by inserting and wiggling something up the drain tube, or 3) by-pass it with an external catch can or OSV that drains back to the sump.

[951Dreams]

If the OSV is clogged, you'll keep getting smoke and the CCV will blow again. If so, you'll need to either: 1) replace the OSV, 2) remove the oil pan and try to unclog it by inserting and wiggling something up the drain tube, or 3) by-pass it with an external catch can or OSV that drains back to the sump.

Yeah, it's smoking again!!! Just took 3 days and 250 miles to fill the intake again. I'm going to pull the pan this week and do the OSV flush thing. See if that helps. I'm just hoping it hasn't blown my new CCV yet. How can you tell?

[951Dreams]

Oh, and could any of the other hoses cause it not to work? Anything else I can test? Ideas??

[R Shaffner]

Oh, and could any of the other hoses cause it not to work? Anything else I can test? Ideas??

If you have any air leaking into your crankcase, then it might make it worse. (It would pull more air into your intake through the crankcase, the OSV, and the CCV. More oil vapor would follow the increased air flow. Examples could be a leaking oil filler cap or dipstick. If it were bad you'd get + trim codes that showed it was correcting fro a lean condition.

Get the OSV cleared, replaced, or by-passed. Then make sure the CCV is still good. In that order. That's what I had to do.

[georgebest]

OSV is one of those cheap parts that takes 2 minutes to replace but 10 hours to get there.
Sorry to hear that you still have issues!

[oldroller]

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=11_2255

For whatever reason, when I did my '01 rebuild the pipe to OSV connection (where o-ring #3 shows) was not just
a pipe to fitting joint with o-rings, but joined together by a short piece of hose with clamps. It had a split almost all the way around it,
and I almost missed the split and reinstalled it.
The hose was so short that the split was obscured. Not saying yours has the same setup, but a split there would compromise the system.

[georgebest]

This is how it looks like in 2001: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...e/11151705301/

[951Dreams]

Yeah, mine didn't have the o-rings. Mine has the short rubber hose there with two hose clamps. I didn't check that part as well as I should have. But for whatever reason I've just had two totally smoke free days. The first aside from the first few days after I did the work. I'm not holding my breath, but maybe it was oil left in the system? Or the clog cleared? Or it's just crazy luck and it will all be back tomorrow.

We'll see. Thanks for the ideas! OSV flush is next step.

[951Dreams]

Due to the heat this summer, I've been putting off the OSV clean out. However just this week it's started smoking again BAD. I even had some smoke while driving, and it's smoking after startup as well. It does go away after a bit, but I'm almost back to where I started from! Also my idle seems a little ruff. So I think my 4 month old CCV is blown again!

I suspect my OSV is clogged, and like stated in this thread, if the OSV is clogged you'll just keep ruining CCV's! So that's shot the OSV cleanout back to the top of the to-do list. At least I replaced my CCV bolts with allen head screws, so I should be able to replace it without pulling the intake again! I'm hoping next week to be able to address this. Wish me luck!