[Eddamoo]

Ive done DIY work on several dozen Diesels (friends and my own) from VW's, Fords, BMW's and literally see this residue in all of them. A little oil does tend to get into the charge pipes and every intercooler i've replaced also has a few spoonfuls pooled in.

This is essentially a very minor boost leak letting out slight oil vapour. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it, but your best chance at fixing would be to clean the seals between pipes and re-fit. I very much doubt your CCV/PCV is an issue.

[capt_slow]

I found the BMW SIB to diagnose crankcase pressure. It seemed like all they do is connect a manometer to the oil filler cap and measure the pressure at idle. I made my own out of a spare cap and a manometer from Amazon. When I drilled the hole in the cap, I made sure pressure was getting through to the other side of the cap and it wasnt a dead end.



Connected the high-pressure hose to the cap adapter, left the low pressure side open and exposed to ambient pressure. Zeroed the manometer, ran a 3-minute measurement with the engine at idle. It averaged out to -1.6 mBar.



Going by the SIB it's in spec, but did I do this right?

EDIT: Above was with a cold engine. After running the engine up to temp, the average over 3 minutes as -0.6 mBar.

[szczepan162]

Thanks for image

[Jaime211]

Originally Posted by capt_slow

I found the BMW SIB to diagnose crankcase pressure. It seemed like all they do is connect a manometer to the oil filler cap and measure the pressure at idle. I made my own out of a spare cap and a manometer from Amazon. When I drilled the hole in the cap, I made sure pressure was getting through to the other side of the cap and it wasnt a dead end.



Connected the high-pressure hose to the cap adapter, left the low pressure side open and exposed to ambient pressure. Zeroed the manometer, ran a 3-minute measurement with the engine at idle. It averaged out to -1.6 mBar.



Going by the SIB it's in spec, but did I do this right?

EDIT: Above was with a cold engine. After running the engine up to temp, the average over 3 minutes as -0.6 mBar.

What pressure should a b47 engine have?

[apson83]

Hello buddy, did you find the problem of oil in the intake? I have the same thing

[capt_slow]

Originally Posted by capt_slow

Welp, after 9 months and 9K miles later, I think the problem is back. I noticed faint traces of oil coming from the turbo-intercooler pipe and started looking for signs of a PCV problem again.

Oil residue leaking out of intake 9-month old intake pipe


Faint traces of oil leaking from seams of 9-month old valve cover


Consider I know what to look for this time, I tried some other things while the engine was idle (cold and warm). There was enough pressure to cause the unseated oil cap to dance around, and enough to blow a paper towel sheet around.

What are the chances the CCV broke again?

Brought this up to the dealer again. Sadly, they diagnosed both the intake leak and the valve cover seeping as normal. Crankcase pressure was within spec. Cleaned it, drove 10 miles, and shipped it. Obviously, it wasn't covered under the last legs of my BMW extended warranty and was on the hook for the diagnostic charge.

Can anyone have a peek at their intake and see you have the same spots as mine? A more recent pic looking up from the bottom of the car.

[ssf556]

I will look at mine tomorrow. My car is white and I noticed what I thought was excessive black dirt in weird places under the hood. It had 20,000 miles on it when I bought it and I just thought that it was a lease and nobody ever cleaned under the hood. Maybe some of that was from blow by? I have since done an engine cleaning and have not seen any of that black return on the white painted areas. Will check tomorrow.

[Suad]

I might have the same problem. Did you check when the engine is idling, if there is coming up any smoke? Mine is having a little smoke coming up between turbos and crankcase cover.

[usedtobeafordlover]

Hello!
Just stubbed upon this thread.
Could I use your excellent knowledge please?
I have a 335d n57.
Lots of grey smoke recently (not driven since) and blue smoke whilst driving.

I have taken to main dealer who say I need a new crank case cover and two new turbos!

I understand the crank case is a know. Issue, however before I through 12k at a 12k car I’m going to give the pcv valve a go. As my logic is, the pcv valve is stuck shut, forcing oil through wherever it can. Thus through the turbos hence the blue smoke.
Now, question is;
If oil has gone through the turbos. Are they 100% dead? As it does seem excessive for both to go? Also how would they know that both have gone? Surely the only way they would know would be by stripping them down etc if they did that they may aswell replaced the buggers lol
Any ideas?
My logical head can’t get that both turbos would be dead from a bit of oil through them? Or am I clutching at straws and actually my turbos will be fried?
Cheers all.

[shiftdnb]

Originally Posted by Enabled

There is a rubber diaphragm under this cap that helps with reducing the oil vapor back into liquid.
Normally it should just work. Rarely it can fail, which may be the case. It seems easy enough to inspect under the cap by raising the tabs gently top remove the cap.

Here it is from a random pic I had from valve cover gasket replacement.

Sorry to bring back an old post but you mention you replaced the diaphragm. First what would I be looking for in check the PCV diaphragm and second what did you replace yours with? Did you replace with the ones for the gas engines?

Edit: I believe I found one, it looks like the one on our engine and is listed for both the diesels and the gas.

[capt_slow]

Originally Posted by shiftdnb

Sorry to bring back an old post but you mention you replaced the diaphragm. First what would I be looking for in check the PCV diaphragm and second what did you replace yours with? Did you replace with the ones for the gas engines?

Edit: I believe I found one, it looks like the one on our engine and is listed for both the diesels and the gas.

I was getting ready to replace mine (again), but decided against it since the pressures measured normal. I did buy this one to have the spare part on hand.

Dorman 911-115 PCV Diaphragm Repair Kit

Note that it's a destructive repair. To access the diaphragm, you will need to break the tabs on the diaphragm cover, which the kit also replaces. A failed diaphragm will often have tears in it or plastic stress whitening.

[shiftdnb]

Originally Posted by capt_slow

I was getting ready to replace mine (again), but decided against it since the pressures measured normal. I did buy this one to have the spare part on hand.

Dorman 911-115 PCV Diaphragm Repair Kit

Note that it's a destructive repair. To access the diaphragm, you will need to break the tabs on the diaphragm cover, which the kit also replaces. A failed diaphragm will often have tears in it or plastic stress whitening.

Thanks, exact one I found. Thanks for letting me know about the destructive issue, I went ahead and ordered it, I was literally just about to go outside and think I could simply pop the tabs on the side and take a look real quick and pop it back on if it was good.

Just the amount of other possible leaking areas, i.e. the o-ring at the dipstick, the oil filter cap, the oil filter housing, the crankcase vent hose, the spray, the terrible mpg, points to the pcv valve having a problem. Although I'm also tempted to build your DIY pressure kit just to make sure before I tear into it.

I really do appreciate the response back so quickly, I love this community and no way I'd be able to do all this without guys like you who are documenting all your issues and how you dealt with it. I feel like most forum communities aren't what they once were, a place where people posted photo and video documented write ups on their experience. Thanks for keeping it alive and well here.

[Saku241]

Hello
Im having the same issue on my 118D F20 running B47 engine.
I checked the diaphragm and he seems ok without any damage.



I made a photo of the leak at the exact same spot
I replaced my breather pipe (13717823517) by a brand new one because I had leak from there due to plastic cracks.

But now I got leaks from somewhere else