BMW E92 330i N53 warm engine whine

[markirl]

OP, where did you put the silicon sealant?

Did the job last night - had an absolute nightmare getting the cap off, it came off in various chunks as I didn't heat up the glue enough (I blame my girlfriend for changing her hair dryer for a less-burney model). The diaphragm was absolutely messed up so definitely needed to be changed.

Bad news was that it hasn't fixed the issue, I still have massive crankcase vacuum.

I'm going to pull the valve cover off tomorrow evening and have a look, I feel like something is blocked.

[SoupAnxiety]

I put the silicone sealant on the inside edge of the new cap (the lid, not the diapraghm), where it makes contact with the rocker cover. My first attempt didn't give a good seal, I had to put a generous amount on but it's been fine for >12 months.

Good luck with the repair. From what you've said you have found the problem, it's unlikely it's blocked. Double check the fitting of the new diapraphm and make sure the seal is good.

[markirl]

I sealed where the diaphragm met the cap at the top instead, so this is likely where I stuffed up. I'm going to pull off the rocker cover anyway and do it properly this weekend. Thanks for your advice so far!

[bmwmike]

markirl said:

I sealed where the diaphragm met the cap at the top instead, so this is likely where I stuffed up. I'm going to pull off the rocker cover anyway and do it properly this weekend. Thanks for your advice so far!

Can you take some pics please? By properly do you mean new cam cover ?

[SoupAnxiety]

markirl said:

I sealed where the diaphragm met the cap at the top instead, so this is likely where I stuffed up. I'm going to pull off the rocker cover anyway and do it properly this weekend. Thanks for your advice so far!

For me I sealed the bottom of the cap, a good dollop of sealant and it's been fine! Clean it up, reseat it and seal it and you should be fine.

[PSDM3]

OP,

How is the CCV after a year? Any signs of wear or failure?

My N53 330i (2010) is burning oil - about a litre every 600 miles, I have had the rocker cover gasket replaced which was around £350 (part & labour) - this was due to an oil leak but the issue still persists of burning oil.

Ideally not wanting to go through the new rocker cover route as too pricey and just had new cover gasket sorted.
Also, any specialists that can fit this?

[SoupAnxiety]

PSDM3 said:

OP,

How is the CCV after a year? Any signs of wear or failure?

My N53 330i (2010) is burning oil - about a litre every 600 miles, I have had the rocker cover gasket replaced which was around £350 (part & labour) - this was due to an oil leak but the issue still persists of burning oil.

Ideally not wanting to go through the new rocker cover route as too pricey and just had new cover gasket sorted.
Also, any specialists that can fit this?

All good here one year on, no high pitched wining and consumption remains at around 1 litre every 3,000 miles (not bad for a car on 171k!).

There's no need to go for a new rocker cover if it's only the diapgrahm which has failed. You should be able to do it DIY for ~£40 and ~one hour of your time.

[PSDM3]

SoupAnxiety said:

All good here one year on, no high pitched wining and consumption remains at around 1 litre every 3,000 miles (not bad for a car on 171k!).

There's no need to go for a new rocker cover if it's only the diapgrahm which has failed. You should be able to do it DIY for ~£40 and ~one hour of your time.

Thanks for response. Is the suction coming out the oil pan whilst engine running a reliable test to check for CCV failure on N53?

[SoupAnxiety]

PSDM3 said:

Thanks for response. Is the suction coming out the oil pan whilst engine running a reliable test to check for CCV failure on N53?

When mine was faulty the vacuum on the cap was very strong, it was a struggle to lift it.

[PSDM3]

SoupAnxiety said:

When mine was faulty the vacuum on the cap was very strong, it was a struggle to lift it.

Drove the car a couple miles today and gave it a good ripping.
Opened the oil pan cover, no suction/vacuum or noise whatsoever. Just a different engine idle tone when cover was off but I guess that's standard for all cars.

Looks like injectors is the only possible culprit left

[SoupAnxiety]

PSDM3 said:

Drove the car a couple miles today and gave it a good ripping.
Opened the oil pan cover, no suction/vacuum or noise whatsoever. Just a different engine idle tone when cover was off but I guess that's standard for all cars.

Looks like injectors is the only possible culprit left

Is your issue oil consumption? Injectors wouldn't explain that. Take a look at https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=15....

[PSDM3]

SoupAnxiety said:

Is your issue oil consumption? Injectors wouldn't explain that. Take a look at https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=15....

That's scary. Yes doing about a litre every 700 miles or so. Also MPG is quite bad, I am getting 29mg whilst doing 60mph on a motorway.

[SoupAnxiety]

PSDM3 said:

That's scary. Yes doing about a litre every 700 miles or so. Also MPG is quite bad, I am getting 29mg whilst doing 60mph on a motorway.

This sounds more serious than a diapgrahm - I'd take it to an independent you trust!

[PSDM3]

SoupAnxiety said:

This sounds more serious than a diapgrahm - I'd take it to an independent you trust!

I've just spoken to a BMW specialist. He is 99% sure it's the cylinders/piston rings/block and will cost a few thousands to sort out. I'm going to top up the oil as necessary (about a litre a month as I don't do that many miles) and look to sell in a few months. Will have to live with the poor MPG for now.

[markirl]

SoupAnxiety said:

For me I sealed the bottom of the cap, a good dollop of sealant and it's been fine! Clean it up, reseat it and seal it and you should be fine.

Turns out I did too good a job of sealing! It was the small hole in the cap that blocked up with the silicone. All sorted and is now perfect

[koanla]

Hi OP,

I'm in a similar boat but seems to be maybe a slightly different still. I've received yesterday the cup and the membrane from Vanos-BMW, sealed by LOCTITE 5925 (Silicon-based liquid gasket). Checked the membrane in the cup and it seemed to be airtight. Then I put the cup onto the cover but before also applied some liquid gasket beneath the membrane to seal it between the membrane and the rocker cover, too. I was not waiting too long just about the time I assembled back all again (had to detach the rail tubes fro injectors of cylinder 5 & 6 to make some room for the activities) so like 30 mins or so. Then started the engine and the whining was stayed unfortunately. Was read something about the spring to be modified (cut one thread or so) on the bimmerprofs site.
So basically what I wanted to ask if you did any modification in anything or was it just actually the plug&play way so no modification, no cut from spring just assembling all and that's it?
I'm not quite sure that my problem was caused by the CCVV since the old one seemed to be okay (I believe it was already replaced not long ago by any of the former owners) so most probably I'll need to make a smoke test to see where is the leakage. But before I just wanted to ask you about your experiences (and any other's who have done this repair successfully).

Thank you in advance!

[SoupAnxiety]

koanla said:

Hi OP,

I'm in a similar boat but seems to be maybe a slightly different still. I've received yesterday the cup and the membrane from Vanos-BMW, sealed by LOCTITE 5925 (Silicon-based liquid gasket). Checked the membrane in the cup and it seemed to be airtight. Then I put the cup onto the cover but before also applied some liquid gasket beneath the membrane to seal it between the membrane and the rocker cover, too. I was not waiting too long just about the time I assembled back all again (had to detach the rail tubes fro injectors of cylinder 5 & 6 to make some room for the activities) so like 30 mins or so. Then started the engine and the whining was stayed unfortunately. Was read something about the spring to be modified (cut one thread or so) on the bimmerprofs site.
So basically what I wanted to ask if you did any modification in anything or was it just actually the plug&play way so no modification, no cut from spring just assembling all and that's it?
I'm not quite sure that my problem was caused by the CCVV since the old one seemed to be okay (I believe it was already replaced not long ago by any of the former owners) so most probably I'll need to make a smoke test to see where is the leakage. But before I just wanted to ask you about your experiences (and any other's who have done this repair successfully).

Thank you in advance!

Hi koanla - I didn't have to modify the spring. The hardest job was removing the original cap, the new one was a doddle with the aluminium cap and liquid gasket. I've added another 30,000 miles to my car since the swap and there's still no whine, all working well.

[koanla]

OK, thank you for the reply. It confirms the suspect that there is a leakage somewhere in my case. Very unfortunate, tho. So up to create a smoke tester and do the test!

[bmwmike]

koanla said:

OK, thank you for the reply. It confirms the suspect that there is a leakage somewhere in my case. Very unfortunate, tho. So up to create a smoke tester and do the test!

koana did you solve this after? i may have a very similar issue.

Also can someonr confirm the bmw-vanos site has the correct alu cap and diaphragm please if youve bought recently? thx

[koanla]

bmwmike said:

koana did you solve this after? i may have a very similar issue.

Also can someonr confirm the bmw-vanos site has the correct alu cap and diaphragm please if youve bought recently? thx

Sorry, but didn't take a look back since my last post. Unfortunately it did not solve my issue. Later on I exchanged all the sealings, o-rings, gaskets on the intake manifold plus the ventilation hose between the rocker cover and intake manifold:
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=NV31...
Items 04, 07, 10, 12, 13 (if someone does the same the item 07 is not required since the cavity is separated from the inside of the intake manifold)
And just to be able to remove the intake manifold I had also to exchange two more gaskets around the EGR valve and hosing:
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=NV31...
item 02 and one piece from item 06 behind the engine where the pipe 04 connected to pipe 05.

Smoke tester is something I still chasing. Partially it is set but stuck finding the right material to be burnt to create the appropriate smoke. On the other hand the areas around the rocker cover, CCVV, intake manifold, EGR, etc. were blown around by brake cleaner a bit but it was not affecting the rpm of the engine at all (enginge was on and idling). So either the material couldn't get close to the leakage or my issue is not based on vacuum leak.

As for alu cap and diaphragm I ordered these ones, tho:
Cap: https://vanos-bmw.com/product/cup-for-membrane-pcv...

Diaphragm: https://vanos-bmw.com/product/11127552281-bmw-valv...
Please beware that these are for the N51, N52 and N53 enginges so if your one differs then locate yours accordingly, please.

Btw, mine one was already exchanged so any of the former owners had been trying it at an earlier point of time. Somehow they managed the original plastic cap glued back and my diaphragm seemed to be not torn. I anyway exchanged but in my case something else is broken.

Edited by koanla on Monday 21st December 15:07