E30 Zone

Hi, I have changed the spark plugs yesterday and they were all a bit oily (on spark side) , 3 of them had it worse. So I have been looking online for info on the problem.

What I came up with is: ''A spark plug shorted by excessive oil entering the combustion chamber is often caused by piston rings or cylinder walls that are badly worn. Oil may also be pulled into the chamber because of excessive clearance in the valve stem guides, or badly worn valve stem seals. If the PCV valve is plugged or inoperative, it can cause a buildup of crankcase pressure. This condition can force oil and oil vapors past the rings and valve guides into the combustion chamber.''

I'm hoping the problem is with the crankcase ventilation. My early m50 does no have a Positive Crankcase Ventilation Valve aka Pressure Regulating Valve aka Oil Separator Valve (from searching the web).
It has this.


Is it simply called an oil catch can? could it be filled with sludgy shite and create pressure? Any advice on replacing that or a part number would be appreciated! I can't find it on real oem...

Also looking on real oem I noticed a difference between the diagram and my setup regarding the crankase ventilation as number 3-4 on the diagram seem to want to go somewhere? and an air filter sits in their place on my engine. Bad diagram or dodgy setup?




Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

JF

early bump

That alloy bodied part is the idle control valve and is unrelated

That poxy air filter is nothing short of a bodge. The pipe should run round to the intake elbow

Thanks for the lesson Danthe, I will look into it tomorrow. I know I have 2 rubber pipes going off the intake elbow I will have to find out where they lead

I will report back with more bodgery no doubt!

Does it rule out the crankcase pressure theroy then?

cheers,

JF

So there is two pipes coming out of the intake elbow.

'A' is joined to the underside of the throttle body and 'B' is joined to the underside of the ICV

Is this correct? What is the correct thing to do from there? Do I just drill a new hole in the intake boot to fit a new breather pipe to replace the filter shown above? Its a generic metal elbow so I don't how many holes the oem has..

Thanks,

JF

The original has two holes, one for each pipe

Like this - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Samco-Sil ... 27ea4a1ce5

Ok Dan you are teasing me now Wink.

So is what is on the picture above correct if not where all those hoses connect to and what to do about the filter?

Like I said, both holes in the intake elbow are used by other hoses and you said the filter should not be there and be a hose to the elbow instead.

cheers,

JF

A should be connected to a small brass spigot on the underside of the throttle body, its only needed if you have a carbon canister in the engine bay, which is highly unlikely. If you dont have the carbon canister then get rid of the lot and just tie the 2 pin elec plug up somewhere.

The filter needs to go in the bin

Surely having that little filter there would be better as the engine will constanly be using fresh clean air instead of recirculating crankcase air into the breather system

The crankcase is supposed to be under vacuum, its vented to the intake for that reason, the pipe is an 'outlet' not an 'inlet' so the filter is doing bugger all

Thank you very much Dan, you are a kind man!

Regarding the oil on the plugs, any chance that putting the crankcase under correct vacuum will solve the issue?

JF008 wrote:Regarding the oil on the plugs, any chance that putting the crankcase under correct vacuum will solve the issue?

As well I read somewhere that the large hose where the filter at the moment should be connected to a port on the dipstick tube? wouldn't that make more sense as the oil mist will not be fed into the intake? Or that's only if you have the carbon canister thingy?

Thanks,

JF

I've fitted a hose to the intake elbow to replace the scabby breather filter, and ''plugged'' the brass spigot under the throttle body with a short lenght of hose that I securely blocked. All seems fine.

Regarding the oil on the plugs, any chance that putting the crankcase under correct vacuum will solve the issue?