E90 320i Breather hose blocked

[freakazoid]

Hi

What can cause the breather hose to get blocked/clogged?

I have a recurring problem that causes the hose to get fully clogged up. This is the second time in less than a year that the breather hose has been changed and unfortunately it has been with two different mechanics and could be the reason they did not pick up the pattern.

In December the car went in for a service and the hose was changed. A day or two later the car was smoking excessively and started using oil. Oil usage was so bad that I had to top-up with a litre every 500km. Wrote it off as valve stem seals but never got around to have it checked out. Was like this for months and then all of a sudden the smoking got less and less and I then only needed to top up every 1500km.

Car was in last week to replace valvetronic motor and breather pipe was found to be blocked and replaced. Now excessive smoking is back and in space of 3 days my oil level dropped by a 1/3rd.

I am not very mechanically minded but it seems that oil somehow gets in the breather hose causing the smoke and over time it clogs up the hose. Not sure if this is possible? But the pattern seems to be hose blocked, new hose, excessive smoke and oil usage, blocked hose, new hose, rinse and repeat.

Any ideas? I have just spent close to R10k on service, valvetronic replacement, gaskets, breather pipe and still have an oil and smoke problem.

 

[Iceman007]

Hi

What can cause the breather hose to get blocked/clogged?

I have a recurring problem that causes the hose to get fully clogged up. This is the second time in less than a year that the breather hose has been changed and unfortunately it has been with two different mechanics and could be the reason they did not pick up the pattern.

In December the car went in for a service and the hose was changed. A day or two later the car was smoking excessively and started using oil. Oil usage was so bad that I had to top-up with a litre every 500km. Wrote it off as valve stem seals but never got around to have it checked out. Was like this for months and then all of a sudden the smoking got less and less and I then only needed to top up every 1500km.

Car was in last week to replace valvetronic motor and breather pipe was found to be blocked and replaced. Now excessive smoking is back and in space of 3 days my oil level dropped by a 1/3rd.

I am not very mechanically minded but it seems that oil somehow gets in the breather hose causing the smoke and over time it clogs up the hose. Not sure if this is possible? But the pattern seems to be hose blocked, new hose, excessive smoke and oil usage, blocked hose, new hose, rinse and repeat.

Any ideas? I have just spent close to R10k on service, valvetronic replacement, gaskets, breather pipe and still have an oil and smoke problem.

You are feeding your intake with oil because your oil seperator is not working and your return lin to the sump is blocked.
You have to replace the oil seperator and all 3 the pipes that go with it Follow the link and you will see. an oil flush would also be an good idea for you probably have some sludge buildup. But replacing the oil seperator and the 3 pipes will do the trick and should solve your problems. if the seperator dont work the engine will suck it into the intake. Also make sure that the hole where hose 4 goes into is open for this is the return to the sump.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=VA72&mospid=48481&btnr=11_3724&hg=11&fg=15

 

[freakazoid]

Hi

What can cause the breather hose to get blocked/clogged?

I have a recurring problem that causes the hose to get fully clogged up. This is the second time in less than a year that the breather hose has been changed and unfortunately it has been with two different mechanics and could be the reason they did not pick up the pattern.

In December the car went in for a service and the hose was changed. A day or two later the car was smoking excessively and started using oil. Oil usage was so bad that I had to top-up with a litre every 500km. Wrote it off as valve stem seals but never got around to have it checked out. Was like this for months and then all of a sudden the smoking got less and less and I then only needed to top up every 1500km.

Car was in last week to replace valvetronic motor and breather pipe was found to be blocked and replaced. Now excessive smoking is back and in space of 3 days my oil level dropped by a 1/3rd.

I am not very mechanically minded but it seems that oil somehow gets in the breather hose causing the smoke and over time it clogs up the hose. Not sure if this is possible? But the pattern seems to be hose blocked, new hose, excessive smoke and oil usage, blocked hose, new hose, rinse and repeat.

Any ideas? I have just spent close to R10k on service, valvetronic replacement, gaskets, breather pipe and still have an oil and smoke problem.

You are feeding your intake with oil because your oil seperator is not working and your return lin to the sump is blocked.
You have to replace the oil seperator and all 3 the pipes that go with it Follow the link and you will see. an oil flush would also be an good idea for you probably have some sludge buildup. But replacing the oil seperator and the 3 pipes will do the trick and should solve your problems. if the seperator dont work the engine will suck it into the intake. Also make sure that the hole where hose 4 goes into is open for this is the return to the sump.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=VA72&mospid=48481&btnr=11_3724&hg=11&fg=15

That makes more sense to me than valve stem seals being the cause of this. I will see if I can get the mechie to look into this

 

[Dippies]

Hi

What can cause the breather hose to get blocked/clogged?

I have a recurring problem that causes the hose to get fully clogged up. This is the second time in less than a year that the breather hose has been changed and unfortunately it has been with two different mechanics and could be the reason they did not pick up the pattern.

In December the car went in for a service and the hose was changed. A day or two later the car was smoking excessively and started using oil. Oil usage was so bad that I had to top-up with a litre every 500km. Wrote it off as valve stem seals but never got around to have it checked out. Was like this for months and then all of a sudden the smoking got less and less and I then only needed to top up every 1500km.

Car was in last week to replace valvetronic motor and breather pipe was found to be blocked and replaced. Now excessive smoking is back and in space of 3 days my oil level dropped by a 1/3rd.

I am not very mechanically minded but it seems that oil somehow gets in the breather hose causing the smoke and over time it clogs up the hose. Not sure if this is possible? But the pattern seems to be hose blocked, new hose, excessive smoke and oil usage, blocked hose, new hose, rinse and repeat.

Any ideas? I have just spent close to R10k on service, valvetronic replacement, gaskets, breather pipe and still have an oil and smoke problem.

You are feeding your intake with oil because your oil seperator is not working and your return lin to the sump is blocked.
You have to replace the oil seperator and all 3 the pipes that go with it Follow the link and you will see. an oil flush would also be an good idea for you probably have some sludge buildup. But replacing the oil seperator and the 3 pipes will do the trick and should solve your problems. if the seperator dont work the engine will suck it into the intake. Also make sure that the hole where hose 4 goes into is open for this is the return to the sump.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=VA72&mospid=48481&btnr=11_3724&hg=11&fg=15

+1 oil seperator. :thumbs:

 

[Iceman007]

Hi

What can cause the breather hose to get blocked/clogged?

I have a recurring problem that causes the hose to get fully clogged up. This is the second time in less than a year that the breather hose has been changed and unfortunately it has been with two different mechanics and could be the reason they did not pick up the pattern.

In December the car went in for a service and the hose was changed. A day or two later the car was smoking excessively and started using oil. Oil usage was so bad that I had to top-up with a litre every 500km. Wrote it off as valve stem seals but never got around to have it checked out. Was like this for months and then all of a sudden the smoking got less and less and I then only needed to top up every 1500km.

Car was in last week to replace valvetronic motor and breather pipe was found to be blocked and replaced. Now excessive smoking is back and in space of 3 days my oil level dropped by a 1/3rd.

I am not very mechanically minded but it seems that oil somehow gets in the breather hose causing the smoke and over time it clogs up the hose. Not sure if this is possible? But the pattern seems to be hose blocked, new hose, excessive smoke and oil usage, blocked hose, new hose, rinse and repeat.

Any ideas? I have just spent close to R10k on service, valvetronic replacement, gaskets, breather pipe and still have an oil and smoke problem.

You are feeding your intake with oil because your oil seperator is not working and your return lin to the sump is blocked.
You have to replace the oil seperator and all 3 the pipes that go with it Follow the link and you will see. an oil flush would also be an good idea for you probably have some sludge buildup. But replacing the oil seperator and the 3 pipes will do the trick and should solve your problems. if the seperator dont work the engine will suck it into the intake. Also make sure that the hole where hose 4 goes into is open for this is the return to the sump.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=VA72&mospid=48481&btnr=11_3724&hg=11&fg=15

That makes more sense to me than valve stem seals being the cause of this. I will see if I can get the mechie to look into this

Just print him the picture and show him from www.realoem.com

---

Aparently you have to remove the intake to get to everything

 

[freakazoid]

Hi

What can cause the breather hose to get blocked/clogged?

I have a recurring problem that causes the hose to get fully clogged up. This is the second time in less than a year that the breather hose has been changed and unfortunately it has been with two different mechanics and could be the reason they did not pick up the pattern.

In December the car went in for a service and the hose was changed. A day or two later the car was smoking excessively and started using oil. Oil usage was so bad that I had to top-up with a litre every 500km. Wrote it off as valve stem seals but never got around to have it checked out. Was like this for months and then all of a sudden the smoking got less and less and I then only needed to top up every 1500km.

Car was in last week to replace valvetronic motor and breather pipe was found to be blocked and replaced. Now excessive smoking is back and in space of 3 days my oil level dropped by a 1/3rd.

I am not very mechanically minded but it seems that oil somehow gets in the breather hose causing the smoke and over time it clogs up the hose. Not sure if this is possible? But the pattern seems to be hose blocked, new hose, excessive smoke and oil usage, blocked hose, new hose, rinse and repeat.

Any ideas? I have just spent close to R10k on service, valvetronic replacement, gaskets, breather pipe and still have an oil and smoke problem.

You are feeding your intake with oil because your oil seperator is not working and your return lin to the sump is blocked.
You have to replace the oil seperator and all 3 the pipes that go with it Follow the link and you will see. an oil flush would also be an good idea for you probably have some sludge buildup. But replacing the oil seperator and the 3 pipes will do the trick and should solve your problems. if the seperator dont work the engine will suck it into the intake. Also make sure that the hole where hose 4 goes into is open for this is the return to the sump.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=VA72&mospid=48481&btnr=11_3724&hg=11&fg=15

+1 oil seperator. :thumbs:

Spoke to mechie and he said he changed the oil seperator - that is what he referred to as the breather pipe. Says it is the first thing they change when they get a smoking E90. He also found no sludge in engine - they had to do my tappet and sump gaskets and he said the engine is still "clean".

I will still print the diagram and show it to him just to confirm that everything in the schematic was changed.

So looks like I need to have the valve stem seals done.