Hi everyone,

I have a high mileage (130K+) 2004 525i and recently I have noticed a very powerful burning smell from the air vents a few days after an oil change at a private shop. No messages have come up on the iDrive and car behaves normally. I drove the car 100 miles immediately after the smell, set the cabin air to recirculate the inside air, and didn't notice any more issues.

I purchased the car 5 years ago at 95K and since have changed the cabin air filter, the engine belts ("V-Belts"), spark plugs, and only performed oil changes.

No other work has been done as the car is driven less than 4K miles per year. This smell is worrisome because I have read that cooling system (radiator) issues are common on the E60. Since the E60 has no temperature gauge I hope the iDrive would warn me if the car was overheating. The E60 is automatic and completely stock.

Any thoughts you could share would be very welcomed, thank you.

 

I have almost the same problem than you, after some research, I found that changing the valve cover gasket, would fix the problem, cuz maybe the burning smell comes from a oil leak from your engine,,, so you should check if you have a leak. To do help you to find it, clean your engine, than examine for leaks..

 

New Valve Cover Gasket should fix your problem.

I would also recommend new thermostat, water pump and inspect the radiator for leaks.

Good luck!

 

Thank you guys for the quick responses. It appears the part number I need is 11120030496.

 

Apprently this item is also mentioned in an Edmunds review:

http://www.edmunds.com/bmw/5-series/...liability.html

Occasional problems on this vehicle are failures of the Valve Cover Gasket, the Crankcase Ventilation Valve, and the Pressure Regulator Assembly.

The cost to repair the Crankcase Ventilation Valve and the Pressure Regulator Assembly are estimated at $150.00 to $350.00 for parts and $165.00 to $330.00 for labor, depending on the engine type. The cost to repair the Valve Cover Gasket is estimated at $34.00 for parts and $117.00 for labor. All prices are estimates based on $65.00 per flat rate hour and do not include diagnostic time or any applicable sales tax.

 

If it is oil leak, then oil level should decrease right?

Not meaning to hijack the thread, but i have burning smell throgh A/C vents too but ONLY WHEN I DO HARD ACCELERATION. And I have actually put the A/C setting to inside circulation. On normal driving, no smell occurs. On stationary, no smell occurs eventhough I rev the car. My oil level is not decreasing.

 

Not really my oil level did not drop until around the time to change it. I had the same issue with a valve cover leak, run your hand around the back of the passenger side back corner to the back they mostly leak there also leaks around the seal of the coils where they attach to the plugs. They need to be replaced also when you replace the valve cover

 

Ok let me check mine. The car only has 15k mileage, so i didnt thought of this.
Thanks.

 

UPDATE: I non BMW local shop did the work for under $200 (parts and labor). I haven't smelled it again yet, but hopefully this fixed the issue.

A big thank you to those to replied to this message with their input (tgm001 and Dawid_w).

 

what did they change/fix?