mungu

I am currently having a huge oil leak problem, my car drives only 200km and it needs an oil top up. One mechanic indicated to me it was burning and he changed the valve stem cells but the problem still continued. After a careful inspection I noticed it was leaking through the cap, I have replaced the cap twice but no solution. I can literally see th
​​oil accumulated between the coils? Any suggestions could this mean the valve cover needs replacement!

tstiglich

I assume that the new cap came with a gasket?

Could be a valve cover gasket. Could be valvetronic gasket. Just bought a complete set from fcpeuro for $55 (give or take)

kd7iwp

If it's in the spark plug holes my guess would be valve cover gasket. I would assume your mechanic would have replaced that when he did the valve stem seals though.

mungu

Thanks for your response, yes the cap came with a gasket. However the valvetronic doesn't show any sign of leakage!

mungu

Yes the valve cover gasket was replaced when the stem seals were done. The oil actually accumulates outside the spark plug holes. If I drive a long distance and remove the engine Plastic cover, I can clearly see the trail of oil coming from the oil cap dripping into spark plugs outside holes. I usually take a cloth to remove the oil.

nicd01

I feel for you as I have the same issue, I have excessive oil when the car is going slow and the engine is burning oil(valve stem seals-to be done), the car also accumulates oil around oil cap and between the spark plug holes, I also have oil seeping from the oil coolant pipes again. So lots of work still to be done and will be following your post very closely as I hate having this oil issue! I will be doing the stem seals, the valve cover gasket, the oil cap seal and the whole oil cooling hoses. I will then sacrifice a living thing to the BMW gods to try and appease their anger.

kd7iwp

Others please chime in to see if this makes sense or not. What if there was a problem in the PCV and it was plugged? Would pressure in the head then push oily vapor out the oil cap? Reason I suggest this is that the other day I was trying to find a boost leak so I pressurized my air inlets with just a couple of psi of air to listen for leaks and I hadn't blocked off the PCV. All of a sudden I got lots of air coming out the oil cap and it made a bit of a mess on the engine cover. Looks like that cap wasn't really designed to hold any pressure as my gauge was showing about 1-2 psi.

mungu

Please keep me posted too, whether all those changes will help because I have done them all but the situation didn't change for me. I even changed the crank seal but no change.

mungu

Not sure whether this could be the problem, anyone with experience please help!

tttomttt

Actually the CCV is exactly what I was going to suggest. What happens if you remove the oil filler cap with engine running? If I do that to any of my 3.0's the engine reacts as if it has a vacuum leak. The CCV system is a closed system so therefore when cap is removed you are creating a vacuum leak. If I put my hand over the open cap hole I feel suction. I believe a misfunctioning CCV valve or system will push oil instead of oil vapor.
Tom