BMW M54 engine, 150k miles

[Alfred_B]

Had to change the valve cover gasket so in a BITOG fashion, took time to take some pictures and share with fellow BITOGers.

And the crudded up cover.

 

[HemiHawk]

What oil have you been using? What kind of intervals? Looks pretty good to me.

 

[RooflessVW]

That's what it looks like under mine! 129k on my X3, running annual intervals. Typically ends up being 7-10k.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Where was the VC leaking? Sprocket bolt clearance seals?

 

[Alfred_B]

The OCI is 10k miles or annually. Mobil1 0w-40 or German/Belgian Castrol.

The VC gasket had hardened to a plastic and had been leaking at the bottom (it's slanted slightly) onto the exhaust pipes stinking up the air.

 

[Alfred_B]

The gasket change seems to have cured the P0171 and P0174 codes (mixture too lean on bank 1 and bank 3). This was diagnosed as a MAF sensor issue but I had seen someone get these errors after incorrectly installed gaskets. So if there was an air leak through my old, hardened gasket mimicking a PCV leak, the new gasket would have sealed the air leak and brought back normal operating conditions.