Oil-Air Separator

ChooChooman74 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 16, 2012 11:35 pm

imclumzy wrote:

I'm willing to give this a try. Can these be had at any BMW Dealership? Would I just need to give them the part number (11151705237)?

There is a link on page 1 to an aftermarket supplier.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

imclumzy · **Joined:** Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:30 am **Posts:** 48

I checked with my local BMW dealer here in Toronto and they want $84 + tax for it. Crazy price, ECU tuning online vendor is only $31.

ChooChooman74 · **Posted:** Sat Aug 25, 2012 3:45 pm

So I ran into an issue with my Nalgene pill bottle for my collection. Apparently, while towing, it is close enough to the turbo that it melted and deformed, and did get a hole in it near the top. I either have to relocate it or find a steel container. Time to google for steel capped containers. :google:

Chamba · **Posted:** Mon Aug 27, 2012 9:35 am

ChooChooman74 wrote:

So I ran into an issue with my Nalgene pill bottle for my collection. Apparently, while towing, it is close enough to the turbo that it melted and deformed, and did get a hole in it near the top. I either have to relocate it or find a steel container. Time to google for steel capped containers. :google:

I just ran about 18" of half-inch hose with a brass stop cock on it. the hose holds about an oz of oil, so i figure as long as i drain it every month or so it should work.
Chamba

CATCRD · **Posted:** Mon Aug 27, 2012 5:08 pm

Chamba wrote:

ChooChooman74 wrote:

So I ran into an issue with my Nalgene pill bottle for my collection. Apparently, while towing, it is close enough to the turbo that it melted and deformed, and did get a hole in it near the top. I either have to relocate it or find a steel container. Time to google for steel capped containers. :google:

I just ran about 18" of half-inch hose with a brass stop cock on it. the hose holds about an oz of oil, so i figure as long as i drain it every month or so it should work.
Chamba

I did the same but ran it down to the front bumper. I put a plug in it and I drain it every few thousand miles. No bottle.

Dennis MacGyver · **Posted:** Sat Jan 19, 2013 11:59 pm

Has anyone tried placing any "Scotch Brite" material inside of the top of the stock oil separator (puck /CCV) ?? Maybe the oil vapors might condense on the "scrubby" material and lessen the amount going out of the vent hose. The scrubby material would be trapped in here with no chance of it getting into the valve cover.

arbby · **Joined:** Thu Oct 18, 2012 6:22 pm **Posts:** 27

Dennis MacGyver wrote:

Has anyone tried placing any "Scotch Brite" material inside of the top of the stock oil separator (puck /CCV) ?? Maybe the oil vapors might condense on the "scrubby" material and lessen the amount going out of the vent hose. The scrubby material would be trapped in here with no chance of it getting into the valve cover.

After taking the CCV puck apart yesterday, if it were to have a 90 up with a filter to catch the oil vapor then a 90 towards the front it would be a lot better design. It would allow the oil to drain back into the crankcase.

racertracer · **Posted:** Sun Jan 20, 2013 7:53 pm

arbby wrote:

Dennis MacGyver wrote:

Has anyone tried placing any "Scotch Brite" material inside of the top of the stock oil separator (puck /CCV) ?? Maybe the oil vapors might condense on the "scrubby" material and lessen the amount going out of the vent hose. The scrubby material would be trapped in here with no chance of it getting into the valve cover.

After taking the CCV puck apart yesterday, if it were to have a 90 up with a filter to catch the oil vapor then a 90 towards the front it would be a lot better design. It would allow the oil to drain back into the crankcase.

I don't understand what you mean... can you elaborate?

Dennis MacGyver · **Posted:** Sun Jan 20, 2013 10:22 pm

racertracer wrote:

arbby wrote:

Dennis MacGyver wrote:

Has anyone tried placing any "Scotch Brite" material inside of the top of the stock oil separator (puck /CCV) ?? Maybe the oil vapors might condense on the "scrubby" material and lessen the amount going out of the vent hose. The scrubby material would be trapped in here with no chance of it getting into the valve cover.

After taking the CCV puck apart yesterday, if it were to have a 90 up with a filter to catch the oil vapor then a 90 towards the front it would be a lot better design. It would allow the oil to drain back into the crankcase.

I don't understand what you mean... can you elaborate?

If you pop the top of the oil separator (CCV) inside you will find (1) a spring (2) a rubber gasket (3) an empty area under the rubber gasket / cap. In the empty area, one could cut up some Scotch Brite and fill the empty cavity with a "disc" of the material (less the outlet &pipe area).

So the oil vapor enters this hollow area of the puck, after having gone through a "swirl" chamber below it, and exits through an opening in the top center of the puck, and exits out to the turbo breather inlet hose.

Since the oil separator (CCV)(a virtual joke!) ejects 1 to 2 ounces of oil per 1000 miles, maybe some material inside it for the oil vapor to coalless onto would be helpful in reducing this volume.

arbby · **Joined:** Thu Oct 18, 2012 6:22 pm **Posts:** 27

I will post photos online tomorrow of the CCV open.

It is tough to open as it is a very tight fit. I think a scotch brite pad may be a little too dense, and a better option woule have a little more air flow. After blowing out my front crank seal, too much resistance is costly.

Dennis MacGyver · **Posted:** Mon Jan 21, 2013 1:51 am

arbby wrote:

I will post photos online tomorrow of the CCV open.

It is tough to open as it is a very tight fit. I think a scotch brite pad may be a little too dense, and a better option woule have a little more air flow. After blowing out my front crank seal, too much resistance is costly.

The "air exit hole" from the CCV into the breather-hose airway is about the size of a dime, so I doubt the porosity of the Scotch Brite pad, even 2 layers thick, would create enough obstruction to cause a problem

arbby · **Joined:** Thu Oct 18, 2012 6:22 pm **Posts:** 27

It was tough to get the cap off and it broke but it its all there.

If you were to do it, I would cut a circle with the hole for the spring (Like a donut).

And just one layer thick.
The air flow comes up from the big hole, below the rubber seal, and out to the air intake. this would allow one more chance for it to condense and drip back down.

Dennis MacGyver · **Posted:** Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:33 pm

arbby wrote:

It was tough to get the cap off and it broke but it its all there.

If you were to do it, I would cut a circle with the hole for the spring (Like a donut).

And just one layer thick.
The air flow comes up from the big hole, below the rubber seal, and out to the air intake. this would allow one more chance for it to condense and drip back down.

I'm in the testing phase now. I actually cut in the shape of the letter "C" to allow the exit to be uninhibited and to have clearance for the exit tube/pipe.

Dennis MacGyver · **Posted:** Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:41 pm

So before opening my original CCV, I did buy a spare ($36) so in case i did destroy it I'd have a replacement.

So what do you think the spring and rubber top flap / gasket is and how exactly does it function ?
The spring keeps the rubber slightly pressed upward (due to lack of space once the exterior cap is pressed on) and allow a small ring of escape for gasses / vapor into the intake hose. The spring is substantially strong enough as to not allow the rubber to act as a one way valve prohibiting the intake of air into the valve cover from back pressure.

arbby · **Joined:** Thu Oct 18, 2012 6:22 pm **Posts:** 27

I have no idea why the spring or rubber is there. The spring is so stiff and the rubber would only be sucked down if a lot of negative air pressure was sucking on it. I do not think it would need to be replaced. Overall-a dumb design

Dennis MacGyver · **Posted:** Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:16 pm

arbby wrote:

I have no idea why the spring or rubber is there. The spring is so stiff and the rubber would only be sucked down if a lot of negative air pressure was sucking on it. I do not think it would need to be replaced. Overall-a dumb design

Maybe the spring forces the center up as to allow the rubber to maintain a dome shape allowing condensed oil to run back down towards the perimeter and drain back into the valve cover.

Tony P. · **Posted:** Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:28 pm

ChooChooman74 wrote:

So I ran into an issue with my Nalgene pill bottle for my collection. Apparently, while towing, it is close enough to the turbo that it melted and deformed, and did get a hole in it near the top. I either have to relocate it or find a steel container. Time to google for steel capped containers. :google:

ChooChoo for almost a year now I've had this set up, might be what your looking for to replace your melted pill bottle.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=66602

Dennis MacGyver · **Posted:** Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:14 pm

arbby wrote:

It was tough to get the cap off and it broke but it its all there.

If you were to do it, I would cut a circle with the hole for the spring (Like a donut).

And just one layer thick.
The air flow comes up from the big hole, below the rubber seal, and out to the air intake. this would allow one more chance for it to condense and drip back down.

As far as your cracked lid, maybe use a 2-3" hose clamp to secure it around the perimeter.

josh8loop · **Posted:** Wed Jan 30, 2013 8:46 pm

Guys,

I've got to say, all the installation jobs you are doing look great! It's funny seeing that cyclonic separator I mentioned being used so much here

Glad it has worked out for you all. As we know however it's performance can be increased. On my 2002 VW Jetta TDI where I first used the BMW cyclonic separator I was collecting a little more than 1 ounce per 10K miles. Remember my car is only a 1.9L engine, and separation efficiency increases as the CCV flow rate increases. Since your CRD's are much higher displacement, you all have much more flow than I do. One recent addition to my cyclonic setup I've added is some stainless steel scouring pad mesh to the inlet tubing going to the cyclonic separator. So far early indication are telling me that it has increased collected volume by about 20%. I loosely packed it in there so I didn't restrict the air flow too much on mine.

I guess you all aren't having any freeze up issues?

Chamba · **Posted:** Thu Jan 31, 2013 12:40 pm

josh8loop wrote:

Guys,

I've got to say, all the installation jobs you are doing look great! It's funny seeing that cyclonic separator I mentioned being used so much here

Glad it has worked out for you all. As we know however it's performance can be increased. On my 2002 VW Jetta TDI where I first used the BMW cyclonic separator I was collecting a little more than 1 ounce per 10K miles. Remember my car is only a 1.9L engine, and separation efficiency increases as the CCV flow rate increases. Since your CRD's are much higher displacement, you all have much more flow than I do. One recent addition to my cyclonic setup I've added is some stainless steel scouring pad mesh to the inlet tubing going to the cyclonic separator. So far early indication are telling me that it has increased collected volume by about 20%. I loosely packed it in there so I didn't restrict the air flow too much on mine.

I guess you all aren't having any freeze up issues?

This is exactly why I have not added steel wool to my input line: what effect would the cold have on flow? Once that wool gets coated in oil, a nice -10f day like we've had around here recently could result in no air flow... which could result in a blown main seal or worse. This is what worries me, and I'm happy to burn a bit of oil through my intake (though far less than before I chucked the BMW cyclonic filter in-line) for the peace-of-mind that my crankcase is not presurising.

Obviously if you live in Florida, California, Phoenix (or some place stupidly hot like Australia; which makes Phoenix look like a cool oasis), this would be a moot point and the steel wool holds a lot of merit.

Chamba

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