Quote:
Originally Posted by greye90
...yah for sure. Just a gasket-why is would it crumble to pieces? Car is only 4 years old...
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Why does the valve cover gasket go bad in less than 50k miles (80k km)? How about
:
- High performance engine with oil temperatures consistently above 230º F
- Part of the gasket sits right above the exhaust, two blazing hot turbos roasting it.
Same thing happened to the VCG on my E39, just not a soon. I changed it out myself when I did my VANOS seals. The side nearest the exhaust looses elasticity and hardens like hard plastic. It stops sealing and eventually cracks.
Just had my VCG done under factory warranty and I fully expect to have to do it again before 100k miles. Not DIY friendly because of the direct injection. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
The key with long-term BMW ownership is
proactive preventative maintenance. The factory recommended maintenance schedule should really be called the "absolute minimum maintenance schedule".
For example, I have to change my transmission and differential fluids soon (manual trans). BMW claims "lifetime fill" and even puts that on a sticker on the transmission. The dealer that services my car did not have the fluid because "we never sell any, if we sell a transmission it comes pre-filled". Never mind that the M3, which has the same 6MT transmission, requires fluid change every 30k mi.
My choice is to buy a 5L jug for $160 and have 3L sitting around for 2 years, or find a dealer that will sell me 2L of the stuff. Time consuming and PITA but it has to be done.