[Eddien123]

Yeah anythings possible. If someone over torqued the bolt it could crack it. Your block is metal and the cover is plastic. You do the math. But 1500 is all labor my man. A valve cover is 300 and it's a project with average difficulty. Find a friend who knows what he's doing for help maybe. But I just did a valve cover gasket replacement and all went well (so far).

[Wilt]

Some plastics are very resistant to ANY kind of adhesive sticking to them, even without the issue of oil interfering with adhesion. I purchased a couple of sheets of 'plastic' from a plastical fabricator, and after unsuccessfully trying to bond two pieces, I consulted the plastics shop...they told me that is was desiged to resist adhsives. They suggested that I join the pieces with screws!

[DannyO335i]

Add me to the list, exact same place as well!

I installed MHD flasher and mapped stage 1 and got engi e light come on/misfire. Checked code and it was 29d0, cylinder 4 misfire. Needed to change plugs anyway so went ahead and took engine cover off etc. Noticed a fair bit of oil down in the gaps where the coils are. Took the coil packs out of cylinders 1-3 and they all had oil on them.

Came across this thread tonight and decided to investigate, low and behold there the crack is!

Now this on top of rattling wastegates and the misfire, wonder what's next on the list!

[Flex68]

I also having this same issues in cylinders 2 and 3 has slight oil in spark plug wells and around near the injectors .... Also noticed oil weeping from the pcv vent hose so looks like new cover and bent hose ffs not happy. How can I clean down the spark plug wells ???

[muncie21]

Originally Posted by Flex68

How can I clean down the spark plug wells ???

I would take the coils off, but leave the plugs in and then spray the area with brake cleaner, followed by a rag on a stick/screwdriver to wipe the oil off/out. Not the most elegant but you should be able to get most of it out.

[Flex68]

Originally Posted by muncie21

I would take the coils off, but leave the plugs in and then spray the area with brake cleaner, followed by a rag on a stick/screwdriver to wipe the oil off/out. Not the most elegant but you should be able to get most of it out.

Thanks for the tip ... Any way to clean oil around the injectors ???

[SM335i]

me too. this should be a recall by now..

[muncie21]

Originally Posted by Flex68

Thanks for the tip ... Any way to clean oil around the injectors ???

Just wipe it off as best as you can. If you pull the injectors out you may end up needed new decouplers to get them to seal. Also, it's not recommended that you try to clean the actual injector tips. It may look like hell, but the injectors are sealed pretty good, there's about zero chance that oil is getting into the cylinders from the injectors, provided they have a good seal now.

[nasu]

same crack to my 335is , same location

[Smoked 82]

Yup I just found a 1” crack in mine today same spot

[mweisdorfer]

Could just be the gasket; could the valve cover is cracked. At 85k, its probably just the gasket.

If you can turn a wrench and have a small torque wrench plus a decent set of metric tools, this is very DIYable. ECS tuning has a sweet DIY, in a PDF, on their website. Get maybe 12 or so new aluminum bolts, and strategically place them. I think the bolts on the corners are bigger.

Get some permatex Black silicone gasket maker & a new gasket. Run a bead of gasket maker on at least the lower portion of the newly installed gasket/ cover. The problem with the gasket on the N54 is that the head is on an angle and thus the oil piles up on the lower side. So, you need some extra insurance on that end of the valve cover.

[Hotter]

Same thing here. When I bought the car it was leaking oil already, I went to repair shop they changed valve cover gasket, but after few months its started leaking again and it seems it is cracked now. Not sure if I bought a car with such defect or repair shop just over tightened bolts and cracked it...

[chris82]

had my VCG replaced less than 2 years ago for free at the dealer. Started leaking again (now at 94k miles) and took it to dealer hoping to get covered by the SULEV warranty. Turns out it's the Valve Cover that's cracked and not the gasket. so the repair isn't covered and now I'm paying an absurd $1400 for this crap. Why does this damn thing have to be made of plastic. Fuckin' pissed.

[nsjames]

it's plastic because it wouldn't be possible to mold it in metal with the PCV integral to the cover.

if you had the magnesium cover you'd be bitching about the ridiculous CCV system and the need to buy new aluminum bolts for it.

and yes, $1400 is absurd.
you should either do it yourself or take it somewhere else.
if you're taking your 10 year old BMW to be serviced at a dealer that's your own fault for getting raped.

[iconfat]

Originally Posted by ENINTY

Spray a little Brake Clean in there, air it out with some shop air, then JB Weld the M'Fer and call it a day...

Originally Posted by ENINTY

Spray a little Brake Clean in there, air it out with some shop air, then JB Weld the M'Fer and call it a day...

Thumbs up. Total cost $10 labor and material.

[Dobiwallah]

When mounting my external occ (diy cheap way), I saw the crack at exactly the same spot as the others (stock). I cleaned the area and just stack 3 layers of aluminum tape over it plus industrial silicone on the top. I will check it out again within 500km again, but I tested the aluminium tape with mu compressor at 0.8 bar on a test object, and it was holding fine.

It is my 20cents Dutch solution...