Due to all of the great information and help with my E36, E46, and E90 that I have received from this forum and others over the years, I felt compelled to share my recent experience with the PCV valve and Eccentric Shaft Sensor going out on my 328i with 128,000 miles.
After my car spent the night parked downtown on an approximate 10 degree right to left incline, I had an extremely rough start and idle followed by an ungodly high pitched scream coming from the engine. I revved it a little and the whine went away briefly before I set off for home. The car felt fine between 2.5k and 3k rpm on the interstate but felt like it was going to kill at idle. An extremely uncomfortable feeling, not to mention all of the glaring eyes I received due to the insanely high pitched scream coming from under my hood. Long story short, the engine quit on me as I pulled onto my street, I parked it and hit the forums. After discovering that it could be a torn PCV valve, and learning I was now in the market for an entire new valve cover since the valve is integral to it, I stumbled upon a video of someone on an E39 removing the oil filler cap while the engine was running. The leaking valve was evident due to the cap being sucked onto the valve cover. Oddly enough the screaming noise went away for an entire day after I removed the oil cap...
After deciding that the valve cover DIY was a little more involved that I cared to perform, due to time constraints, and lack of tools, I dropped the car off at
a BMW indy the next morning, the valve cover was replaced ($900 after tax) and I was back on the road the next day.
Fast forward 2 weeks, I hopped in my car to head to work and...crank but no start. After several cranks and a stomp on the floor, she started but once again extremely rough idle. Once again I hit the forums and found that I could have clogged/dirty VANOS solenoids. So I pulled them and cleaned them up, reinstalled, and the car was running completely normal. Went to bed feeling like champ... until the next morning...crank, no start, and EVERY light on the dash went on (ABS, DSC, CEL, etc...). Finally got it to start and ran the codes... P103A (VVT Sensor Temp Too High), P1017 (VVT Guiding Sensor Plausibility), P1056 (VVT Control Circuit High), then drove it straight back to the indy who determined it was the Eccentric Shaft Sensor which we just had access to with the valve cover off....
Tack on another $900...back on the road and everything seems A-OK.
Happy driving everyone.
