[Spoolin1]

Hey guys,

I replaced the stock intercooler with one from AMS and upon removing the pipes from the stocker, there was quite a bit of oil in them. Looks as though the turbo oil seals may be leaking on the compressors. The car only has 38k miles, so why the leaking already? I'm hoping I can show the pipes to my service guy at BMW and they will replace the turbo's under CPO. I wouldn't think the new intercooler would discourage any warranty work being that it can only help with controlling the charge air over what the stocker can do. I do keep getting CEL's occasionally for missfires and the injectors have been replaced, so maybe the oil vapors getting into the cylinders is causing some of this?

[atinybug]

How much is "quite a bit"? It's normal to have some oil in there.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Oil in the intercooler and charge pipe is common, especially if you don't have a Oil Catch can. Get yourself an OCC and keep that intercooler performing at top efficiency and clean.
When turbo seals go bad oil would be leaking in the exhaust, typically.

If your spark plugs and injectors are up to date you may want to consider swapping coil packs to see if misfires move and if they do move that is likely an indication of a coil pack gone wrong.

If they dont move it may be an indication you need to have your intake valves cleaned, they are typically gunked up by 35,000 miles.

Lastly, it always a good idea to clean your vanos solenoids, typically after 50,000 miles.

[Spoolin1]

As for how much....well, it was dripping out of the tubes. If this is pretty much normal, that's pretty crappy but oh well I guess.

Thanks for the advice Jeff, I'll look into an OCC but I wouldn't think that would remedy things being it would be venting from the valve cover. Am I missing something?

I may be able to get a free valve blast under CPO since my SA mentioned it may need to be done if I keep getting missfires after the injector change last week. He is really cool and CPO is up in Nov and mentioned bringing the car in in Oct and they would replace most everything that is known to go out; coils, seals, etc. He said all I would have to pay for is new plugs so maybe he will get the valve blast done through CPO too.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by Spoolin1

As for how much....well, it was dripping out of the tubes. If this is pretty much normal, that's pretty crappy but oh well I guess.

Thanks for the advice Jeff, I'll look into an OCC but I wouldn't think that would remedy things being it would be venting from the valve cover. Am I missing something?

I may be able to get a free valve blast under CPO since my SA mentioned it may need to be done if I keep getting missfires after the injector change last week. He is really cool and CPO is up in Nov and mentioned bringing the car in in Oct and they would replace most everything that is known to go out; coils, seals, etc. He said all I would have to pay for is new plugs so maybe he will get the valve blast done through CPO too.

The oil catch can keeps oil out of your charge pipe and intercooler, for sure. This car has a complex PCV system.

It's common to get an OCC to prevent not only oil in your intercooler but charge pipe as well. This really goes for any vehicle that potentially dumps vapors back into the intake tract, in this case, the charge pipe side of things.

One of my first mods next to a tune was the OCC to keep oil out of the intercooler and charge pipe. It's probably the most sought after modification but people rarely boast about it.

[Spoolin1]

Ahhh, I see what you're saying now. BMW has the vent going to the turbo side of the charge piping, which in turn will leak some oil vapor into the path. A catch can would definitely clear a lot of this up. They should have put the vent on the intake instead of the charge piping. I know it wouldn't stop the oil vapors from getting into the engine but at least it wouldn't be tracking all the way through the charge piping and intercooler this way. LOL

[SeanS54]

check out my recent post.. http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1019675

[Spoolin1]

Nice! Thanks for showing me.

[bigdaddycane]

Spoolin, wait til you pull off your charge pipe! you'll more than likely see the same thing as it is typical for the N54 motor. Get a BMS Catch Can and a Rob Beck PCV valve ($45) and it they will help with the oil blow by.

[Spoolin1]

Thanks BigDaddy, I'll look into that.

[bigdaddycane]

NP. Both the OCC and the PCV are both easy installs you can do yourself