It's not. You have to replace the entire valve cover. Which was if I recall somewhere in the neighborhood of $418.00

 

As I looked at the valve cover today I noticed the diaphram cover was cracked...
And after I post the picture I'd be interested in your opinion on it's hazard, or not, lol.

 

Here are the picts, I am inclined to think it's OK.

 

Hmmmm

 

The purpose of that valve is to prevent over scavenging of the crankcase thru the rear ports in cases of very high vacuum. Your closing those ports, so as long as its sealing tightly at the top and isn't loose you should be fine. It also has to resist crankcase pressure. So if its slightly loose or leaking you can try reinstalling the cap with a thin coat of RTV around the perimeter where it seals against the valve cover. If its really loose that would only be a temp fix though.

 

Seems to be OK with the crack, it still appears to be sealing the diaphragm.

 

It would make sense that the whistling would occur when the engine is cold as vacuum is much higher until the engine warms up. Sounds like you have two options.

1. Replace the valve cover

2. Plug the aft ports and then re-install the check valve cover with high temp black RTV around the outer edge. After plugging the aft ports this check valve is about as useful as **** on a boar hog.

As an FYI to others. Removing this check valve cover is not necessary to do this mod. I removed mine to verify the function of the valve and to provide another access point for the boroscope while examining the PCV system. Luckily mine did not crack. It is however plastic and can easily crack even when using caution. In case any one else is curious about the valve operation please see the picture below.

***WARNING: Do NOT under any circumstance plug the port that leads to the aft ports indicated in the photo below. Doing so WILL damage you engine.***

 

Check-diaphram appears fine

 

Would plugging the hole labeled "To Aft Ports" in your pic have the same net effect as plugging the holes in the head that lead to the intake ports? Seems like this could be an interesting alternative.

 

It's funny you should mention that. I actually fabricated a rubber expansion plug to hold the pressure. A rubber bushing with a screw through the middle, metal washers on both sides and a fixed nut plate on the back side. When inserted and the screw was tightened the rubber would expand securing the plug and blocking the hole. Only problem was the damn valve cover wouldn't go back on as it was hitting the screw head. Had to laugh at myself for not thinking that one through. With a countersunk washer and screw it might have sealed but I never investigated the idea further.

This was prior to finding the internal check valve mentioned in the original post that had failed.

***WARNING: Do NOT under any circumstance plug the port that leads to the aft ports indicated in the photo above. Doing so WILL damage you engine.***

 

I had the same thought (after seeing your labeled pic) that you and squawSkiBum had.

 

Boy the PCV system is a labyrinth!

 

This is the definition of overkill and then some, dear God you're drilling holes in your head blindly before you fully understand what you are doing. Stop before you dig yourself into an even deeper hole! Just get your intake valves walnut blasted every 50k miles and call it a day. N14 owners might want to lower it to every 30k-40k depending on driving conditions. No one want's to see you damage your engine.

 

Hey Dad(?), that is you dad, right? lol. Appreciate the concern, but -


Live and let live.
As for walnut blasting? That's for schmoes, lol. JK!!!!

 

And the whole doggone point of this forum mambo-jambo is sharing knowledge and personal experiences, right?
For everyone's benefit, hopefully.

 

hic sunt dracones "Here be Dragon's" Hunt-Lenox Globe circa 1500ad

That was posted for a reason. I myself have over 25 years experience as a licensed aircraft technician and am equally at home tearing apart a 3.5 million dollar turbine engine, operating a lathe, designing a structural repair in autocad or reading a dual trace O scope. I'm routinely called in for troubleshooting and root cause analysis. Solving problems is fun for a guy like me.
1. Problem
2. Analysis
3. Design
4. Implement
5. Evaluate

1. Carbon accumulation on intake valves. Produces problems ranging from mild (decreased performance, rough idle) to severe (Uneven fuel distribution as A/F ratios are not monitored for each cylinder resulting in pre-ignition)
2. Carbon accumulation a result of direct injection and suboptimal PCV design. (Believe it or not some BMW engines use an OCC that empties back into the crankcase.) Analysis of valve cover reveals possible fix.
3. Rubber plug fabricated to block aft ports in valve cover. However during design further internal inspection utilizing 180 degree 4 way articulating 4mm boroscope revealed additional failure point. Second design > evaluate blocking ports in head to eliminate all known failure points.
4. Block ports in head linking intake tract and crankcase ventilation system.
5. See below



Approximately 85 cc's removed from OCC after 1000 miles of operation.
Oil consumption - no increase in oil usage noted.

I'm pretty happy with the results and that this sludge is no longer coating my valves or passing through my engine. Hopefully some have found this little experiment interesting and informative. I will also update with results again at 5000 miles.

Happy Motoring

 

I see my skills in elocution need some work. If you open the hood and look down at the valve cover the valve I'm referring to is located internally in the upper RH corner. This one is the one.



It's a basic no frills flapper valve. You'll note mine split in the middle and is no longer being retained by the plastic lug in the center of the port. That's the wee little ****** that allowed boost to blow through the front port. I suspected some kind of internal failure when I pressurized the intake tract and noted air coming from the front port when I disconnected the hose just before the turbo.

 

bump

 

Kidding aside.......Actually BMW has been walnut blasting their direct injection engines for years ( Since 2003 ) long before the MINI had the Prince engine...it's a common trait among heads with that design.

IMO Systemlord was deserved of posting his opinion as you are, like it or not.

 

All comments and questions are welcome in this thread. To me NAM is an excellent site where we share our triumphs and our failures so that others might learn from it. A well intentioned comment or joke however can easily lead to a misunderstanding due to the limitations of the medium. Thanks for keeping it light hearted and professional.

BTW... Just did some quick calculations. IF that capture rate is steady it would mean that during the first three years and 57K miles of Tiggers life over 4.8 liters of that foul smelling gunk passed through the engine. Unbelievable.

 

gRay - Total Agreement - (and what Tigger said, this medium can be tricky for conveying 'friendliness, i.e., the "JK!!" means JustKidding, as in - yes, walnut blasting is fine, in fact it's necessary due to the poor DI PCV, I am just trying to 'fix' the design shortcoming...)

And I was just letting SystemLord know I wasn't 'flying blind' - maybe flying reckless (to a degree :-), but it's all good!!

Cheers Gents. This is meant to be a friendly place, hopefully I haven't offended anyone.

 

Totally jealous your tool repertoire, btw.

 

Seems like the valve cover is complicated!

 

To get inside the valve cover I had to take it to work and use the Olympus scope we use for engines. The one I use at home is a Centech unit that records to a microSD card. It works fine for peeking into the intakes ports to look at valves, in the spark plug holes to look at the pistons or trying to find that wrench you dropped that didn't fall out the bottom of the car lol. Unfortunately, it doesn't articulate so you have to bend the flexible end to get it where you want. But then again it didn't cost 15K either.

 

Why cant they just put a conventional injector upstream working in tandem with DI?