[Teejwi]

For background, I drive a 2012 F30 N55 335i sedan with 178,000mi on it. A couple of years ago, in relatively close proximity I had my water pump go bad which I changed myself...then I knew the valvecover gasket was leaky...and eventually the oil filter housing gasket let go, drenching my engine bay in oil and resulting in a blown belt. Fortunately the engine didn't ingest it. That one I had an indy shop take care of (both, VC & OFH).

So this year I detected the telltale burning oil again and decided to go ahead and DIY on the valvecover gasket. Wasn't as bad as I'd imagined. Would've been a breeze, in fact, except...

1: One of the first things I did of course was the CCV hose...which promptly crumbled in my hand. Hopped on the phone to the dealer and ordered one knowing it cost a few bucks more but would be here quicker. I continued.

2: Attempting to extract the remains of the bottom end of the CCV hose...it broke off where it joins the intake pipe. @#$^@#.

3: The replacement intake pipe cost somewhere around 175 shipped. Ouch. I couldn't get the old one out without dropping the water pump. If I had gotten it out, I never would've got the new one back in. :\

T

[Icarium81]

There are always stupid little things in almost every motor that make you shake your head with their thought process for why they placed X here or Y there, or why A thru G need to be removed or loosened so you can take out one bolt for L....

Last motorcycle I had, you literally had to take the whole exhaust off to change the oil.... so you would almost be guaranteed to, sooner or later, strip or break off an exhaust stud in the motor, because those studs get super hot from the engine and exhaust.... go figure huh.
Also had to loosen right footpeg and lower brake fluid reservoir to take the exhaust off. All to take out ONE single bolt from the side of the motor.... one out of SEVEN.

[Zanity]

Now imagine doing that on a B58, where the engine is mounted reversed. VANOs would have taken 2 mins on your N55, now you gotta drop the engine...

[Teejwi]

Haven't had to do the vanos solenoids yet but yeah...that won't be too difficult. Hah.

[Teejwi]

To clarify - while trying to extract the remains of the CCV hose from the intake plumbing...the _intake_ broke. Seems like a strange assembly where a thin plastic ring is glued to the main tube. That plastic ring split in half and both halves came off the intake. TBH I probably could've glued it all back together stronger than before. Hmmm

Interestingly I changed the plugs while I was at it. I suspect all 178K miles were on the original 6. :O