Follow-up: Success! Oil cannister check valve

[gale]

I posted a few days ago how it was my turn for the classic "low oil pressure" due the check valve in the bottom of the oil filter cannister not closing all the way and letting the oil drain down overnite. Guess mine was the extreme case since it would bleed down in less than an hour. Sticker shock at BMA, their best price for a new "dealer-only" cannister is $379 -- time to take mine off & do some investigation. They come out of a 7 without removing the alternator with the use of a swivel. Mine is the newer "improved" style cannister, they're not supposed to fail. What happened is excess oil pressure caused the entire stamped sheetmetal seat to pop out of the cannister. It was tilted up about 1/8" on the left side, held in place by only 4 "stakes". I was able to tap the seat back down where it belongs by slipping a 17mm thinwall socket into the recess. You can see I got a little happy with adding more stakes:



For reference, Bruno discusses this on his site:

http://www.bmwe34.net/e34main/trouble/OilCanister.htm

His is for the older style cannister. The newer one is BMW part number 11 42 1 720 691. If anyone has an old style, I'll be happy to see if I can repair the check valve for free and mail it back to you.

So far, so good with the oil pressure light going out only a few seconds after starting after sitting for an hour. The true test will be if it holds overnight. I confess I was the cause of the failure, I took the car to the track a week ago & exceeded redline more often than not -- shame on me, must have popped the seat out of the cannister during a wild downshift going into one of the turns. I turned in respectable times for a 7 with minor mods, my best laptime was 1:59 on the full 1.74 mile outer road course. For comparison, on CCA'er with a '95 Euro M5 wagon did a 1:57 & an e28 M5 did 2:01. Most of the Porsches blew us all away with 1:40's or better. A stock Miata did 1:52. A Subaru WRX embarassed us all with a 1:37. The best times were a Porsche Carrera Turbo with a 1:32 and a full race prep'd 914 with a 1:31. I have no business on the track with a 7 but it's one of those things "a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do":



http://www.nmia.com/~dgnrg/sandia4.jpg

http://www.nmia.com/~dgnrg/sandia5.jpg

[632 Regal]

Great writeup with pictures! i would say your 7 seems almost idential to the 5 series, probably with mostthe same problems.

[gale]

Next morning: still holding. The oil light flickered and went out 2-3 seconds after the engine fired.

Yes, much the same car, nearly identical mechanicals as a 535i. It's been said an e32 is an e34 with an eating disorder. The guys at the track were chiding me for taking out the seven. All the other cars were coming off of the back loop from turn 4 onto the straight & following all the bumps in the transition up & down, while mine was gliding right over the bumps with only the wheels moving up & down.

[Robin-535im]

Don - wish I could have joined you on the track! Is there a euro M5T in town? I've never seen it. Would love to drive it some time...

[Jeff N.]

Hi Don...great report. May have a canister for you to look at. Need to check with Martin when he get's back from cookin' in Texas.

BTW - phooey on those poo-pooing the seven! I think it's terrific! BTW, I really like the track layout - looks like a fun course with some challenging corners...

[Hector]

canister last night I realized I through it away during a tussle... and in the heat of the moment when I moved back in April. I even through away a radiator I was thinking about fixing. What next?

[White535Mtl]

What were some of the symptoms of a failing oil canister check valve?
Im having a few problems getting my car started and another board member has pointed the check valve as the potential source of my problems.

[uscharalph]

I posted a few days ago how it was my turn for the classic "low oil pressure" due the check valve in the bottom of the oil filter cannister not closing all the way and letting the oil drain down overnite. Guess mine was the extreme case since it would bleed down in less than an hour. Sticker shock at BMA, their best price for a new "dealer-only" cannister is $379 -- time to take mine off & do some investigation. They come out of a 7 without removing the alternator with the use of a swivel. Mine is the newer "improved" style cannister, they're not supposed to fail. What happened is excess oil pressure caused the entire stamped sheetmetal seat to pop out of the cannister. It was tilted up about 1/8" on the left side, held in place by only 4 "stakes". I was able to tap the seat back down where it belongs by slipping a 17mm thinwall socket into the recess. You can see I got a little happy with adding more stakes:



For reference, Bruno discusses this on his site:

http://www.bmwe34.net/e34main/trouble/OilCanister.htm

His is for the older style cannister. The newer one is BMW part number 11 42 1 720 691. If anyone has an old style, I'll be happy to see if I can repair the check valve for free and mail it back to you.

So far, so good with the oil pressure light going out only a few seconds after starting after sitting for an hour. The true test will be if it holds overnight. I confess I was the cause of the failure, I took the car to the track a week ago & exceeded redline more often than not -- shame on me, must have popped the seat out of the cannister during a wild downshift going into one of the turns. I turned in respectable times for a 7 with minor mods, my best laptime was 1:59 on the full 1.74 mile outer road course. For comparison, on CCA'er with a '95 Euro M5 wagon did a 1:57 & an e28 M5 did 2:01. Most of the Porsches blew us all away with 1:40's or better. A stock Miata did 1:52. A Subaru WRX embarassed us all with a 1:37. The best times were a Porsche Carrera Turbo with a 1:32 and a full race prep'd 914 with a 1:31. I have no business on the track with a 7 but it's one of those things "a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do":



http://www.nmia.com/~dgnrg/sandia4.jpg

http://www.nmia.com/~dgnrg/sandia5.jpg

Is that track picture off of Google Earth?

[Robin-535im]

What were some of the symptoms of a failing oil canister check valve?
Im having a few problems getting my car started and another board member has pointed the check valve as the potential source of my problems.

Particularly on the M30 engine, when you fire up the engine after it's been off for a while it takes a long time (10 - 15 sec) for the oil light to go off. If it gets bad enough the "engine oil press" warning message comes on (I think that's the text it shows).

Parking with the nose of the car down hill can make the light go off faster. Usually you have to buy the $300+ canister to really fix it, as you can't buy just the broken valve and junkyard ones are often bad too. Bruno's site has a write up on it (http://www.bmwe34.net/).

[gale]

What were some of the symptoms of a failing oil canister check valve?
Im having a few problems getting my car started and another board member has pointed the check valve as the potential source of my problems.

The oil cannister check valve problem, if you have the problem, will not affect starting behaviour. With a leaky oil cannister check valve, the oil will drain out of the cannister after sitting for awhile and the next time you start it, the oil light will stay on for a long time, until the cannister fills back up, starving oil flow to bearings, etc. It might even flash a "low oil pressure -- see owner's manual" message. Mine did that for about a week until I tackled the fix, and what I did was do several short bursts of starting/stopping the engine to fill the cannister up before letting the engine devolope power.

As for the start problem you're having, a likely cause is a failed check valve in the fuel pump, letting line pressure bleed down in the fuel rail which can cause vapor-lock conditions if parked hot. There is a remedy for that and there's even a BMW part number for about $5 for a check valve that splices into the fuel line between the pump & filter forward of the underside of the trunk, inboard of the right-rear wheel, 16 14 9 068 988 part for e38 m60. I think it even comes with instructions.

gale