2.5 CCV Refresh

[colb]

Set about replacing the CCV hoses and separator unit that lives under the inlet manifold, armed with my replacement kit purchased on ebay for £24 I set about stripping out the old hoses, what a pain those turned out to be getting them unclipped and pulled off. Managed to disconnect all the hoses top side after much faffing about. I did manage to strip out the throttle body and idle control valve after pulling the intake hoses off and out. Managed eventually to wiggle the separator unit out without breaking it but there was no way the replacement was going to go back in and connect the hoses to it. Bit the bullet and pulled the manifold off turned it over and managed after much more faffing about to get the hoses clipped into place. Manifold reinstalled as were the throttle body, noticed that the idle control valve wasn't rattling when shaken so gave that a good clean out with carb cleaner. That solved it and it now rattles nicely when shaken. Put everything back together and doubled checked all electrical connections were plugged back in. Started the car then reset the throttle just in case I had moved the butterfy when cleaning the throttle body. Car off sit in car depress throttle pedal to floor and hold it there, switch on ignition without starting the car and count to 15, switch off then release the throttle pedal.
Sprayed some carb cleaner around all the hose connections to check for leaks and didn't find any, once warmed up car idles fine. I will do a smoke test on it when I have time just to make sure there are no leaks.
Having watched all the Youtube videos on doing this job, I thought I was going to breeze through this, how wrong can you be? It was a right royal pain, wonder if oem hoses would have been an easier fit?

 

[mrscalex]

I did the job for the first time on my 3.0 a couple of weeks ago. I expected it to be a nightmare but to be fair it was just awkward. Not sure how long it took, around 4 hours I should think. I used a Meyle kit and it went together fine.

 

[colb]

Think the meyle kit may have been better althoug the cheap kit looked fine againt old ones used silicone sprauy on the orings but that didnt help so took manifold off then put hoses on, still a tight spot to plug them in secure

 

[g8jka]

I used the cheap kit, no problem with the hoses although the longest one didn't seem to clip into the conections on either end but it is fully secure. Only issue I had was with the angled hose that pushes and twists into the main unit. Took me hours trying to fit it, I was connecting it to the main unit and trying to feed it through. In the end I took out what I could from infront of the manifold and put the main unit in place. I could then see the part which the hose went into and was able to push it in and then twist it up into place.

 

[mrscalex]

The best advice I've seen and indeed used myself on that angled hose is to place it 90 deg short of final position and then twist up that final 90 deg and it magically locks and sits in the right place. I can confirm it works.

I didn't really have any troublesome bits with the Meyle kit or need any silicone spray. I'm just slooow...

The only thing I had a problem with was the dipstick o-ring. Which was a little beggar to get back and now has a small leak.

 

[g8jka]

The best advice I've seen and indeed used myself on that angled hose is to place it 90 deg short of final position and then twist up that final 90 deg and it magically locks and sits in the right place. I can confirm it works.

I didn't really have any troublesome bits with the Meyle kit or need any silicone spray. I'm just slooow...

The only thing I had a problem with was the dipstick o-ring. Which was a little beggar to get back and now has a small leak.

That was what I did in the end, easy with nothing infront of the manifold. Probably took 5 minutes to get it in place, shame I spent hours prior to that trying to do it already connected up. If I had done this from the start it would have been a straight forward job, just takes time to get access and then to refit all the parts. I

I did't remove the dipstick so didn't disturb the O ring.

 

[mrscalex]

That was what I did in the end, easy with nothing infront of the manifold. Probably took 5 minutes to get it in place, shame I spent hours prior to that trying to do it already connected up. If I had done this from the start it would have been a straight forward job, just takes time to get access and then to refit all the parts. I

I did't remove the dipstick so didn't disturb the O ring.

I only removed the DISA, throttle body and idle control valve. In addition to the air box/hoses. Did you remove anything else?

 

[colb]

I removed all the usual bits plus the dipstick just couldn't get the hoses connected to the unit, resorted to pulling the manifold off and turning it upside down then refitted it and connected top hose connections, should have done that in the first place would have saved me hours of faffing about. I did replace the dipstick O ring with one I had in my box of O rings, helped it in by prodding it down in the hole as i slid the tube into the hole which helped it slip in, no oil leaks but will check it out when I smoke test. Must admit to too errors doing this job, first was dropping one of the 11mm manifold nuts, heard it ping on the alloy undertray followed by another ping on the car lift. Hunted high and low for it but its gone awol so in need of a replacement, manifold is tight and airtight as I left it off one of the twin stud fittings on the outer edge so its held ok by the lower one. Second fopar I noticed was it took longer to crank the car before it started, previously it fired up straight away. Popped the scanner on it and Camsgaft Bank one error, went delving in the engine bay and found the plug was dangling free, obviously didn't pop it back on or it wasn't locked in when I put it back on. Plugged back,. code cleared and instant starting restored.

 

[mrscalex]

There's a lot of stuff comes off with that job and errors are normal I would say. Look at the cock-up I made with my VANOS putting the solenoid pistons back in the wrong way!

If I drop a small part my eyesight is no longer good enough to find it easily. Nothing wrong with it just normal ageing so it's a good job my 17 year old lad is usually on hold as he could find a needle in a haystack.

 

[abh29]

I am another who either did not push a plug In hard enough , or not at all Soon cured

 

[abh29]

I am another who either did not push a plug In hard enough , or not at all Soon cured

 

[g8jka]

I only removed the DISA, throttle body and idle control valve. In addition to the air box/hoses. Did you remove anything else?

All of the above, plus the bracket that is on the front of the manifold that holds some sort of connector that slides of the bracket and the power steering reservoir out of the way. I had easy access then to the top connector on the CCV unit that the flexible hose pushes and twists into.

 

[ppavuk]

I've managed to do the same, but without removing the intake. Probably my hands smaller and more bendy than yours Honestly, i was on the verge of removing intake, but eventually figured out the way to put the bloody thing without it. however, the dipstick and throttle body with all piping, and disa unit needs to be removed. Next time I'll buy OEM CCV parts as aftermarket seems much worse quality...

 

[mrscalex]

I've managed to do the same, but without removing the intake. Probably my hands smaller and more bendy than yours Honestly, i was on the verge of removing intake, but eventually figured out the way to put the bloody thing without it. however, the dipstick and throttle body with all piping, and disa unit needs to be removed. Next time I'll buy OEM CCV parts as aftermarket seems much worse quality...

No issue with Meyle. Although of course I don't know if OEM would have been even better. I think the Meyle was £80. OEM could be £150-£200.

 

[ppavuk]

No issue with Meyle. Although of course I don't know if OEM would have been even better. I think the Meyle was £80. OEM could be £150-£200.

can't remember which brand I've used, something around £70-80 from amazon. Might be meyle or hella or whoever else put their labels on Chinese parts... Would get OEM next time. There are rumours these Chinese ccv doesn't last too long. Considering a hassle to install...

 

[mrscalex]

can't remember which brand I've used, something around £70-80 from amazon. Might be meyle or hella or whoever else put their labels on Chinese parts... Would get OEM next time. There are rumours these Chinese ccv doesn't last too long. Considering a hassle to install...

I'm not here to champion Meyle. But Meyle & Hella are in a different league to the usual companies who white label Chinese parts. I'm not saying every product in their ranges is perfect or that they don't do some white labelling. But that's not the basis of their business. TRW and Delphi are other companies I would put in that bracket.

 

[ppavuk]

I'm not here to champion Meyle. But Meyle & Hella are in a different league to the usual companies who white label Chinese parts. I'm not saying every product in their ranges is perfect or that they don't do some white labelling. But that's not the basis of their business. TRW and Delphi are other companies I would put in that bracket.

i had replaced ccv on my e46 last year too, used a chip one for £30 or so. By the feel of it the £70 set is pretty much the same. They don't even had hella logos moulded on it, just the stickers. However, i had some other meyle & hella parts which was of very good quality. Seems to me they all sometimes whitelabel chinese parts though...

 

[mrscalex]

i had replaced ccv on my e46 last year too, used a chip one for £30 or so. By the feel of it the £70 set is pretty much the same. They don't even had hella logos moulded on it, just the stickers. However, i had some other meyle & hella parts which was of very good quality. Seems to me they all sometimes whitelabel chinese parts though...

I think you are right. I am more careful these days after realising what is now obvious to me that there is both Meyle HD - really good rengineered parts & Meyle Standard - wider range of quality from very good to no doubt Chinese white label. Although remember some Chinese stuff is perfectly good. It’s not like China is only ever crap. All Hornby/Scalextric models are made in China and are beyond superb. Some Chinese car parts are clearly awful. The point is they have the massive capacity to make to whatever specification/price they are asked for. Sometimes that’s too low to be taken seriously.

 

[ppavuk]

I think you are right. I am more careful these days after realising what is now obvious to me that there is both Meyle HD - really good rengineered parts & Meyle Standard - wider range of quality from very good to no doubt Chinese white label. Although remember some Chinese stuff is perfectly good. It’s not like China is only ever crap. All Hornby/Scalextric models are made in China and are beyond superb. Some Chinese car parts are clearly awful. The point is they have the massive capacity to make to whatever specification/price they are asked for. Sometimes that’s too low to be taken seriously.

I do agree with you.

I had used some china made parts on my other BMW's, namely recently I've replaced air suspension on my F11 using no doubt chinese no-name air springs. They were perfectly well made although by order of magnitude cheaper that OEM and 5x cheaper that goodyear. Really, £50 for a pair, not £900 as BMW quoted me. for that price I am ready to replace them annually, still will be much cheaper in the long run. However this is fine if installation is easy and quick (which is true for airsprings). When installation takes best part of weekend I'd rather use OEM or reputable aftermarket next time.