[floyd923]

2008, 328i, 88k miles.

My car got hit with both recalls. The Blower Motor Wiring and the Positive Crankcase Ventilation Valve Heater.

I'm also having another issue, and I'm trying to decide if it can be related to one of the recalls, if it would be cheaper to have them do this fix at the same time, or if I should have the dealer only do the recall work, and take my care somewhere else for the other problem.

I've been having the smell of smoke enter the cabin through the vents. In order to prevent the smell from getting bad, I've had to hit the recycle air in cabin button, instead of having it pull in air from outside. After some googling, I was thinking that this was a valve cover gasket that needed to be replaced, and was on the verge of getting that scheduled at a non-dealer location to try and not get robbed, as my (only one available) dealership sucks!

But now I've seen the recalls, and I am wondering if my problems are related to the recalls and not the VCG at all. Those of you who know more about it than me, can you please comment on your thoughts.

If you all think these are unrelated, I have a follow-up question. Does changing the PCV have anything to do with the VCG, meaning they would charge me less labor to go ahead and change the VCG. Or are they completely separate, and I should still go to trusted mechanic to have my VCG replaced.

I do many of the repairs myself on my car, and Have placed valve cover gaskets in the past. However, the BMW seems to be a much more complicated process than my 98 Jeep. It seems borderline within my wheelhouse.

Thanks in advance for the help!
Floyd


EDIT: I should also mention that I start smelling the smoke about 30s to 60s after I crank the car. I wouldn't think that would be sufficient enough to get the manifold hot enough to cause a smoke smell.

[cdgatti]

Hard to tell, but I would think the liklihood is high that your smoke issue is related to one of these recalls (which I have also received both of them). They both talk about fire and smoke smell entering the cabin. I would take it to the dealer and have it fixed now. They will reimburse you for it.

[ruthlessbmw]

The smoke could be because of the Valve Cover Gasket leaking. I had the same issue. The oil would fall over the engine and hence the smoke. I got it fixed at an indy for $350 + $100 for oil change

[kkasson]

You should be able to see where it's coming from.

The valve cover typically leaks on the exhaust side. There's a small metal edge of the head that sticks out above the exhaust manifold which will be oily if it's leaking there. Look between the plastic engine cover and the exhaust manifold. You may be able to see smoke from it but a lot of times you still get the smell without any visible smoke.

The PCV heater is on the intake side. If you see smoke coming from underneath the intake manifold, that's the recall item. Personally I'd guess that it's not from this - the number of them that have actually caused problems is very low, compared to nearly every car having a VCG leak.

The VCG replacement and PCV heater replacement don't really overlap, so you won't save anything by having the gasket replaced at the same time. The heater is accessed after removing the intake manifold. The manifold stays in place while removing the VCG.

Also, there's nothing particularly difficult about replacing the VCG, there's just a lot of steps involved to get to it. If you set aside enough time and go slow I don't think you'll have any problems with it.