[135Pats]

I’ll be doing VC Gasket in the next month; I will let you know if that fixes the smoking and oil consumption I’m dealing with. At first I thought it was turbo seals, but then I did plugs and saw the blackened threads + a good coating of oil on the threads. Electrodes were fine, so nothing wrong on the combustion end of things. Watch it be both turbo seals AND VCG…wouldn’t that be fun.

[psmitty95]

Originally Posted by 135Pats

I’ll be doing VC Gasket in the next month; I will let you know if that fixes the smoking and oil consumption I’m dealing with. At first I thought it was turbo seals, but then I did plugs and saw the blackened threads + a good coating of oil on the threads. Electrodes were fine, so nothing wrong on the combustion end of things. Watch it be both turbo seals AND VCG…wouldn’t that be fun.

Have you priced it out yet? I've heard some dealers charge around 1k... I spoke to the shop that sponsors me and they said they would do it for $300 for me which I think is a good deal. If it was turbo seals and VCG I would start crying... hahaha.

Went out and did some logs and here's a 3rd gear one. Does anyone else think I might have a boost leak? I started hearing a high pitched whistle under moderate boost and it seems like my PWM goes up and boost isn't hitting target too.

[135Pats]

Dude I will do hand stands if I can get VCG done for $300 in labor….I’m waiting on an estimate from the go to mechanic around my area, but I’m expecting much closer to $1K..Pretty sure dealers have charged well over $1K as well.

If it turns out to be both shot seals and VCG, I will literally shed tears. That is a lot of $ lol.

Can you log that in Datazap? Native JB logs are the death of me.

[psmitty95]

Originally Posted by 135Pats

Dude I will do hand stands if I can get VCG done for $300 in labor….I’m waiting on an estimate from the go to mechanic around my area, but I’m expecting much closer to $1K..Pretty sure dealers have charged well over $1K as well.

If it turns out to be both shot seals and VCG, I will literally shed tears. That is a lot of $ lol.

Can you log that in Datazap? Native JB logs are the death of me.

Hahah I know when I first saw smoke and oil loss I almost cried cause I jumped to the worst conclusion that it was turbos.

Anyways here is a link to the log on datazap: http://www.datazap.me/u/psmith95/919-3rd-gear-pull

[Ilma]

Originally Posted by psmitty95

Went out and did some logs and here's a 3rd gear one. Does anyone else think I might have a boost leak? I started hearing a high pitched whistle under moderate boost and it seems like my PWM goes up and boost isn't hitting target too.

Those are classic symptoms for sure.

[psmitty95]

Originally Posted by Ilma

Those are classic symptoms for sure.

Anyone have any ideas where the leak might be? When it's under moderate boost I hear a high pitched whistle from what sounds like the driver side of the engine bay. Under low or full boost I can't really hear it. With the car off I looked around at the FMIC, my Stett intake, BOV vacuum hose, and couldn't find anything loose or obvious.

[cwarren]

Originally Posted by 135Pats

Dude I will do hand stands if I can get VCG done for $300 in labor….I’m waiting on an estimate from the go to mechanic around my area, but I’m expecting much closer to $1K..Pretty sure dealers have charged well over $1K as well.

If it turns out to be both shot seals and VCG, I will literally shed tears. That is a lot of $ lol.

Can you log that in Datazap? Native JB logs are the death of me.

what justifies a 1000.00 bucks for a vc gasket ? never looked at it closely.
assume the hardest part of the job is fuel rail related and that cant justify 1000.00 bucks !

[Ilma]

Originally Posted by psmitty95

Anyone have any ideas where the leak might be? When it's under moderate boost I hear a high pitched whistle from what sounds like the driver side of the engine bay. Under low or full boost I can't really hear it. With the car off I looked around at the FMIC, my Stett intake, BOV vacuum hose, and couldn't find anything loose or obvious.

Look for signs of oil blowby at the connections of the entire induction system.

I have a small leak at one of my meth nozzle bungs.....noticed the high pitched squealing first then I saw a bit of oil film on the chargepipe around my second nozzle.

Fortunately mines too small to cause boost loss, but that's what to look for.

You could also have a smoke test done iif you can't find any blowby.

[psmitty95]

Originally Posted by Ilma

Look for signs of oil blowby at the connections of the entire induction system.

I have a small leak at one of my meth nozzle bungs.....noticed the high pitched squealing first then I saw a bit of oil film on the chargepipe around my second nozzle.

Fortunately mines too small to cause boost loss, but that's what to look for.

You could also have a smoke test done iif you can't find any blowby.

i'll take a closer look tomorrow I guess. Thanks for the ideas!

[135Pats]

Originally Posted by cwarren

what justifies a 1000.00 bucks for a vc gasket ? never looked at it closely.
assume the hardest part of the job is fuel rail related and that cant justify 1000.00 bucks !

It’s all labor related, getting the valve cover off is a pain, fuel rails, all that good stuff. Actually swapping the gasket takes 2 minutes or so lol. Very frustrating. But if it turns out that this is the cause of my smoking and oil loss, and the turbos are good, that’s a total win. I could then focus on maxing the crap out of the stockers until they die, then RB time.

[GreaseMonkey]

My VC was toast a year ago and symptoms were oil soaked plugs, boost leak, misfire, and I seem to recall a bit of a whine sound (this was on a completely stock car). Check for visible oil at any connections as others mentioned especially around the valve cover. In my case the plastic was visibly cracked, so check for damaged pieces as I'm sure you're aware.

Good luck getting it all sorted out, wish I could be of more help to you.

[135Pats]

Originally Posted by GreaseMonkey

My VC was toast a year ago and symptoms were oil soaked plugs, boost leak, misfire, and I seem to recall a bit of a whine sound (this was on a completely stock car). Check for visible oil at any connections as others mentioned especially around the valve cover. In my case the plastic was visibly cracked, so check for damaged pieces as I'm sure you're aware.

Good luck getting it all sorted out, wish I could be of more help to you.

Wait the gasket was done? Or the actual cover? Odd to see the cover go....Did you have any smoking issues?

[JDrago1926]

$300 for a VC Gasket is a steal. Best price I've seen is around $500.

[JamesM3M5]

Dealer will probably want to install a complete new valve cover, which is actually not a bad idea at all if there's any evidence of varnish/carbon build up under the cover. The stock PCV system must be perfectly clean to work at all. And valve covers get stiff, brittle, and warp over time. If you have over 60-80k on your car, we always recommend a new complete VC for N5x and N6x engines.

[GreaseMonkey]

Originally Posted by 135Pats

Wait the gasket was done? Or the actual cover? Odd to see the cover go....Did you have any smoking issues?

The valve cover itself was cracked according to the tech. They replaced the valve cover along with a new gasket obviously. I don't understand why there is a mix of materials under the hood, plastic bits connected to metal that expand and contract at different rates. IF someone knows of a logical reason for that please explain it, I would appreciate a better understanding of engine design.

[joec500]

Originally Posted by GreaseMonkey

The valve cover itself was cracked according to the tech. They replaced the valve cover along with a new gasket obviously. I don't understand why there is a mix of materials under the hood, plastic bits connected to metal that expand and contract at different rates. IF someone knows of a logical reason for that please explain it, I would appreciate a better understanding of engine design.

My guess is cost.

[GreaseMonkey]

Or designed to fail

[135Pats]

Gotta be cost. BMW spent a gagillion dollars making the shortblock bulletproof, and probably 15 minutes or so figuring out all the peripheral stuff. Lol.

[SfValley335i]

Originally Posted by psmitty95

Have you priced it out yet? I've heard some dealers charge around 1k... I spoke to the shop that sponsors me and they said they would do it for $300 for me which I think is a good deal. If it was turbo seals and VCG I would start crying... hahaha.

Went out and did some logs and here's a 3rd gear one. Does anyone else think I might have a boost leak? I started hearing a high pitched whistle under moderate boost and it seems like my PWM goes up and boost isn't hitting target too.

Originally Posted by 135Pats

Dude I will do hand stands if I can get VCG done for $300 in labor….I’m waiting on an estimate from the go to mechanic around my area, but I’m expecting much closer to $1K..Pretty sure dealers have charged well over $1K as well.

If it turns out to be both shot seals and VCG, I will literally shed tears. That is a lot of $ lol.

Can you log that in Datazap? Native JB logs are the death of me.

Bmw Dealer in Socal wanted $1100 for VC gasket plus taxes.

[roadkillrob]

Cost and Weight are the leading reasons for plastic - it is much easier to form, much cheaper to buy raw material and much lighter than an equivalent expensive aluminum one!

[HermanL]

just pulled the old VC gasket off last night, took me about 1.5hrs, maybe another hour to put everything back to together. installation is really not that bad, I don't have too much experience working on engine but even to me everything is pretty straightforward, I would say installation is no harder than doing downpipes on a ramp, dealer $1000 quote is complete rip off.

[psmitty95]

Originally Posted by JDrago1926

$300 for a VC Gasket is a steal. Best price I've seen is around $500.

Yea that's the perks of supporting a shop i guess. I'd imagine his going rate is somewhere in the 5-600 range since he is a relatively priced indy.