Double Checking - Bad Oil Cap Seal?

[cocofunk]

HI All,

I do all the work on my car (I am not a mechanic), just do this for a hobby. Been working on my e30 since the day I bought it in college - 10 years ago. I know a good amount about these cars, but I am not godly and I do not know EVERYTHING.

To the question... I had a lot of oil spill out of (what appears to) the oil cap. I think it is not sealing enough and I need a new cap + cap O-ring. I also did drive the car hard, so I know that exacerbated the car's oil. But it still should not still out of the cap at redline or high revs while turning, etc.

However, in working on cars for several years, I know sometimes things may be more than what they seem, so could there be something else going on? for example: too much/little pressure in the head? wrong oil viscosity?

I have installed a digital oil pressure, oil temp, and water temp gauge. So I know exactly what's going on in the engine and my temps look good (oil temp ~160-180 and water temp ~175-195).

My oil pressure also looks good, EXCEPT when my engine gets warm the oil pressure at warm idle can go down to 4PSI when Bentley says it should be ~7-8 at warm idle.

So is it just a cap? High pressure in the valve cover + oil cap? Do OBD1 S50s have a CCV? Here are some pics.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1fkIggh-F24MDoN15AF5pkfkk8h2cGGZ_

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FkmYyaDcUQCu9hv5MTHkX173Gnr5MHri

[ian e30 318is]

I would do a leakdown and compression check. Sounds like you may potentially have some positive crankcase pressure which could come from blowby. Also does your oil light come on? And viscosity oil? I run nothing lower than 10W-40 on my S52.

[e30davie]

If it has never happened before, clean it all off with degreaser and see it it happens again.

[cocofunk]

Its a brand new valve cover gasket and new valve cover gasket nut seals (15 of them).

I dont think there is a CCV system in the 95 engines - so that eliminates the blowby issue. I think I need to take the valve cover off and reinstall; I may have improperly tightened it down so it is not sealing correctly. I think I need to start from the middle and tighten going from the inside out.

I replaced the oil filler cap and it seems like this issue is still happening - especially after driving hard and turning under 3500 rpms plus.

[kronus]

I dont think there is a CCV system in the 95 engines

all modern engines (especially ones in CA cars) have CCV systems.

the valve cover has an oil separator that clips into it with a big fat hose that goes to the intake elbow and a little vac line that goes to the back side of the intake manifold.

that stuff should all be under vacuum. if it's routed to a catch can and blocked (and not under vacuum), you'll get oil coming out of other places.

also, did you replace the triple-ring bits of the valve cover gasket? they are separate from the outside gasket and go on the spark plug towers visible when the VC is off:



it's possible that the old ones are still stuck to the VC gasket.