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Replacing Fuel Tank Breather Valve DIY (Peake code E8)

93K views 64 replies 39 participants last post by  fredde 7  
#1 · (Edited)
I wanted to write this DIY as I learned some new tip and tricks as well as additional close-up pictures.
So I had peake code E8 but never got a chance to work on it until earlier today :).

However I have to say that this thread by Ryan (rdm190) that started it all.

The whole procedure took me about 1.5-2 hr (since I was inspecting some other stuff too when I had everything apart :) ).

The jobs is not complicated at all, but you'd need a lot of patience, as there are a lot of nuts and bolts to be removed to access the offending part "fuel tank breather valve"

Here are some pictures of the parts in question so that some of you who are thinking of tackling this job by themself have some idea of what the part looks like.

The part number is 13907830766 - fuel tank breather valve

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So to those who are going to have a shop do this, if you ever get a quote for 1 hr for labor, just take it..!!!! :D





















1. Below are the tools that I used to tackle this job:
  • (1) 10mm socket with extension (for Intake plenum cover and bottom)
  • (1) 10mm open wrench (to remove Oil separator from the intake (bottom) plenum)
  • (1) 8mm socket with extension (for intake funnel/trumpet)
  • (2) small flat screw driver (to pry the breather valve connector)
  • (1) flat screw driver (to loosen up the hose clamps)
  • (2) magnetic bowl (OPTIONAL)
  • (1) magnetic pick (this will come handy)
  • (1) work light
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2. First of all remove the air ducts. I also removed the cabin filter housings on both sides as well to give me more room.

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3. To remove the Intake plenum cover there are 15 (10mm) nut.
I am happy to see there are no excessive oil on my intake plenum.
It seems that 2 front (cyl#1 & #5) has more oil trace, and from the look of it, causes by the oil blow by from the oil-separator.
Otherwise looks pretty clean to me.

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4. To remove the intake funnel/trumpet there are (2) 8mm nut that hold each of them. FYI these are self-locking nut.
I didn't know that before taking this job. To those who want to replace this, now is the time :).
This is what the plenum looks like without those funnels/trumpets

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5. I looked at the area where it connect to the MAF tubes, its still pretty clean.

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6. Interesting that 6 of the funnels/trumpets seems to be the exact part. :)

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7. To remove the bottom part of the intake plenum there are 33 (10mm) bolt that holding it to the throttle bodies gasket flange(s).
You would also need to remove (2) 10mm bolt that hold the oil-separator to the lower intake plenum (see TIPS A below)

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8. Intake plenum is removed. (the fuel tank breather valve location is in red circle)

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9. This is the view of the back of the lower intake plenum.

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10. I put all the nuts and bolts on the magnetic bowls :D.

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11. This is the close up picture of the "tricky" breather valve connector.

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12. This is where I used the small screw-driver (see red arrows) to release the securing tabs
And while you jammed the small screw-driver of the tab (red arrows), pry the connector out using a flat screw driver to separate the connector from the "breather valve" (this should be pretty straight foward :) )
See the step 15 (for the location of the securing tabs on this connector)

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13. This is the view with the "tricky" connector off.
And next is to disconnect the "breather valve" from the hose.
(I find the easy way to do this is keep rotating the "breather valve" unit left and right while pulling it out and at the same time hold the hose steady. If you just pull it won't budge ;) )

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14. This is the view with both "connector" and the "hose" disconnected form the "breather valve" unit.
As you can see there is virtually very little to "almost" no slack at all with the hoses.

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15. Here is the close up picture of the "tricky" connector for the "breather valve".
Notice the red arrow shows where the tabs are.

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16. The new part is ready to go in (Putting the new unit in is much easier and much quicker than taking the old unit out :) )

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17. The new part is in place now :thumbsup:

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18. Now put everything back together in reverse order (This should be fun :) )



19. When putting the MAF hose back to the lower intake plenum.
I find it easier to take out the rubber sleve from the MAF hose and put the rubber sleeve on the plenum flange.
Then the MAF hose would just slide in much easier. :D

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TIPS:
A: on step 7 above when removing the lower intake plenum.
You will need to undo (2) 10mm bolt that attach the oil-separator to the plenum (1 on each side).
To get access to this bolt, you will need to disconnect Vanos Selenoid wiring connector.
Becarefull as the Vanos Selenoid connector attachment (the one attach the engine block) might get brittle and broken off easily.

Vanos Selenoid connector is circled in red
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Regardz,

J Irwan
 

Attachments

#2 · (Edited)
great DIY


I had a SES light for that about 5 months ago reset it and it never came back....
 
#4 ·
well i have my fair share :cheers:
 
#5 ·
Great write up...and I hope Ben L chimes in on his home made Oil separators aswell so I can just do this allat once...
 
#9 ·
Thanks to J Irwin for the DIY!! cherrsagai

I replaced my breather valve this afternoon, it was not difficult.

A couple of things that I would like to add to the DIY:

1. The 'tricky connector' on my car had a horseshoe shaped clip on it, which holds the connector to the breather. I removed my connector by gently sqeezing the clip with a small pair of channellock pliers. The connector popped right off when the clip was sqeezed down enough.

2. I used a bit of silicone spray on the new valve's hose connector (on the bottom of the valve) prior to fitting it into the hose. This lubed up the connection and made it a lot easier to slide the hose on.

3. This is a good time to clean out your oil separators. There are no parts inside the separators. I use brake cleaner. Wearing rubber gloves, tilt the separator on its side and spray some cleaner in. Holding with both hands, plug the three holes and shake for 5-10 seconds. Repeat as needed until the stuff that drains out is fairly clear. If you have an air compressor, blow out with compressed air, but this isn't really necessary.

:haha2:
 
#11 ·
Thanks for the great post on this topic. I need to do this to my car. Has anyone received a quote on time to do this job? I may try to do it myself.
I did it in about an hour or so, being extra careful not to drop one of the 40 or nuts someplace difficult from which to retrieve. It's a very easy piece of work.


Steve
00 M5
 
#12 ·
Pictures and write-up done to perfection. I must admit to referring others to the fact that over-filling the gas tank on a regular basis can lead to this valve setting a code, but I truly had no idea where the valve was located or what was involved to service it. That you for your efforts and a christmas gift of knowledge. These are the best gifts as they give "forever". I suck up techno-stuff like a sponge and I won't forget this one as it was so well done! Merry Christmas J. I was particularly impressed by the deliberate and thoughtful approach you took to doing the job. BTW, your motor looks beautfully maintained.

Bill :applause:
 
#13 ·
Pictures and write-up done to perfection. I must admit to referring others to the fact that over-filling the gas tank on a regular basis can lead to this valve setting a code, but I truly had no idea where the valve was located or what was involved to service it. That you for your efforts and a christmas gift of knowledge. These are the best gifts as they give "forever". I suck up techno-stuff like a sponge and I won't forget this one as it was so well done! Merry Christmas J. I was particularly impressed by the deliberate and thoughtful approach you took to doing the job. BTW, your motor looks beautfully maintained.

Bill :applause:
Thanks for the kind words Bill.
I was just merely adding some details to some of the DIY that was done previously by another fellow owners, that I think could help. ;)

Merry Christmas to you and your family too :cheers:.


Greetingz,

J Irwan
 
#19 ·
Replaced the valve myself and P0441 haven't come back yet :)
Therefore, I'll make an assumption that E8 and P0441 are equivalent codes.
It took me over 3 hours to do the job as I had to clean oil residue of the intake plenum and intake funnels and the valve itself was a PITA to remove.

Thanks again for the helpful DIY :)
 
#21 ·
Just tackled this DIY over the weekend thanks to the OP. I didn't take out the carbon filter housings and luckily my fuel breather valve connector had a tab which releases the connection without prying with a screw driver.

My biggest dilemma was reinstalling the bolts to 10 N.m torque spec - I couldn't find a proper torque wrench with 10 N.m so I guestimated it. Afterwards Doug Baker told me "10N.m = handtight". ouich
 
#24 ·
Just did this today - really appreciate the write-up. Worst part for me was getting the hoses at the front for the oil breathers and other stuff disconnected and reconnected, but overall no big deal. Like malexgcab my hose connector had a u-shaped piece sticking out of it that you just pushed down to release the catches - had the valve out in 5 mins once I got to it. It appears to be the same hose end as in these pics, but the plastic piece inserts in it.

whole job took about 2.5 - 3 hours I think. When I started, my SES light was not lit (the E8 code comes and goes regarding the light), but when I finished and restarted the car it was lit (with the E8 code). I'm thinking it was either "time" for it to come back on again, or when the valve gets removed the system loses pressure and perhaps that triggered it. Regardless, I reset the code - will have to see if it comes back (hopefully not).
 
#25 ·
The E8 code has come and gone several times now over the past 3 months, so I finally gathered all the parts and tools to tackle it DIY style. Well, after a time consuming affair removing the billions of nuts to get the plenum off, I finally stared the EPV in the face. Little did I know, taking that piece off is a royal pain. The metal connector comes off easy, the side clip takes some coaxing (press the U-tab), but the bottom hose would not budge no matter how hard I pulled/twisted it.

Well the sun went down, and I'm stuck with a non-breathing beast, I will give it another go on Saturday. Does anyone have advise on taking off the bottom hose without tearing it in the process? I imagine re-installing the hose will be an equally frustrating affair?
 
#26 ·
Took off work early to have at it again. Took a vise grip plier to hold the hose, just enough pressure so it doesn't turn as I twisted the valve back and forth. Finally came loose. Took a pic of the old and new valve side by side, then its reinstall time. Hold hose with hand and twist new part in place, no grease needed. Side and top connectors easily clip in place. 63 nuts later, yes I counted, plenum is back on, and the beast fired right up. Once again m5b.com comes through! Cleared code and popped in new MAFS from bimmerzone, can't wait for a test drive!
 
#27 ·
Replaced the valve...SES gone but still a Peake code

Just finished this as well. Replacing it went a lot smoother than I expected but then again- I read a lot of other people's tips on tackling this.

Took a test drive afterwards and no more misfires at high RPM due to fuel control like I had before with a faulty Evap Emissions valve.

Problem is- the SES for the Evap valve is gone but the Peake code 24 still persists. Why is this? I tried clearing it a number of times but the error code will not go away. No effect in idling or in my test drive but this is still bugging me.

Does this mean I need to replace the charcoal fuel canister as well? Any ideas?
 
#29 ·
Ok.

I have done the following (myself) to/for my beast: replaced the A/C resistor deal that makes it come on upon cranking, replaced the MAF sensors, and uh...washed it. I've been able to reasonably diagnose some issues using the net, ordered the parts, and had my mechanic install them.

I want to tackle this project in a bad way. I want to save the hassle of taking it to the shop and I want to learn. It's not about the 1-2 hours labor and $85 for the part. It's also not about having to have it towed to the shop to finish/correct my attempt.

The biggest potential problem I can fathom is dropping a nut into some part of the intake manifold, thus being UNRETRIEVABLE. That thought makes me shudder.

The second biggest potential problem I see is breaking one of the hose attachments (still need to study what all is involved a bit), thus being "hosed."

My question is this: Has anyone royally fu*ked this project up and how did you do it? What was the result?

Thanks to all that have contributed to this thread thus far....it's information like this that allows regular Schmoes like me to even THINK about doing this....something previously felt to be impossible. I love me some M5board.com
 
#30 ·
Don't sweat this one man. I've done my fair share of car repairs over the years and this one is pretty straightforward. If you are pretty nervous, then to cover yourself you might start on a Friday night after work and get as far as you can. Then finish up first thing Saturday...that will leave you some extra "recovery" time on Saturday (while stores are still open) in case you run into an issue.
 
#33 ·
This job isn't difficult as it is time-consuming, the speed wrench is a god send (trust me on this one). The way I see it, unless you don't have the time or don't mind spending extra coin, doing this yourself will not only give you the satisfaction knowing it's done right, but also increase your comfort level for subsequent repair/PM projects, it'll give you a chance to inspect and familiarize yourself with other adjacent components (ICV, plenum upper/lower, fuel vacuum line, oil separators, hoses, etc.)
 
#34 ·
The first time I pulled the plenum (for something else) I used a speed-wrench. For subsequent removals, I use a cordless drill and socket. That and a magnetic tray to hold all the nuts makes it pretty simple.