CCV replacement on a 2.0 - any advice welcome.

[Jfgoldfish]

Evening all.
My zed is showing symptoms of a failing CCV; poor idle, intermittent periods of higher oil consumption and intermittent puffs of smoke after long periods of idling.

I have ordered a Febi Bilstein kit and will be replacing it some time in the next couple of weeks.

I believe the intake manifold absolutely has to come off to do this job on the N46 2 litre engine so I ordered a set of manifold gaskets too.
Is this true?

I have read that the crankshaft sensor should be replaced at the same time as preventative maintainance. Does this apply to the N46? Is this really a common part to fail?

Anyone who has done this job on the 2 litre before, please point out any tricky bits or advice that may make the job easier.

Thanks all,
Jay

 

[Jfgoldfish]

Forgot to mention the car is at about 100k miles now. CCV is certainly due replacement. Would it be wise to consider the crank sensor?

 

[tug]

Looks like it would be a right job to do. If it was me, i would pay a "proper" mechanic to do the job. (thats just me though) looks like its beyond my capabilities :lol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe7d4YTyTfM/

Cheers, tug

 

[Jfgoldfish]

Looks like it would be a right job to do.

I must say, it does look like a pain. I considered finding a mechanic to do this for me but I have never taken my car to a mechanic for any work and therefore don't know of a good mechanic in my area, only tyre shops.
I know I am capable of doing this myself and money is tight so I will be tackling it on the driveway.
Thanks for the link tug. Looks like the manifold is definitely coming off. I wander if those tricky two torx bolts can be removed without removing the belly pan to access the rear one.
I suppose if the pan comes off it will give me a chance to clean up all the oily mess from the filter housing gasket that I replaced last week.
People weren't kidding when they said these N46 engines require a bit of babying!

 

[tug]

I agree, the N46 does take some lookin after, but when they are, they run just perfect.

If you do go ahead i hope everything goes well for you & the zed is back to fine fettle after

But stay safe at the same time mate.

 

[Jfgoldfish]

I agree, the N46 does take some lookin after, but when they are, they run just perfect.

If you do go ahead i hope everything goes well for you & the zed is back to fine fettle after

But stay safe at the same time mate.

It does indeed. I do love the car and engine despite its quirks!

I certainly will. If postie doesn't manage to deliver, I will have to wait until after the apocalypse :wink:

 

[Jfgoldfish]

I tackled the CCV today.
I turned out to be a very easy job on the Zed.
The two evil bolts that most instructional videos point out are easily accessed from the top of the Z4 engine bay.

Just a case of unbolting and removing the injector rail, throttle body and manifold, swapping the CCV and associated hoses, then bolting it all back up.
Took me around 2 hours including coffee breaks.
No special tools required, just a decent socket set.

Intake manifold gaskets are required, throttle body gasket is generally still soft enough to reuse.

Probably worth replacing the orings on the injectors but I forgot to order a set.

I will crack open the old CCV later to see what it looks like inside. It was the original one, stamped June 2006.