Oil leak / sometimes smells of burnt oil - Valve cover gasket? (SOLVED)

[dukeofchen]

After my Elring VCG leaked I replaced it with OE, but kept the grommets and tube seals from the kit and they've been fine.

Personally not something I would think too hard about, especially at that price. The VCG being a picky area makes sense given the tolerances to have it sit perfectly flush and achieve the right compression on the ridges for a proper seal, but the other areas seem like they would be more forgiving.

[cobra]

Thanks guys, ordered up a new VCG and will reuse the other parts.

[YoungDinosaur]

Ugh, I'm ordering a new VCG kit because I'm having the Vanos replaced and I just went down this Genuine vs Elring VCG rabbit hole. It turns out that I had an Elring VCG installed in 2020 and it was leaking and burning oil by 2022. No wonder! I guess this time i'm dropping $400+ on Genuine gaskets 🤦♂️

[eacmen]

Ugh, I'm ordering a new VCG kit because I'm having the Vanos replaced and I just went down this Genuine vs Elring VCG rabbit hole. It turns out that I had an Elring VCG installed in 2020 and it was leaking and burning oil by 2022. No wonder! I guess this time i'm dropping $400+ on Genuine gaskets 🤦♂️

Only one you need genuine is the VCG itself. The other seals don't need to be genuine.

[YoungDinosaur]

Really? OK that would save quite a bit of money. The Elring Vanos gasket is ok?

[eacmen]

Really? OK that would save quite a bit of money. The Elring Vanos gasket is ok?

In my experience yes. Any decent brand for the other gaskets should be fine.

[cobra]

Yep - only had issues with the elring vcg. Others seem fine.

[YoungDinosaur]

Wow, keeping the VCG genuine BMW and changing the other gaskets/seals to OE/OEM dropped the price to $120. Thanks everyone.

[R60BBA]

The Elring VCG always leaks in short order, if not immediately. This is just one of those areas of the car where you should get the part with the BMW sticker on it.

What’s your take on the Elring head gasket kit (which comes with their VCG)?

I presume the parts within the Elring kit are okay to be used when replacing the head gasket bar the VCG, which should be replaced with a genuine BMW item?

https://web.tecalliance.net/elring/en/parts/10/074.550/detail

[Cubieman]

Mine has been leaking oil for a while from the spark grommet on cyl. #2, it's annoying as I can smell it while driving. The VC has been off one time and re-used, however it leaked before it was removed.

Genuine BMW VCG, Grommets, Tube seals all put in about 2 years back.

I recently pursched Elring tube seals and plan to reuse the VCG/Grommets and maybe put a bit of drei bond or Toyota FIPG on the tube seals hoping for a seal this time.

I may warranty the VCG/grommets as they have been used 2 times now, that would be the smart move.

However it seems the BMW VCG seems to be ok with being used a few times.
It will be a bit of a pain to remove the Toyota FIPG from the VCG around the vanos>head area and half moons.