Quote:
Originally Posted by Radioactive
Thanks for your suggestions. I too had thought about the idler pulley bearings, but my experience with bearings in general, is that once bad always bad. I've driven the car approx. 40 miles since with no problems. As per the experience with the oil leak causing problems, I just had the dealer change the oil about two months ago at which time they went over it and found no leaks. I canceled today's appointment and I'm going to venture a little further from home today.
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There is a crankcase oil separator built into the valve cover. These have been known to fail on the N52 and cause the noise you have described. Basically they create excess vacuum in the crankcase which causes air to be sucked past the front main seal. As a test, next time your car is making the noise. With the engine running open the hood and remove the oil fill cap. If the noise goes away it is definitely the oil separator. Unfortunately, to replace it you must replace the entire valve cover as it is built in.