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Nothing ruins a weekend drive through your favorite back roads more than an unexpected check engine light (CEL). That is, nothing except a flashing check engine light.  Having driven my fair share of Volkswagens, Audis, and more recently Subaru's, I've become quite accustomed to the warm, orange glow of a lit check engine light.  A solid CEL is something that no longer worries me; it's something that I, and most people who modify cars, have come to expect every now and then.  What does still haunt my dreams, however, is the flashing CEL. What's the difference? A solid CEL is usually a fault that's not life-threatening to the engine.  Small issues

You spend hours washing, waxing, and polishing. Not a single drop of water or speck of dirt is left on the paint's surface when you're done. The interior is the same story; the carpet, seats, and dash look better than on the day you picked up your new BMW from the dealer. You spend precious time and effort protecting your investment from the outside, but what about the places you can't see? I don't mean that spot under the seat where you have to break every bone in your hand to retrieve your phone. I mean the heart of the car: the engine. Using high-quality fuel is a start to keeping your engine healthy, but there are more threats that you may never see coming until they've already gotten the best of your engine.

Looking Back

In the last post, we looked at the N55's stock PCV system; we examined its advantages and disadvantages, and how blow-by can harm your engine. We also took

This is it. The leather seat grips your back as hard as your hands grip the wheel and the tires grip the road. The pavement is your playground and nothing can break the connection you have to its twists and turns.  Your mind is calm, but calculating, guiding the wheels through every turn with finesse as the headlights cut through the darkness.  Smooth is fast, and this car is certainly smooth.  When you finally coax yourself to go home, stepping out into the cool night air, you think to yourself, "This is it."

The Dark Horse of Combustion: Blow-by

But what aren't you thinking about? Sure, BMW's N55 TwinPower Turbo inline-six engine is smooth and powerful, but what happens inside that engine is much more violent. Internal combustion engines are essentially controlled bombs; air and fuel combust to drive pistons and crankshafts.  One byproduct of this violence is power, but there are darker horses