[W37V]

I went to a dealership to get my alignment done and asked them about an oil leak I encountered while changing headers.

Mechanic took a look and said it was a oil pan gasket leak and it would be about $1,200 to fix it. Ouch!

Is this fair price?

I looked at some dyi and they are saying you have to remove entire subframe to get it done. If that's the case, than its not really dyi job for me.

[hassmaschine]

is yours an Xi?

It's a heck of a lot of work to be sure, especially if it's an Xi. How much is it leaking? I know some here freak out over a single drop of oil, but I'm the type that wonders if it's really worth $1200 to fix for a slow drip that isn't necessarily hurting anything.

[W37V]

Originally Posted by hassmaschine

is yours an Xi?

It's a heck of a lot of work to be sure, especially if it's an Xi. How much is it leaking? I know some here freak out over a single drop of oil, but I'm the type that wonders if it's really worth $1200 to fix for a slow drip that isn't necessarily hurting anything.

It's a RWD.

When I replacing headers, the underbody cover was soaked. I am not sure how long the leak has been present. I think i might lose a quart of oil over 10k miles. (but that is when I get my oil changed anyways). After calling around, the cheapest quote from bmw dealership was $1050 with everything.

[justpete]

Originally Posted by W37V

I went to a dealership to get my alignment done and asked them about an oil leak I encountered while changing headers.

Mechanic took a look and said it was a oil pan gasket leak and it would be about $1,200 to fix it. Ouch!

Is this fair price?

I looked at some dyi and they are saying you have to remove entire subframe to get it done. If that's the case, than its not really dyi job for me.

Cost me half that to have a VAC oil pan baffle modified and installed to an N52 steel pan but I get a pretty good discount on labor. Even at full rate it wouldn't have been close to $1200 though.

[W37V]

Originally Posted by justpete

Cost me half that to have a VAC oil pan baffle modified and installed to an N52 steel pan but I get a pretty good discount on labor. Even at full rate it wouldn't have been close to $1200 though.

Per book, i think the labor is quoted at about 9 hours. Dealerships charge between 120 to 160 per hour. However, I did get one quote from BMW of Rockville Stealership for $1,900.

[justpete]

Originally Posted by W37V

Per book, i think the labor is quoted at about 9 hours. Dealerships charge between 120 to 160 per hour. However, I did get one quote from BMW of Rockville Stealership for $1,900.

Wow, that much? They quoted me six hours for the whole baffle install, got off lucky I guess then. $1900 for an oil pan gasket, dayum.

[mlifxs]

I did my oil pan gasket, along with the engine mounts last weekend. the job is not difficult just long and tedious. dropping the subframe is one of the easy parts, its removing pan bolts and torquing them properly in very tight spaces that's difficult. it's a great opportunity to do engine mounts if you have a lot of miles on your car. my original mounts had 150k and i can tell a difference with the new ones.

[W37V]

Originally Posted by mlifxs

I did my oil pan gasket, along with the engine mounts last weekend. the job is not difficult just long and tedious. dropping the subframe is one of the easy parts, its removing pan bolts and torquing them properly in very tight spaces that's difficult. it's a great opportunity to do engine mounts if you have a lot of miles on your car. my original mounts had 150k and i can tell a difference with the new ones.

How long did it take you? Any special tools? I do not have any tools to hold the engine up. If I will need to do that, then this DIY is out of question (due to lack of tools)

Did you have to get it aligned after the instal? I am almost at 59k miles, so I don't think engine mounts are needed.

[mlifxs]

Originally Posted by W37V

How long did it take you? Any special tools? I do not have any tools to hold the engine up. If I will need to do that, then this DIY is out of question (due to lack of tools)

Did you have to get it aligned after the instal? I am almost at 59k miles, so I don't think engine mounts are needed.

special tools? you will need an engine support bar, I bought one from Harbor Freight for $64. You also need an accurate torque wrench that can measure around 72 inch lbs. Beyond that, an e12 socket, sockets for metric hex bolts, socket extensions, jack and jack stands.

repair took me about 15 hours spread out over three days. would have cost me well over a grand at the dealership though. I can understand why someone would pass on this diy; I had the free time available and the learning experience appealed to me...but at one point I joked to my wife: "take me to a Honda dealership"

I will be getting an alignment check, at least. In theory you shouldn't need one but I have a lifetime alignment contract therefore why rely on theory.

[Matte90330]

Originally Posted by mlifxs

special tools? you will need an engine support bar, I bought one from Harbor Freight for $64. You also need an accurate torque wrench that can measure around 72 inch lbs. Beyond that, an e12 socket, sockets for metric hex bolts, socket extensions, jack and jack stands.

repair took me about 15 hours spread out over three days. would have cost me well over a grand at the dealership though. I can understand why someone would pass on this diy; I had the free time available and the learning experience appealed to me...but at one point I joked to my wife: "take me to a Honda dealership"

I will be getting an alignment check, at least. In theory you shouldn't need one but I have a lifetime alignment contract therefore why rely on theory.

Same here this is my first post and thanks to the others here I was able to do this. The whole job is actually pretty easy it took me 3 days working a couple hours a day with some nice breaks in between I also did the OFHG at the same time. These two leaks where causing me to loose about 1 quart every 5k miles. I'm 18 and don't have that much experience but I was able to do everything with no problems except the oil return pipe I couldn't get off but that's only on cars with the metal valve cover.

[E90ALLMANUAL]

A good technician can do it in 2-3 hours.

[redline2001]

This is def not a easy DIY OP. The stealership quoted me $1100 but I had it done by an indy for $1050 plus had my engine mounts replaced. The gasket is only $45 but it is a labor intensive job

[W37V]

Originally Posted by redline2001

This is def not a easy DIY OP. The stealership quoted me $1100 but I had it done by an indy for $1050 plus had my engine mounts replaced. The gasket is only $45 but it is a labor intensive job

if they quoted you 1100 from the get go, then they gave you a good price. One dealership quoted me $1,900+taxes to do the job.

[Volasko]

My local indy shop did it for $600, instead of dropping the subframe he instead lifts the engine up (after loosening the mounts of course). I also did the engine mounts at the same time and did notice a big difference like MLIFXS said.

[Matte90330]

The job is really not that bad if you give yourself enough time to do it. There are some good DIYs to follow I did mine at 115k miles and my motor mounts were still in really good condition so I didn't replace them. Dropping the subframe is actually very easy it's only 6 bolts.

[Kimber K]

Man and I thought $800 I got quoted was high!
My daughters car is leaking at the pan and I just got quoted $800 from an actual BMW service technician. He even does it at the dealership too on a side job.

[redline2001]

Def not a easy job to do. Indy did mine and motor mounts for around $1050 I believe

[n55jb4]

Any links to DIY on a xi? Damn, where's a bmw engineering when you need it? Putting a gasket that leaks and than requires a frame drop to change it. If this is the case, at least bmw should have put a such gasket and oil pan that it won't leak until 200K miles or 15 years

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by E90ALLMANUAL

A good technician can do it in 2-3 hours.

Less than a third quoted labor? I don't see how it's possible in this case, but I'd love to see it.

OP - I'd also recommend re-tightening all the pan bolts in the proper order. There have been incidences where a majority them are finger tight and extremely loose. Certainly easy to check and could save a huge bill.

[n55jb4]

With all the new materials and knowledge available in 2017 and with all nano materials and what not - I wish there was some sealer tube that you can apply along the oil pan gasket from outside and be done lol. It's not like there is a huge pressure in oil pan. I mean we sent a man on a moon long time ago, we sent several machines to roam the surface of Mars, we decoded human genome, but we still can't tackle the impossible task - how to produce a damn oil pan gasket that won't leak ..... smh

[W37V]

Originally Posted by n55jb4

With all the new materials and knowledge available in 2017 and with all nano materials and what not - I wish there was some sealer tube that you can apply along the oil pan gasket from outside and be done lol. It's not like there is a huge pressure in oil pan. I mean we sent a man on a moon long time ago, we sent several machines to roam the surface of Mars, we decoded human genome, but we still can't tackle the impossible task - how to produce a damn oil pan gasket that won't leak ..... smh

What do you expect? We (people) can't even get temperature across a building right.

[335dlci]

Where do you live to get these outrageous quotes?!?! When I worked at the dealer. It was not 9 hour book time. Also I would double check that torque spec that was posted few posts ago.. 45 lnch pounds? I don't think so. They have an initial torque of either 8 or 10 nm then 90 degree's of angle torque... im master BMW tech. Just ouch!!