[neophani]

Hi Team,

I have a 08 E90 with 87k miles on it.

Just got back from BMW of Sterling,VA. Went in for a "vehicle-check" and the SA came back and said i need to replace the

- valve cover Gastket (288 for parts, 1684 for labor)
- Oil Pan Gasket ( 172.03 for parts, 1782 for labor )

for a total of 4032.00

Needless to say i walked out and after searching the forums i see the vehicle check is a rip off to being with and they are just visually checking the car and charging me 90.00 ( 75 for the check, 7.50 for environmental fee recover and 7.50 for shop supplies) when i asked why are they charging me for shop supplies for a visual inspection the SA had no answer. i didnt have time to talk to the manager as i had to get back to work.

so I got home and see no visible oil stains in the engine compartment. I see no oil marks on the garage floor. Did they just make this stuff up ?

Any good indy shop in the northern virginia that is reliable and trustworthy to get a second opinion ? I see couple of places on yelp sterling star auto etc. but want to get a reference from this forum.

Thanks in advance.

[zooch7]

I live in Eugene and had exactly that replaced a few months ago. No where near that much. The BMW dealership here charged me 1800. I had a warranty so my cost was 100. I just replaced my turbos and that was 4800...something doesn't seem right with their pricing on you.

[nukezero]

the valve cover job labor is a rip off at your dealer. I did it myself and it wasn't too bad, but I wouldn't charge my $1684. It's about a 3-4 hour job tops. But personally, I wouldn't do it again because you have to bend over a lot to do the work and it kills my back. So I'm paying an indy shop to do it. I think they're charging like $400 which makes more sense. The most time consuming part is evenly torquing down each bolt.

if it's not leaking, i would leave it alone, seriously. Mine was barely leaking at 109k miles, and I changed it anyways. 5 months later, it is leaking profusely! I might have messed up but I doubt it because my valve cover is now cracked and I should've replaced it but I didn't. I went back to check each torque and it was proper so I've no clue why it started leaking. My only guess is that the cheap plastic valve cover got warped the first time I removed it and it made it worse. If it ain't broke yet, don't fix it! If you see a couple drops here and there let it go. But if you see a small pool, then yes its time.

[N54B30A]

Originally Posted by nukezero

the valve cover job labor is a rip off at your dealer. I did it myself and it wasn't too bad, but I wouldn't charge my $1684. It's about a 3-4 hour job tops. But personally, I wouldn't do it again because you have to bend over a lot to do the work and it kills my back. So I'm paying an indy shop to do it. I think they're charging like $400 which makes more sense. The most time consuming part is evenly torquing down each bolt.

if it's not leaking, i would leave it alone, seriously. Mine was barely leaking at 109k miles, and I changed it anyways. 5 months later, it is leaking profusely! I might have messed up but I doubt it because my valve cover is now cracked and I should've replaced it but I didn't. I went back to check each torque and it was proper so I've no clue why it started leaking. My only guess is that the cheap plastic valve cover got warped the first time I removed it and it made it worse. If it ain't broke yet, don't fix it! If you see a couple drops here and there let it go. But if you see a small pool, then yes its time.

Had this exact thing happen on my first 335i, the PCV valve, vent hose or the PCV inlets themselves tend to clog. When that happens, crank case pressures may blow the seal.

[cybermgm23]

Originally Posted by neophani

Hi Team,

I have a 08 E90 with 87k miles on it.

Just got back from BMW of Sterling,VA. Went in for a "vehicle-check" and the SA came back and said i need to replace the

- valve cover Gastket (288 for parts, 1684 for labor)
- Oil Pan Gasket ( 172.03 for parts, 1782 for labor )

for a total of 4032.00

Needless to say i walked out and after searching the forums i see the vehicle check is a rip off to being with and they are just visually checking the car and charging me 90.00 ( 75 for the check, 7.50 for environmental fee recover and 7.50 for shop supplies) when i asked why are they charging me for shop supplies for a visual inspection the SA had no answer. i didnt have time to talk to the manager as i had to get back to work.

so I got home and see no visible oil stains in the engine compartment. I see no oil marks on the garage floor. Did they just make this stuff up ?

Any good indy shop in the northern virginia that is reliable and trustworthy to get a second opinion ? I see couple of places on yelp sterling star auto etc. but want to get a reference from this forum.

Thanks in advance.

Sounds about right to me. About six weeks ago I had my EFHG, VC and OPG replaced. $4500 worth of work for $50 under my extended warranty. P.S. the plastic valve covers crack all the time. Since the PCV valve is built into the VC, it get's clogged and can cause all the other gaskets to blow and the VC to crack. Poor engineering in my opinion. Very common e90 issue. The good news is that the gaskets have been upgraded over the years so they should last a bit longer.

[Boland01]

3-4 hour job tops on the VCG. The oil pan gasket is more involved as you have to drop the subframe. It's a 10 hour job. Neither is that hard, just time consuming. Parts for the VCG consist of a new gasket and the oil pan you need a new gasket and new bolts as they are aluminum and are supposed to be one time use.

[tlow98]

If you don't have any oil on the ground, any oil dripping and burning on the exhaust and aren't running low on oil then I'm not sure why you would do it.

The valve cover gasket would be the one I'd do.

The pan may not even be leaking - could just be running down from the valve cover.

Fix valve cover at Indy for $400 and re-assess

[Hacksaw]

Agree. Top down approach is best if you are not clear on if the oil pan gasket is even leaking. I often find many shops jump to cover themselves with the estimate on the oil pan because its an easy sell to a lot of people. All they have to do is point to the oil on the pan area and a lot of people won't even blink.

[gunnerxq]

Yeah I paid $1700... got my rear shocks replaced, new engine mounts, exhaust re-sealed (new gaskets and cat-back exhaust welded together so it wouldn't leak through the clamps) new clutch with solid flywheel O.E. weight, transmission bushings, rear subframe bushings, valve cover gasket, rear brake lines were changed to metal (I couldn't do them myself because of the rust. The lines broke and they had to re-flare it.) all done for $1700. Most of the parts I bought myself and provided them with. But the labor, valve cover gasket, manual transmission bushings and exhaust gaskets were included in that $1700 price.

So yeah it cost me $1700

[Abax335]

I used to work with 3-4 guys that now work there.

Good techs no doubt but the pricing compared to the dealer I am at is much higher. Just how there system is set up at the dealer.

But most places do charge a one hour labor for a vehicle check and is not just visual.

If you want to travel up to NJ i'll do it for half , master tech

[stanlalee]

$1100-1400 total are typical dealer prices for valve cover gasket. Not sure about the oil pan (expect it to be more) but they are definitely trying to hose you.

[ArcticRik]

Those prices are crazy!!!!! I got my valve cover gasket done for $300 by an Indy and am getting my oil pan gasket done next weekend for $400 (labor) I bought the gasket and bolts myself which were $75.... Fuck dealerships.

[Ubersmooth]

I live in Centreville/Fairfax. Check out GT peace, Euromotive, RRT.

[NGEE]

You won't necessarily see oil on your garage floor. That underbelly pan can hold a shit-ton of oil drippings, and it will siphon off under acceleration on the road. Surprised your OFHG is still holding up. Gaskets are a PITA on this car.

[Dphan2007]

Your engine isn't covered under the SULEV warrantly?

[Berge92]

Those prices are crazy!!!!! I got my valve cover gasket done for $300 by an Indy and am getting my oil pan gasket done next weekend for $400 (labor) I bought the gasket and bolts myself which were $75.... Fuck dealerships.

Is your Indy in KC?

[Gohan335i7]

Go to Bimmer shops dot com, find the most reputable Indy or the one you feel most comfortable with. Keep in mind there are Indy's just as bad as Stealerships. Find that needle in a haystack, you and you car will b happy..

[Greyfox]

Valve cover gasket is not had to do. And you can do the spark plugs and coils at the same time.

But the oil pan on a 328xi is not something I'm going to even attempt to tackle. Was quoted $1500 on that one from an indy.

[ArcticRik]

If you guys are in the KC area I would highly recommend Michael Lampton, hes the owner of Engineered Mechanic Mike (https://www.facebook.com/engineeredm...cmike/?fref=ts)

He does amazing work for fractions of what the stealerships charge. Hes an enthusiast himself. I dont go to anyone else besides him.

[Vitalität]

Rip off. Parts I got from BMW Pleasanton cost me about $109 and some change and 6 hours of my time.

[patents]

Originally Posted by neophani

- valve cover Gastket (288 for parts, 1684 for labor)
- Oil Pan Gasket ( 172.03 for parts, 1782 for labor )

for a total of 4032.00

I don't remember the exact number, but my local dealer quoted about $2,800 to replace both of those gaskets.

Ended up getting the VCG done under SULEV warranty. My SA actually told me the oil pan gasket leak wasn't bad enough to worry about.

[catcher22]

Dealer prices. Insane. I bought my bmw from BMW of Sterling so I'm familiar with them. The funny thing is, they're one of the better sales AND service shops out there. i've always had a good honest experience with bmw of sterling. But dealer prices are insane so I stopped taking it there the minute warranty expired.

I had the entire valve cover replaced (gasket inlcuded), OFHG, AA charge pipe, bov and IC piping, and a buncha flushes done all at the same time at an indy for about 2k. They literally just fixed everything with the exception of a carbon cleaning which I got done at a group buy shortly after.

So yeah you could probably fix everything on your car for about half the price at an Indy.

Edit: Check for oil at the very BACK of your engine bay, by the firewall. My gasket was leaking badly back there and the oil would push towards the back of the engine when driving. Or, ask them to show you the oil leak