[ducatiti]

How bad is my oil leak? For the past two oil changes, a year apart, I didn't top off the oil and per the electronic dipstick, engine oil maintained it's level.

So I had the wiring harness recall done at the spealership and service advisor said I had leaks on the Valve Cover and Oil Filter Housing, to add the transmission as well. I plan to tackle the first two first, and attend to the transmission later although I may want to do the transmission first.

Based on the pictures below, is this worth a $1500 and $600 fix or just leave it as is as I would have never found out about this if I didn't bring it in. I have 85k miles and service the car myself to include the brakes and minor stuff. I may just buy the parts online and have a local mechanic install the gaskets.

Here are pictures of how it was. I seldom clean my engine bay, basically just gentle wipe downs (not the valve cover area, never cleaned):




Cleaned it a bit last night and this is what it looks like now. I plan to check again in a week or so to check out the condition:

[Ghazikhalaf]

Originally Posted by ducatiti

How bad is my oil leak? For the past two oil changes, a year apart, I didn't top off the oil and per the electronic dipstick, engine oil maintained it's level.

So I had the wiring harness recall done at the spealership and service advisor said I had leaks on the Valve Cover and Oil Filter Housing, to add the transmission as well. I plan to tackle the first two first, and attend to the transmission later although I may want to do the transmission first.

Based on the pictures below, is this worth a $1500 and $600 fix or just leave it as is as I would have never found out about this if I didn't bring it in. I have 85k miles and service the car myself to include the brakes and minor stuff. I may just buy the parts online and have a local mechanic install the gaskets.

Here are pictures of how it was. I seldom clean my engine bay, basically just gentle wipe downs (not the valve cover area, never cleaned):




Cleaned it a bit last night and this is what it looks like now. I plan to check again in a week or so to check out the condition:

your engine leaks are not bad at all. A really good sign that your valve cover is leaking is if you either get oil in your spark plug wells or if oil drips onto your headers from the valve cover and burn which would cause smoke and a bad smell. Its a very easy job to do with little experience, there are a lot of diys for this repair

For the engine filter houseing gasket, it doesnt seem to be leaking bad, the fitler is known for causing huge oil leaks, at 85k i would replace it for a safe measure, also this seal is very easy to repair with little experience.

Personally i would do them youre self since the parts are less than 50 combined and you would save 1400 dollars for 4 hours of work.

[ryan stewart]

Yeah DIY. Its not that bad, just takes time because you have to take a lot of crap off to expose everything, which is why the dealer wants a ton of money for it, the labor. The parts themselves are cheap.

Get the quote, take it over to the parts department and say, "Give me everything on this list." Then just do it at home.

[Bimmer_Engineer]

Originally Posted by ryan stewart

Yeah DIY. Its not that bad, just takes time because you have to take a lot of crap off to expose everything, which is why the dealer wants a ton of money for it, the labor. The parts themselves are cheap.

Get the quote, take it over to the parts department and say, "Give me everything on this list." Then just do it at home.

Lol @ “you have to take a lot of crap off to expose everything...”

Amen to that!

[Denny347]

How are your skills with tools? The OFH gasket is like $30 or so and it took me 45 minutes or so. Easy peasy. I just had the car at the dealer for the blower wiring recall and they gave it a once over. They told me it needs the belt/tensioner and VCG replaced. They quoted me $600 for the belt/tensioner and $1000 for the VCG. $85 for the belt and parts and 30 minutes I had it done. The VCG parts is $30 and I think I'll just do that myself. I've done older BMW VC's and those were simple. Ours is a bit more complicated. Dealer also wanted $1000 to replace my oil pan gasket. That is a ton of work, hard to imagine it is the same as a VCG. I might pay for the oil pan as it would be a PITA to do that in my garage.

Originally Posted by ducatiti

How bad is my oil leak? For the past two oil changes, a year apart, I didn't top off the oil and per the electronic dipstick, engine oil maintained it's level.

So I had the wiring harness recall done at the spealership and service advisor said I had leaks on the Valve Cover and Oil Filter Housing, to add the transmission as well. I plan to tackle the first two first, and attend to the transmission later although I may want to do the transmission first.

Based on the pictures below, is this worth a $1500 and $600 fix or just leave it as is as I would have never found out about this if I didn't bring it in. I have 85k miles and service the car myself to include the brakes and minor stuff. I may just buy the parts online and have a local mechanic install the gaskets.

Here are pictures of how it was. I seldom clean my engine bay, basically just gentle wipe downs (not the valve cover area, never cleaned):




Cleaned it a bit last night and this is what it looks like now. I plan to check again in a week or so to check out the condition:

[philgli]

As you have the oil filter housing version without the oil cooler lines, its literally one gasket and you if you can do brakes, you can totally do that. When you buy your gasket (from FCP euro...), buy this as well... https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...e-rein-chc0609 This goes on the end of the black coolant hose that is under the oil filter housing. when you move it to get to the last bolt on the housing, the hose flange will probably crack. spend this $20 so your car isn't stranded for a few days. Learn from my mistakes lol.

Valve cover is a little trickier.

I agree that the oil pan gasket is best left to a good shop - you have to drop the front subframe IIRC.

[nsjames]

OFHG is cake. Buy a ratcheting e10 wrench. Trust me. Saves you the hassle of dealing with the plastic cooling line stuff that' breaks.

Last time I did the valve cover it took me 3 hours, it was 20 degrees. I could probably get it done in 2 if it was warm.

did they say what your transmission leak was? Some are easy, and can be done in the car, others, like a front pump seal, require the trans to be pulled.

Screw the oil pan leak. unless it's significant. It leaks to places that don't get hurt by motor oil.
Dealer told me my pan is leaking, wanted $1300. I laughed. I'm 7500 miles into this oil change and the oil level indicator just dropped a bar.

At that level of "leakage" I think I'll just ignore it for a time.

[Efthreeoh]

Your car is 12 years old. It's supposed to get a little dirty. It's not leaking at either spot. leave it a lone.

On the '06 N52, I'd check the oil pan gasket first. If anything, it's leaking there before the OFH or valve cover.

[ducatiti]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Your car is 12 years old. It's supposed to get a little dirty. It's not leaking at either spot. leave it a lone.

On the '06 N52, I'd check the oil pan gasket first. If anything, it's leaking there before the OFH or valve cover.

I've yet had to top off my oil between change intervals of one year. Is that another sign that nothing is leaking? Again, I'm at 85K miles.

edit: I'm occasionally smelled burnt rubber/plastic smell so I suspect the some oil ends up on the exhaust or so.

[Meeni]

The VCG is leaking, but it is not bad. You have plenty of time to find someone that doesn't take you for a ride. $2k for this work is not serious.

[ducatiti]

So I decided to just have my local shop do it. $670 and $380 for the valve cover gasket and oil filter housing filter gasket. Dropped it off tonight for pickup tomorrow. Initially, I planned to do the oil filter gasket but if I can get an Ok package deal with the shop, might as well have them do it.


Quick question though for future reference, will a 3/8 e10 work for the housing? Reason I ask is because it says on the forum and videos, 1/4 is needed.


Pretty decent deal right?

[nsjames]

depends. Are they replacing the valve cover or just the gasket?
Really recommend that you replace the cover entirely. It's ledd than $300, and you get all the seals changed, and a new PCV valve.

I would not pay $380 for the OFHG, it really is a twenty minute job.
the pace is tight, you'll need a 1/4 drive socket and a fairly long wobble extension if you don't want to take the mianifold off. and the previously mentioned e10 ratchet wrench for the one next to the coolant line.
I'd pass on the OFHG at that price and spend that momey on a new valve cover. Pay the shop a grand to do that work with a new valve cover and it's not a bad deal.

[ducatiti]

Yes, just replacing the gasket. I have a magnesium cover. Thanks nsjames.

In regards to my transmission leak and was quoted $1400 for the kit/package. I had the blower/wire recall done and said that they spotted this leak. While doing the harness recall, would they have really spotted this?

If so, where should I start looking?

Thanks in advance.

[nsjames]

my bad. I did not pay close enough attention.

they wouldn't have spotted it during the recall work, but a common thing for dealers to do while performing recall work is their "multi point inspection" where they propose several thousand dollars worth of work to your car.

I mean, my last dealer experience they handed me an estimate for 2 grand worth of work.Then they handed me an offer to buy my car for 4 thousand dollars. Then the next day I discovered that my drive belt had been installed a rib off on the alt and power steering pump. Destroyed my drive belt and the alternator ingested the rubber bits. Awesome work BMW of Akron.


so take what the service advisor says with a grain of salt.

They could have been talking about an actual fluid leak, which could happen at the pan, the tailshaft housing or the front cover in the bellhousing. Or maybe they meant a mechatronic leak? I assume you have the ZF trans right?

honestly I'd check the fluid level, and then check it again after a thousand miles. if I could not discern a fluid level difference I'd probably just leave it.

[Efthreeoh]

Hey, I'm not harping on this, but you don't have a leaking valve cover gasket where it needs replacement. The magnesium valve cover is not as leak prone as the plastic version of the '07 and up .engines. Unless the oil filter housing is leaking on the back side, it sure isn't leaking on the front. Check along the block under the intake manifold with a flashlight to see if it is leaking from the back side.

The trans leak is out of the metronic seal if it is an auto, which is a common trans leak.

Seriously, you don't need to do the VCG not the OFHG, based on the pics you posted.

[ducatiti]

Originally Posted by nsjames

my bad. I did not pay close enough attention.

they wouldn't have spotted it during the recall work, but a common thing for dealers to do while performing recall work is their "multi point inspection" where they propose several thousand dollars worth of work to your car.

I mean, my last dealer experience they handed me an estimate for 2 grand worth of work.Then they handed me an offer to buy my car for 4 thousand dollars. Then the next day I discovered that my drive belt had been installed a rib off on the alt and power steering pump. Destroyed my drive belt and the alternator ingested the rubber bits. Awesome work BMW of Akron.


so take what the service advisor says with a grain of salt.

They could have been talking about an actual fluid leak, which could happen at the pan, the tailshaft housing or the front cover in the bellhousing. Or maybe they meant a mechatronic leak? I assume you have the ZF trans right?

honestly I'd check the fluid level, and then check it again after a thousand miles. if I could not discern a fluid level difference I'd probably just leave it.

Yep, these people at the stealership Thanks for the tip.

Sorry but how do I check the transmission fluid level? And yes, the $1400 quote provided included the pan, filter, mechatronics sleeve, fluids, etc... ( what I can recall)

[ducatiti]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Hey, I'm not harping on this, but you don't have a leaking valve cover gasket where it needs replacement. The magnesium valve cover is not as leak prone as the plastic version of the '07 and up .engines. Unless the oil filter housing is leaking on the back side, it sure isn't leaking on the front. Check along the block under the intake manifold with a flashlight to see if it is leaking from the back side.

The trans leak is out of the metronic seal if it is an auto, which is a common trans leak.

Seriously, you don't need to do the VCG not the OFHG, based on the pics you posted.

Thanks for your input but the car is done waiting for pickup. I guess we can call it preventative maintenance since it's too late now I occasionally smell burnt oil when I get home and through the vents when using the heater.

[ducatiti]

For the transmission leak, can I get away with just replacing the pan/filter and new fluid to eliminate the leak? If so, I may just do it myself..

[nsjames]

if it's the mechatronics sleeve then it's not a hard DIY. Service teh transmission filter/pan/fluid while you're there.

the sleeve is the seal around the electrical connector for the valve body. It's got a tab you release inside the transmissions and then it pops out.

I'm sure there's a DIY somewhere round here, it's a pretty common leak like efthreeoh said.

but really you should try and figure out where the leak is.

[Purple.helos]

'07 328i. Just replaced the VCG, cleaned everything up and now it gets wet below the intake manifold between cylinders 2-4. No leak around the OFH- everything is dry. Oil is leaking down (pooling on top of the head gasket), but I can't see where it is coming from. There is no visible leak from the tops side (VCG).
Thoughts?

[JohnnyDuz]

I just did these !

It ran me 1300 in PA. Included both the gaskets you spoke about and spark plugs oil change coolant hose as well and the TPMS rdc box

[Gamb1t]

From the pic the ofhg doesn't appear to be actively leaking. It would be damp if it is. If anything the black strain might be a result of sloppy oil filter removal.

Can't really tell if the vcg is going. But nothing if with about unless you're losing significant oil. It's easy to muck it up during replacement or over-tightening the bolts which will lead to future leaks.