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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Technical Forums > Mechanical Maintenance: Break-in / Oil & Fluids / Servicing / Warranty > [N54]Massive oil leak on passenger side and oil in coolant



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      03-31-2021, 12:27 PM   #1
SamyB
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[N54]Massive oil leak on passenger side and oil in coolant

Hi guys, I recently bought this 2008 335i with 80K miles on it. The car was sitting on the Florida sun for a while.

Everything worked fine until recently. I had to replace the radiator because it started cracking. Yesterday I drove the car pretty hard and a check engine light. I scanned the car and I got a "P1554" code. I keep driving and then I got a "low oil" message.

Anyway, I checked under the car and the car was leaking OIL (basically a faucet) on the passenger side. Massive oil leak and I noticed oil in coolant. I'm going to work on the car this Saturday, but I'm wondering where the oil leak could come from.

I'm going to check the car on Saturday. I'm going to change the oil filter gasket first and remove the radiator again to flush it. Does anyone have any idea where the oil leak could come from? The car runs without knocking btw, so the block is not crack (I hope).

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Thank you,
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      03-31-2021, 05:11 PM   #2
e91Owner
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You probably also have coolant in the engine also. As for where it is coming from, leaks of that size generally come from something being cracked and given you have mixing of coolant and oil, there are only a few places where those come in close contact in the engine. The oil filter housing being one of them.

The oil cooler lines runs from the oil filter housing to the passenger side where the oil cooler heat exchanger is.
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      03-31-2021, 05:16 PM   #3
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I hope not a head gasket brother
.

But it pouring out like that it could from any of the hoses, water pump, thermostat area or even a really bad cracked resivor.

I'm sure you can locate it being that bad of a leak.

It could be anywhere really, good luck man. That coolant looks bad.
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      03-31-2021, 05:43 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by e91Owner View Post
You probably also have coolant in the engine also. As for where it is coming from, leaks of that size generally come from something being cracked and given you have mixing of coolant and oil, there are only a few places where those come in close contact in the engine. The oil filter housing being one of them.

The oil cooler lines runs from the oil filter housing to the passenger side where the oil cooler heat exchanger is.

Thank you, I think the leaks actually come from the expansion tank. It was draining from there and dripping all the way down. Really weird because the block is super dry. I can't seem to find the leak. I'm going to change the oil filter gasket and see how it goes.

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      03-31-2021, 05:47 PM   #5
SamyB
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mapleleaf1773 View Post
I hope not a head gasket brother
.

But it pouring out like that it could from any of the hoses, water pump, thermostat area or even a really bad cracked resivor.

I'm sure you can locate it being that bad of a leak.

It could be anywhere really, good luck man. That coolant looks bad.
I hope so too man. The car had no smoke tho. No white smoke and the engine was running fine. I mean a blown head gasket is quite rare and I guess it would be smoking?
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      04-05-2021, 12:05 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SamyB View Post

Thank you, I think the leaks actually come from the expansion tank. It was draining from there and dripping all the way down. Really weird because the block is super dry. I can't seem to find the leak. I'm going to change the oil filter gasket and see how it goes.
That actually makes perfect sense. Since there was so much oil in the coolant, a coolant leak would look like an oil leak.
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      04-05-2021, 12:26 PM   #7
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I was gonna say, that looks like a coolant issue to me. Definitely do OFHG and check the hoses leading down to the water pump for leaks
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      04-12-2021, 08:50 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by e91Owner View Post
That actually makes perfect sense. Since there was so much oil in the coolant, a coolant leak would look like an oil leak.

Yup, that's what is happening. I'm on my way to replace the oil filter gasket and see whats up.
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      04-12-2021, 08:51 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Soden82 View Post
I was gonna say, that looks like a coolant issue to me. Definitely do OFHG and check the hoses leading down to the water pump for leaks

Yup I agree. Let's see what happens.
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      04-12-2021, 10:56 AM   #10
edycol
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DO you have a heat exchanger or an actual oil cooler?
If it is a heat exchanger, after changing all gaskets, be on the lookout again for coolant as sometimes those exchangers break inside.
If it is oil cooler, then the gasket on the oil thermostat will do.
If you'd id not change oil yet, use Mobil1 0W40 as it has exceptional cleaning abilities. Use it 300-500 miles and then do oil change again with a filter too. Run up to 2,000 miles if everything OK, then do it again.
DO not forget to prime the oil pump after OFHG change.
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      04-12-2021, 12:23 PM   #11
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Just make sure you flush your cooling system...a few times.
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      04-13-2021, 01:45 AM   #12
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If you have a hole in your oil cooler line I don't think it will leak until the oil is about 240 degrees.
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      04-15-2021, 04:37 PM   #13
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Look at that oil cooler gasket lmao
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      04-15-2021, 04:55 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SamyB View Post
Look at that oil cooler gasket lmao
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      06-05-2021, 08:39 PM   #15
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Btw guys, this fixed the issue. I changed both filters and the car is running perfectly. The reason for the massive leak is because the oil was mixing with coolant and overflowed in the cooling system.
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