[rooks335]

Purchased the CTC branded pressure tester from fcpeuro and pressurised the cooling system to 18psi and sure enough there's a leak from what appear to be on the engine side behind intake manifold and throttle body. Is this where the hard pipe coolant line to the turbo normally is?
I guess taking off the manifold is next. sigh

[vtl]

Oil filter housing gasket, there's a coolant passage thru there

[rooks335]

Originally Posted by vtl

Oil filter housing gasket, there's a coolant passage thru there

Odd since i did the oil filter housing gaskets 12 months ago. I remembered there being two gaskets too. Hmmm maybe retoruquing required with the torque wrench?

[vtl]

If it was done improperly then 12 months is usually how long the oil filter gasket lasts.

To do it properly all bolts must be torqued with a torque wrench without fail. This means removing the coolant pipe that blocks the bolt to the underside of the oil filter housing and also loosening the intake manifold. Also all remnants of gasket must be scraped off the housing, even a few specks of rubber can make a brand new gasket leak, it is really that critical

[Pete.J]

Originally Posted by rooks335

Odd since i did the oil filter housing gaskets 12 months ago. I remembered there being two gaskets too. Hmmm maybe retoruquing required with the torque wrench?

You didn't torque the bolts correctly when you did it before! You probably over-torqued it, gaskets last significantly less when they're squeezed/stressed. It's annoying to have to re-do it again, but at least you know it's not a major fix.

Also, 18psi is too high for testing the cooling system on our cars. The system is designed to to withstand 14psi only from memory (or may be 12psi, I can't remember exactly). But it's definitely not 18psi, you could have bursted something applying that much pressure.

To confirm exactly what's the maximum pressure the system is designed to hold, read the max pressure written on the coolant reservoir cap. And never exceed that value when testing.

Goodluck with the fix mate!

[rooks335]

Pretty paranoid about torque settings when doing the car so always ensured that i have the right torque nm before proceeding with the job.
22nm for the oil filter bolts.
No shortcuts either vtl, took off the rad hose into the block that was rotten off and bought stealership hose with plastic inlet for $120-140!
Old gasket materials were also brake cleaned off.

So the culprit for that leak would be the gasket that's circled red?

The only seals I didnt change were the two small o ring seals from the coolant hard pipes. (circled blue)



All in all I'm sort of glad its the oil filter housing gasket since its do-able but devo that its a re-do.




Serial - Rad cap is rated 29psi although I've only got the balls to go 21psi haha.

[juld0zer]

It has a 140kpa cap so i usually test at 10% above cap pressure.
Usually oil comes out of failed OFHG jobs due to the greater operating pressure.

[rooks335]

Took off the manifold partially last night to access the OFH E10 bolt and it was tight at 22nm.
Put the coolant tester now that I have better visibility and kudos to vtl spot on diagnoses on the OFH gasket leak.

I did remember buying non-oem OFH gasket from Imparts (can't remember brand) while the heat exchanger gasket was oem from BMW (no leak).

Non OEM brands like El-ring and Victor Reinz seems to be the norm.

Is it worth to go OEM for the OFH gasket?

Part numbers
11428637821 OFH gasket
11428637820 Heat exchange gasket
17222245358 Coolant line O Rings x 2


Torque settings
OFH 22Nm
Thermostat housing 16Nm
Coolant lines to Thermostat bolt ??Nm (maybe 8Nm?)

[vtl]

Originally Posted by rooks335

Took off the manifold partially last night to access the OFH E10 bolt and it was tight at 22nm.
Put the coolant tester now that I have better visibility and kudos to vtl spot on diagnoses on the OFH gasket leak.

I did remember buying non-oem OFH gasket from Imparts (can't remember brand) while the heat exchanger gasket was oem from BMW (no leak).

Non OEM brands like El-ring and Victor Reinz seems to be the norm.

Is it worth to go OEM for the OFH gasket?

Part numbers
11428637821 OFH gasket
11428637820 Heat exchange gasket
17111711987 Coolant line O Rings x 2


Torque settings
OFH 22Nm
Heat Exchanger 16Nm
Coolant lines to Heat exchange bolt ??Nm (maybe 8?)

I've used victor reinz from FCPeuro a number of times on the oil filter housing gasket and they seem to be fine. Only time I've had an issue was actually a genuine gasket, leaked oil into the coolant pretty much straight away.

[rooks335]

Originally Posted by vtl

I've used victor reinz from FCPeuro a number of times on the oil filter housing gasket and they seem to be fine. Only time I've had an issue was actually a genuine gasket, leaked oil into the coolant pretty much straight away.

Woah. Makes me wonder if these gaskets have "shelf life".
FCPeuro has a kit for the Victor Reinz complete with bolts alas minus those o rings.

[vtl]

Theres no reason to replace any of the bolts unless they've been damaged during removal. I always replace the thermostat gasket, oil filter housing gasket and 2x oil cooler orings on that job. No need to replace the bolts or sensor.

[rooks335]

Originally Posted by vtl

Theres no reason to replace any of the bolts unless they've been damaged during removal. I always replace the thermostat gasket, oil filter housing gasket and 2x oil cooler orings on that job. No need to replace the bolts or sensor.

Was more economical to get the kit with FCPeuro

Is 17111711987 the right part number for those two o rings?

[vtl]

No its not
17222245358

#7
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/en/showpa...diagId=17_0375

[rooks335]

Originally Posted by vtl

No its not
17222245358

#7
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/en/showpa...diagId=17_0375

Thanks VTL.
Do you bother with any light application of rtv silicone gasket paste on the OFH gasket and Thermostat housing gasket?

[vtl]

No rtv is the worst thing you can do there, rtv is used for mating surfaces and no where a rubber gasket or oring is used except for very exceptional circumstances. I remember having to do a 1 year old oil filter housing gasket that was leaking and the monkey used RTV silicone, made a huge mess and took forever cleaning all the surfaces, was a total nightmare

[rooks335]

Originally Posted by vtl

No rtv is the worst thing you can do there, rtv is used for mating surfaces and no where a rubber gasket or oring is used except for very exceptional circumstances. I remember having to do a 1 year old oil filter housing gasket that was leaking and the monkey used RTV silicone, made a huge mess and took forever cleaning all the surfaces, was a total nightmare

Roger that.