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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 > Failed Oil Filter Housing Gasket Repair… how much damage have I done??



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      09-07-2014, 08:10 PM   #1
Scotty89
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Failed Oil Filter Housing Gasket Repair… how much damage have I done??

So I bought the car (2007 335i) a few months ago, and one of the issues that was fixed prior to sale was the gasket between the oil filter housing and the oil cooler send/return lines.

When the previous owner had it inspected for roadworthiness, the shop noticed it was leaking from this gasket and refused to pass a roadworthy certificate until the leak was repaired.
So, the workshop did a gasket repair using (what I think was) permatex grey gasket sealer - and this worked for a few months until last Friday when it leaked again and my check oil light came on.

I panicked, as I wanted the car ready by Monday and I didn't have the gasket on hand (no workshops are open on weekends here, and BMW does not supply parts on weekends because they're useless).
So, I went and got some Permatex Ultra Black gasket maker, removed the old gasket, the grey gasket repair sealant and cleaned everything with brake cleaner, dried it out and applied the ultra black.

The packet said dry in 1 hour, however I'd never created gaskets myself or used this kind of product before so I had no idea what to expect... Nor did I understand that the fine print that read "Cures in 24 hours" should have been printed in large bold print; "DON'T START THE F***KING CAR FOR 24 HOURS, IDIOT".

Needless to say, I let it dry for a few hours and then I started the car to check. There was maybe 4 - 5 seconds between myself pressing the start button inside the car, and then getting out to look under the bonnet before immediately shutting it off again.
Oil sprayed out everywhere, flowing all over the engine block, belts, hoses, cables, everything.

As I also found out the hard way, inside that gasket are not only oil lines, but since the same housing unit is used on the n52, there is also a section for coolant to pass through (though this coolant channel does not appear flow anywhere on the n54, so it is just a litte pocket).
So with the immediate high pressure oil pumping on startup, quite a lot of oil has forced its way through the coolant lines and flowed out of the coolant reservoir cap.

I've learnt my lesson not to attempt band-aid fixes in the N54, and I will never touch gasket in a tube ever again.
What I need to know is whether I may have caused any irreparable damage.

If the gasket sealer wasn't solid, and the oil pressure has forced its way past the gasket and gone every where - will the traces of gasket maker get stuck elsewhere in the engine and cause oil blockages??

I have ordered the correct gaskets, disassembled everything and also got a complete oil flush + oil change, and coolant flush + coolant change ready to go once the BMW gaskets arrive... but will these be enough to save me?

What else can I do now?

Last edited by Scotty89; 09-08-2014 at 01:16 AM..
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      09-09-2014, 01:29 AM   #2
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You did the correct thing.

Can you tell me how did you do a coolant flush? Did you remove the FMIC or not?
If you only drained from the heat exchanger then you did a 3/4 flush.
Still not bad, but recommend doing another 2-5 more flushes.
This way the oil in the coolant is diluted to less than 5%.

Here is another trick... If you drained from the heat exchanger by following the coolant flush DIY.
Then after the coolant drains.
Squeeze the rad hose going from rad to the OFH.
Squeeze and release it repeatedly.
Listen to how much more coolant comes out.

Inspect each drain.
Make sure to do a purge after each refill.

Oil you may not have to drain again and again....cause our oil heats past 100 degrees Celsius.
And any water will evaporate.
This is normal for our cars as inherently the oil condenses water during cool down.
Just change it at 1k or less, but should be ok.

Simply Green is your friend around the engine bay to safely dilute the oil and then can be washed off.

Your ok...
IMO.

DN
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      09-09-2014, 07:29 AM   #3
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Sounds to me like something wasn't seated properly. If it wasn't spraying oil all over the place before, it shouldn't of after applying the sealant.

I've done the same repair with Permatex Right Stuff. I probably waited no longer than 30 minutes and have had no issues for months.
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      09-09-2014, 04:50 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by doogee View Post
Sounds to me like something wasn't seated properly. If it wasn't spraying oil all over the place before, it shouldn't of after applying the sealant.

I've done the same repair with Permatex Right Stuff. I probably waited no longer than 30 minutes and have had no issues for months.
Yea, the original OEM gasket + grey sealant was leaking so I removed the entire lot, and tried creating a gasket using just the ultra black permatex.

The ultra black gasket maker was not set at all, just a runny goop when I had to clean it up.
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      09-09-2014, 04:53 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkNemesis View Post
You did the correct thing.

Can you tell me how did you do a coolant flush? Did you remove the FMIC or not?
If you only drained from the heat exchanger then you did a 3/4 flush.
Still not bad, but recommend doing another 2-5 more flushes.
This way the oil in the coolant is diluted to less than 5%.

Here is another trick... If you drained from the heat exchanger by following the coolant flush DIY.
Then after the coolant drains.
Squeeze the rad hose going from rad to the OFH.
Squeeze and release it repeatedly.
Listen to how much more coolant comes out.

Inspect each drain.
Make sure to do a purge after each refill.

Oil you may not have to drain again and again....cause our oil heats past 100 degrees Celsius.
And any water will evaporate.
This is normal for our cars as inherently the oil condenses water during cool down.
Just change it at 1k or less, but should be ok.

Simply Green is your friend around the engine bay to safely dilute the oil and then can be washed off.

Your ok...
IMO.

DN
Thanks, I will be doing a few flushes with water through the coolant lines.

I bought some simply green, however before that I'd used a hell of a lot of aerosol degreaser to clean up the engine bay.

Do you think the pulley bearings and accessory belt will have been compromised by all the degreaser sprayed around in there?

I've also got some new coolant hoses coming too, as I think the degreaser tends to eat the rubber? After I hose it down, the rubber hoses still feel sticky. I wonder if that is normal?
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      09-10-2014, 02:00 AM   #6
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if you ever seen a perfectly clean rubber, it feels sticky.
let a bit of dirt sit on it, then it will feel normal.

as for water flushing.....hmmmm can't say.
water and oil don't mix.
anti-freeze and oil do.....hence why flushing it with anti-freeze will work for you.

water may get most of it out.

degreasers are great for what they do, but they can eat rubber upon contact....so best practice is to flush them right away.

Belt is the only iffy.....i heard too many horror stories about belt shredding and enter engine through the crank shaft seal behind the main pulley.
but our belts are supposed to be life time.
rule of thumb, when all is done and dry.....if it ain't broken.....dont fix it.

DN
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      09-10-2014, 07:48 AM   #7
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When I bought the car, the seal was leaking and later when I installed JB4 I realised that someone prior had installed and removed a JB4...

Do you think the added boost over stock + something like a malfunctioning PCV has caused the oil cooler gasket to leak again?
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      09-11-2014, 12:26 AM   #8
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Anything is possible.
Could be a number of causes.

I am all stock.
Don't want to mod my DD and run into issues like most on this forum.

Just my belief.
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      09-11-2014, 11:14 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Scotty89
When I bought the car, the seal was leaking and later when I installed JB4 I realised that someone prior had installed and removed a JB4...

Do you think the added boost over stock + something like a malfunctioning PCV has caused the oil cooler gasket to leak again?
Nope, the valve cover gasket, filter housing gasket, pan gasket, rear seal will leaks bc the crappy gaskets fail over time due to heat cycles. Has nothing to do with added boost or tuning. This is a fact of life with BMWs ( And many other manufacturers as well).
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      09-17-2014, 11:20 PM   #10
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So the new gaskets arrived and I had time to start putting it back together last night.

Put the oil filter housing on the block, felt good.

Went to fit the oil cooler to the oil filter housing and the bottom torx bolt has stripped right through the aluminium threads!! I nearly cried.

I can't figure out whether I'd stripped it, or the previous band-aid job by the previous owners mechanic stripped it. I am so bummed.

I had a look and the oil filter housing is $200-300 even for used parts on ebay. I'm going to have a go with some helicoil thread repair inserts on the weekend, as I've got nothing else to lose now. I hope it works. Aluminium threads are the devil.
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      04-23-2017, 03:26 PM   #11
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Yikes, old thread. I went ahead and did my gaskets yesterday and I stripped the right-hand threads on the heat exchanger side. I tried a bandaid job with some thread lock and let the car idle to bring it up to temp and then drove it around yesterday and I saw a bit of oil seep out but I figured it was the new gasket seating once the car came up on temp. So I wiped it away and looked at it again, and it all seemed to be fine. Drove to the grocery store and then got something to eat with my son before heading up, checked again and it was fine. Get in to drive to work today and I see some smoke from the engine bay, very small amount, it wasn't massive. Just as I arrive to work I get the low oil alert, parked and opened the hood to see oil everywhere. So my plan is to get it towed to an indy and let them have at it, plus replace the belts since they're slick with oil no doubt. I just can't understand how it was stripped, I looked on RealOEM and it says that they're self-tapping fasteners, so are they single use only? When I originally did the retrofit, I removed the bolts on the coolant line to the engine block to better be able to torque the bottom fastener of the OFH and those were single use as stated in the Bentley manual, so I'm assuming that these bolts are single use on the heat exchanger but the manual doesn't state that they are. This is the only thread I can find on this, every other thread is about the regular OFHG DIY. A simple job swapping out gaskets that were paid for nearly 2 years ago now turning into a several-hundred-dollar job, and it doesn't help it's during the work week so I'll have to bum rides to and from the house until the job is done, and hopefully before my dyno run on Friday.
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      07-10-2018, 12:15 AM   #12
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Bump to this thread freaking a bit seeing so much oil in coolant
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