[MrEnlightenEd]

2007 BMW 328xi Oil Filter Housing Cap Leak/ Engine Stall - No Crank, No Start.

Hello Bimmerpost, How's it going?

I'm the owner of an envy green 2007 BMW 328xi N52 3.0L V6 Engine (Vin:WBAVC93507KX55332). I've owned this car for a solid 5 years, bought secondhand from a dealer with 180K miles on it for $2.3k.

Hey, This happened to me a few days ago. I start my car after work and pull off the employee parking lot at my job, make it about a mile down the road and start seeing smoke under the hood. I stop the car, look to go see under the hood and find that the oil filter housing cap has a hairline crack on the black plastic surface and oil is spraying out of it like a windex bottle. I said to myself "Hey maybe I can at least limp/make it home, take it to a mechanic tomorrow." Start the car back up buy some duck tape and put a pair of throwaway socks I had in my car over the oil filter cap. Car stalled on me about 8 min from my house, and I have NOT be able to turn the car back on since. Pushed the car into a warehouse parking lot and Ubered home...

Just a week ago I did an oil change and replaced the oil filter from a local mechanic shop (charged me a cheap $35 to get it done)

Just 2 weeks previous I had a BMW specialist replace the Drive Train and Starter in the car cost me upwards of $800.

Just a month earlier I had another mechanic replace the Spark Plugs and Ignition coils as well as the Valve Cover/ But not the Valve Cover Gasket.

Was told I needed to replace the Oil filter housing Gasket by afro-mentioned mechanic just a month earlier, but money is really really tight and need to get and forth to work.

Right now I don't know what to do Bimmerpost, all I can do now is uber to work please help.....

[MrEnlightenEd]

Hello again Bimmerpost.

I have also read another thread: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1167672

in which the OP has a similar problem( 335NavyGuy)

Problem is, unlike the OP of that thread who was smart enough to turn OFF his engine as soon as he detected the engine oil seepage from the Oil filter housing, i ended up driving mine for 12 mi from work….

How screwed am i…? 😢

[StradaRedlands]

First off, trade the V6 for an inline six. Much better motor in a BMW!

Second, what is an afro-mechanic? This is their haircut, right?

Third, whoever did your oil change effed up the cap by over-tightening. Best case they did a shit job and just didn't observe the crack. But more likely they broke it.

Fourth, without codes, who knows why it isn't starting... you need to get some codes and bring those back here for what are still best guesses on the internet.

[MrEnlightenEd]

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

First off, trade the V6 for an inline six. Much better motor in a BMW!

Second, what is an afro-mechanic? This is their haircut, right?

Third, whoever did your oil change effed up the cap by over-tightening. Best case they did a shit job and just didn't observe the crack. But more likely they broke it.

Fourth, without codes, who knows why it isn't starting... you need to get some codes and bring those back here for what are still best guesses on the internet.

Sorry for the misspelling, its my first time posting here.


Definitely the place i went to get the oil change done at. Never going there again 👎

I haven’t been able to get to the car now for a few days and hook up the Bimmerscanner but when i do i will definitely post.

Any other troubleshooting ideas for the car when I DO go back as it is not in my driveway nor driveable… what do?

[StradaRedlands]

Originally Posted by MrEnlightenEd

Sorry for the misspelling, its my first time posting here.


Definitely the place i went to get the oil change done at. Never going there again 👎

I haven’t been able to get to the car now for a few days and hook up the Bimmerscanner but when i do i will definitely post.

Any other troubleshooting ideas for the car when I DO go back as it is not in my driveway nor driveable… what do?

Yeah, that $35 deal is anything but They did you wrong...

As for the car... it could be anything from a disconnect battery cable to a seized up engine. Probably something simple like the former, but just a guessing game.

[mainbearing]

The shop will deny poor workmanship and yeah that was a very expensive oil change if that was indeed the cause -- just speculation at this point. If the engine seized from lack of oil then it is not something that can be solved in a short time or low dollars.

See if the crankshaft can be turned I guess, and see if the serpentine belt has not been ingested into the engine from all the oil splashing under the hood causing it to slip off the pulleys.

I doubt you can find a decent junkyard engine and swap it in for $2.3K. The engine is about $1.5-2K on eBay listings.

Maybe you can find another BMW for $2.3K. Because a decent used Honda or Toyota compact will cost more than that.

[MrEnlightenEd]

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

Yeah, that $35 deal is anything but They did you wrong...

As for the car... it could be anything from a disconnect battery cable to a seized up engine. Probably something simple like the former, but just a guessing game.

I feel like im burning through all my money on this car. I don’t think i understand the process of getting it started again, if i were to just tow it home and look under the hood. My first guess would be to replace the oil filter cap, replace the filter underneath, Clean the the oil filter housing area around the gasket with engine degreaser….


Now getting it started is another really nasty thing about bmw’s do i have replace the starter ( replaced 2 weeks ago) for the car to even crank….?

Maybe it could be the battery?

I have a trickle charger i can hook it up to.

Could it be that oil has compromised critical components in the system? Meaning i would have to take stuff apart (positive there is oil on the serpentine belt.)


Where would i even go directionwise to get the car to even think of cranking after throwing all my good money to a specialist to replace the starter only a week ago…..

[MrEnlightenEd]

Originally Posted by MrEnlightenEd

I feel like im burning through all my money on this car. I don’t think i understand the process of getting it started again, if i were to just tow it home and look under the hood. My first guess would be to replace the oil filter cap, replace the filter underneath, Clean the the oil filter housing area around the gasket with engine degreaser….


Now getting it started is another really nasty thing about bmw’s do i have replace the starter ( replaced 2 weeks ago) for the car to even crank….?

Maybe it could be the battery?

I have a trickle charger i can hook it up to.

Could it be that oil has compromised critical components in the system? Meaning i would have to take stuff apart (positive there is oil on the serpentine belt.)


Where would i even go directionwise to get the car to even think of cranking after throwing all my good money to a specialist to replace the starter only a week ago…..

Maybe someone has had the exact same issue and miraculously gotten their bimmer engine back running again.

[MrEnlightenEd]

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

Yeah, that $35 deal is anything but They did you wrong...

As for the car... it could be anything from a disconnect battery cable to a seized up engine. Probably something simple like the former, but just a guessing game.

Just Got my Bimmer Back from where it was Stranded at.

Car Still will not start, I wads able to hook up the BimmerScanner to the car and these were the error codes that popped up:

P0303: CYLINDER 3 MISFIRE DETECTED
P0015: B CAMSHAFT POSITION - TIMING OVER-RETARDED BANK 1
P0302: CYLINDER 2 MISFIRE DETECTED
P0300: RANDOM/MULTIPLE CYLINDER MISFIRE DETECTED
P0012: A CAMSHAFT POSITION - TIMING OVER RETARDED BANK 1
P0301: CYLINDER 1 MISFIRE DETECTED
P0303: CYLINDER 3 MISFIRE DETECTED
P0012: A CAMSHAFT POSITION - TIMING OVER-RETARDED BANK 1

(Note I have been driving around for a while with these codes, and I was on my way to getting them fixed before the oil filter cap broke and the oil leak)

[MrEnlightenEd]

Originally Posted by mainbearing

The shop will deny poor workmanship and yeah that was a very expensive oil change if that was indeed the cause -- just speculation at this point. If the engine seized from lack of oil then it is not something that can be solved in a short time or low dollars.

See if the crankshaft can be turned I guess, and see if the serpentine belt has not been ingested into the engine from all the oil splashing under the hood causing it to slip off the pulleys.

I doubt you can find a decent junkyard engine and swap it in for $2.3K. The engine is about $1.5-2K on eBay listings.

Maybe you can find another BMW for $2.3K. Because a decent used Honda or Toyota compact will cost more than that.

Note: I Just got the car back to my driveway. ( The serpentine belt is still where it should be on the Crankshaft pulley and HAS NOT been ingested into the engine.)

I'm still not too clear on how to turn the crankshaft by hand.

[MrEnlightenEd]

Originally Posted by mainbearing

The shop will deny poor workmanship and yeah that was a very expensive oil change if that was indeed the cause -- just speculation at this point. If the engine seized from lack of oil then it is not something that can be solved in a short time or low dollars.

See if the crankshaft can be turned I guess, and see if the serpentine belt has not been ingested into the engine from all the oil splashing under the hood causing it to slip off the pulleys.

I doubt you can find a decent junkyard engine and swap it in for $2.3K. The engine is about $1.5-2K on eBay listings.

Maybe you can find another BMW for $2.3K. Because a decent used Honda or Toyota compact will cost more than that.

Below are the attached photos of the engine bay.

[mainbearing]

Maybe that is an aftermarket oil filter cap? Read some reports of those cracking. You can try removing it and inspect for metal shavings on the filter element.

How is the battery voltage? Is the starter getting voltage? You may not want to try to run the engine now before knowing more.

See this thread on turning the crank, and possibly needing to remove the spark plugs:
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=873691

[MrEnlightenEd]

Hello again Bimmerpost, its been a while....


I was finally able to access the crankshaft on my 328xi

I had to pull the battery, spark plugs and ignition coils from the car.

The crankshaft CAN be turned! I'm guessing that means that there is no serious internal damage to the engine..

I have purchased so far for the restoration:

1x Goodyear Multi-V serpentine belt.
1x Industrial strength engine degreaser.
1x T60 tamper proof torx wrench L-shape for the tensioner and pulley.
1x Aluminum oil filter cap.
2x Mann HU816x oil filters with gaskets and washer for oil drain plug.
1x Can of Kroil 10z Original Penetraing oil. ( sprayed in spark plug holes for about 2 weeks)
1x Breaker Bar 24-inch
1x 22mm Crank Bolt Socket with Harmonic Balancer.
1x BMW Oil filter cap removal tool.
1x Flo-OP Heavy duty oil drain pan.

So far I have disconnected the radiator fan and air filter box, in order to get to the crankshaft and have turned it 10 or 12 times clockwise direction….

Before I do anything else, in hopes of trying to start the car again, what should I be on the lookout for...

My battery is hooked up to a trickle charger and is currently juiced up to 100%

I've thrown the old plastic OEM oil filter cap and STP oil filter in the trash..

Any advice on how I should proceed before I hook the battery, ignition coils/spark plugs, radiator fan, air filter box back up and try to start the car again, is there anything else that needs to be done after replacing the oil filter cap…..[/QUOTE]

[MrEnlightenEd]

Here are some pictures I took after turning the crank and cleaning the area around the oil filter cap (plus the new oil filter cap )..

[MrEnlightenEd]

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

Yeah, that $35 deal is anything but They did you wrong...

As for the car... it could be anything from a disconnect battery cable to a seized up engine. Probably something simple like the former, but just a guessing game.

Hey im back again with a few questions about my 328xi…

what should i do after i have turned over the crankshaft and found no seizure…

will adding oil and putting the battery back in return the vehicle to normal operation…?

[StradaRedlands]

Originally Posted by MrEnlightenEd

Hey im back again with a few questions about my 328xi…

what should i do after i have turned over the crankshaft and found no seizure…

will adding oil and putting the battery back in return the vehicle to normal operation…?

Soooo, I am NOT good at diagnostics... I can swap around parts all day, but knowing which to swap, I'm not the guy!!!

But if you have the oil filter cover replaced, have a new belt, spun the crank by hand... yeah, I'd charge the battery up properly and give it a go and see which codes return and if it starts.

Based on your original codes, the mis-fire and cam sensor codes may still be a problem. Those have nothing to do with an oil cover. Maybe some of the wiring was damaged by oil leak? Did you see pooled oil anywhere near the wiring? The cam position sensors themselves are pretty well protected under the ledge of the engine head, but the wiring could have been damaged by oil ingress. Just a guess though :-/

Here's a quick video just to show where the sensors are:

[MrEnlightenEd]

Originally Posted by mainbearing

Maybe that is an aftermarket oil filter cap? Read some reports of those cracking. You can try removing it and inspect for metal shavings on the filter element.

How is the battery voltage? Is the starter getting voltage? You may not want to try to run the engine now before knowing more.

See this thread on turning the crank, and possibly needing to remove the spark plugs:
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=873691

Yeah turning the crank was successful but im just stuck on if whether i hook everything back up with a charged battery and some fresh oil everything will be okay…

[MrEnlightenEd]

Originally Posted by MrEnlightenEd

Yeah turning the crank was successful but im just stuck on if whether i hook everything back up with a charged battery and some fresh oil everything will be okay…

Update

Me replacing the serpentine belt, adding Kroil penetrating oil through the spark plugs holes and letting it sit for 2 weeks plus a new filter cap installed did it for me my car is indeed back up and running....

[Efthreeoh]

Strangest thread on E90 Post I've ever read.

Well done OP.

[Ricthewrench]

That is some crazy sh*t there!

[mainbearing]

It runs now, and that is what matters!

[Efthreeoh]

OP, clear some things up for us. I for one am perplexed at this entire episode.

1. Where did you get the aluminum oil filter cap? Who makes it?
2. When the engine initially didn't start, did it not rotate, or did it rotate but just not fire?
3. Do you have the lower and upper cabin airfilter parts, and they are just removed in the picture?
4. Have you scanned the car since it has started to run again.
5. Did you change the oil, or just change the oil filter housing cap?
6. Why is the airbox intake plenum broken?