[thisdangoilpan]

Hello all, I'm currently in the middle of a nightmare repair, with my subframe completely removed and oil pan just not budging.

I've got every single bolt removed, including the 4 horizontal ones, and I've pried at all 6 tabs, including with my 3 foot pry bar and a hammer. I have smacked the reason out of every side of this oil pan across multiple dimensions. I've even rotated the crankshaft in hope that a counterweight was stuck or something. I can pry the pan down about an inch or two in the front, but it just won't budge from the rear driver's side corner. I've looked at pictures and I see absolutely nothing that could hold it on. I've been at this for about 3 hours... any ideas before I lose patience long enough to grab my angle grinder?

[Asonchadwick]

Can you post up a video or some pics. Something is holding it up I would not grind anything at all.

[peteyypab]

Only because you didn’t mention it... have you pulled the dipstick and tube?

[BB_cuda]

Originally Posted by peteyypab

Only because you didn’t mention it... have you pulled the dipstick and tube?

+1, I thought of this but without any reason to know it would hang it up.

[peteyypab]

The tube is definitely bolted to the side of the pan

[335dlci]

Depends if they are axles going through the pan...

[thisdangoilpan]

Originally Posted by peteyypab

Only because you didn’t mention it... have you pulled the dipstick and tube?

I thought that same thing, left it in coz I couldn't find my 10mm (amazing) then came back prepared the next day expecting that to be the solution... but still stuck without the tube attached. Although that current hole is right around the area it's stuck at.

What host do y'all prefer for videos? I'll get one up

[IllSic_Design]

IDK about the diesels, but on the n54/335i there are like 4-5 bolts that hold the oil pan at the transmission/bellhousing. there's one way up on the drivers side of the tranny that you need an extension/swivel joint to get to


and uhhh what would you do exactly with an angle grinder to get it to come off?? lol

[thisdangoilpan]

well I had an idea involving a cut off wheel...

Anyways, I did get all the horizontal bolts... there's one way above the oil pan that connects the trans to the engine but I couldn't see how that could hold the pan on. Guess I might as well take it off next time and see

[thisdangoilpan]

Does anyone think the crankshaft or flexplate could have something to do with it?? For some reason I could only turn my crank like 180 degrees, as if I still had the lock in there. I didn't really fiddle with it back and forth because I have a dented piston in that's kissing the cylinder wall, that's why I'm dropping the pan.
Head is off her too. At this point I might as well just pull the engine. That would make the second time I've done that in a parking lot

[thisdangoilpan]

Everyone, I think I figured out what's going on. And we all knew it was going to be embarrassing.

So first off, the crankshaft binding thing was just the timing chain getting caught up on itself since the head is off. Yeah, real smooth operator, this guy. I moved that and the engine spins fine. I moved the crankshaft through a full rotation in maybe 30 degree increments and no alignment would allow the pan off.

I was looking at used oil pans, confident that I would have to cut this one off and buy another. And I was taking a GOOD look at them... seems like they had some bolt holes... where the transmission would be? What??

So I looked at the video I took to post in a last ditch attempt... woah, two holes in the transmission bellhousing, with bolts on the inside peeking right back at me.

Will update when I take them out, probably today.

I WILL GET THIS CAR RUNNING...

[thisdangoilpan]

Pan is out!
Culprit: 2 bolts that are accessed through 2 holes in the bottom of the transmission bellhousing!
New piston is in!

Attached:
Old piston and new piston
Problem bolt (1 of 2) in and out
Damage to oil pan sealing surface from hours of prying... should I fix it, RTV it, or do y'all think it's fine?

[335dlci]

Rtv

[thisdangoilpan]

That's what I was thinking.
Here's my contribution for this thread: all bolts to my knowledge are single use, so here's all the replacement bolts needed when taking the oil pan off.

All torx. 29 total.
Quantity, size, part number.

(17) M6x22 11137800619
(4) M8x30 11137800621
(4) M8x50 23001222887
(2) M6x60 11137800622
(2) M6x100 11137800623

My subtotal from FCP was $49.24!
At least it's free when I do it again in 100K miles.

As far as I know, there are no manuals in circulation for oil pan work on the M57 and I could find absolutely no information, so my best inference for torque values on these bolts, all grade 8.8, is going to be 10Nm for the M6 bolts and 24Nm for the M8 bolts. These bolts are steel (magnetic) so I would not do the final 90° / 180° tightening that is procedural for the aluminum bolts on similar engines. I'm using loctite just incase and tightening everything in an pattern just like head bolts.

This is what I found for aluminum pan bolts.
M6: 4 Nm + 90°
M8: 8 Nm + 180°

Use any of these torque specs at your own risk. I don't know what's right. If anyone knows better, please correct me, I'm probably going to do this in about a week. Beforehand, I will be tapping scrap aluminum (to mimic engine block) and torqueing these old bolts down to various values to see how they fare. I'll update with my findings.

[335dlci]

Originally Posted by thisdangoilpan

That's what I was thinking.
Here's my contribution for this thread: all bolts to my knowledge are single use, so here's all the replacement bolts needed when taking the oil pan off.

All torx. 29 total.
Quantity, size, part number.

(17) M6x22 11137800619
(4) M8x30 11137800621
(4) M8x50 23001222887
(2) M6x60 11137800622
(2) M6x100 11137800623

My subtotal from FCP was $49.24!
At least it's free when I do it again in 100K miles.

As far as I know, there are no manuals in circulation for oil pan work on the M57 and I could find absolutely no information, so my best inference for torque values on these bolts, all grade 8.8, is going to be 10Nm for the M6 bolts and 24Nm for the M8 bolts. These bolts are steel (magnetic) so I would not do the final 90° / 180° tightening that is procedural for the aluminum bolts on similar engines. I'm using loctite just incase and tightening everything in an pattern just like head bolts.

This is what I found for aluminum pan bolts.
M6: 4 Nm + 90°
M8: 8 Nm + 180°

Use any of these torque specs at your own risk. I don't know what's right. If anyone knows better, please correct me, I'm probably going to do this in about a week. Beforehand, I will be tapping scrap aluminum (to mimic engine block) and torqueing these old bolts down to various values to see how they fare. I'll update with my findings.

Ista has all this info...

[Owen81]

[thisdangoilpan]

Thank you. I have NO idea how I missed that. Sump instead of pan, sigh. This being the M57 SCR engine, the applicable page says the M6 bolts are 8Nm and the M8 bolts are 19Nm. All reusable, no extra tightening angle.

[thisdangoilpan]

Actually, in 11 13 000, it states "replace aluminum screws" but these bolts are definitely not aluminum. Not on my car at least.

[dextersl]

So just to confirm, for 335d/M57 engines, the Oil Pan/Oil Sump bolts can be reused and do not have to be replaced according to ISTA?

I have only seen this stated here, and on FCPEuro for one of their oil pan bolt replacement sets where it stated "Oil pan bolts on M50 and US S50 engines are not one-time use bolts".

Was not able to find a pre-packaged replacement set for the 335d/M57 that stated the same though. But all the bolts in your list are available individually at fcpeuro.

[dextersl]

Just to add to the previous post. A lot of the discussions in regards to whether or not bolts are reusable are tied the the material the engine block is made out of. There are engine blocks which were made of cast iron, magnesium, and aluminum.

I believe the consensus is if you have a version that uses a magnesium block, you definitely need to replace the bolts.

From what I have researched so far the earlier M57 engine blocks were made out of cast iron, and the newer ones were made out of aluminum. I believe the ones we received in the US from 2009-2011 were all aluminum.

Owen81 I am trying to understand the chart you posted as to which bolts for our 335d/M57 Oil Pan/Oil Sump are being tagged as "Replace screws"?
the M6 10.9 and M8 8.8 grades tagged as "Replace screws" in your chart do not appear to apply to the M57. But please correct me if I am wrong as I do not have access to any documentation stating otherwise for our specific model.

I appreciate all the knowledge everyone shares from their experience, but I also like to be able to reference documentation, if available, where specifications are defined stating what applies to our specific model.

I have 205K miles on my 335d now and I did notice some oil coming from the gasket, although I have never had to add any oil between oil changes over the years. I plan on performing the gasket replacement later this year so just doing research on the job ahead of time.

[Tambohamilton]

M57TU2 (330d) TIS says to replace only the aluminium bolts...

[B58]

What caused that piston damage?