[rbaker1967]

Hello all.
I studied and studied this posting for weeks to prepare. Very informative and helpful. Yes the oil return pipe is difficult but after you have the pan loose and hanging, you can give the bottom of the connector a good shot or 2 with a hammer and screwdriver and it will come off.

MY PROBLEM:
I took out the oil pan and there were 2 bolt-heads loose in the bottom of the pan along with a small piece of hard plastic. Where are they from? I cannot see anything that is missing a bolt head or where this piece of plastic is from.
Do I dare put it back together and hope for the best?

Any advice who be greatly appreciated. I have attached a PIC

[9krpmrx8]

Oh shit. Definitely do not put it back together and hope for the best.

[Mrclean67]

Oil level sensor bolt heads possibly? I'm in the process of doing mine I got to the point of lowering the subframe about an inch and called it a night Sunday evening. I did try to remove the oil level sensor and the nuts and bolts spun so I'll have to wait to pull the pan to remove it to do the seal.

[PhaseP]

Originally Posted by rbaker1967

Hello all.
I studied and studied this posting for weeks to prepare. Very informative and helpful. Yes the oil return pipe is difficult but after you have the pan loose and hanging, you can give the bottom of the connector a good shot or 2 with a hammer and screwdriver and it will come off.

MY PROBLEM:
I took out the oil pan and there were 2 bolt-heads loose in the bottom of the pan along with a small piece of hard plastic. Where are they from? I cannot see anything that is missing a bolt head or where this piece of plastic is from.
Do I dare put it back together and hope for the best?

Any advice who be greatly appreciated. I have attached a PIC

Could be vanos unit bolts. Or the head bolts that bolt chain area. Search forum you will find info on those breaking

[Brian_TII]

UGH... sooo I've been working on replacing my oil pan gasket and of course managed to snap one of the bolts during reassembly. Everything was going perfectly smooth until it wasn't. Of course it's the one right next to the oil / air separator return (06 330i). I was able to get a drill bit on it and get somewhat off center hole drilled, and then tried an EZ Out. EZ out... OF COURSE snapped off leaving me with 1/2 a bolt and 1/2 an EZ out stuck in there in about the worst freaking spot. Given that it's on the drivers side what are the chances it'll cause a leak? All the others are torqued correctly. This just happened to be "the one" that chose to snap at ~20 degrees. No where near 90. I hate these bolts.

I've 95% decided to "leave it alone" and see if it leaks... and if it does leak let some poor shop deal with it while I admit that I suck at life, bend over and pay whatever it costs to fix it properly. Any risks that I'm missing? Will what are the chances it'll leak?

[rbaker1967]

Originally Posted by PhaseP

Could be vanos unit bolts. Or the head bolts that bolt chain area. Search forum you will find info on those breaking

Thanks PhaseP!
I am searching but without success on here. Bolts holding the chain guide are a possibility because of the plastic piece i found there as well.
I am looking at real OEM diagrams to see if i can determine where they came from. I really want to avoid exploratory surgery to find out where it sheared off from.
I may go to an independent garage to see if they have any ideas.
Thanks again!

[Joebie]

Originally Posted by rbaker1967

Thanks PhaseP!
I am searching but without success on here. Bolts holding the chain guide are a possibility because of the plastic piece i found there as well.
I am looking at real OEM diagrams to see if i can determine where they came from. I really want to avoid exploratory surgery to find out where it sheared off from.
I may go to an independent garage to see if they have any ideas.
Thanks again!

Can you post another pic with a size reference and better lighting? I just recently took my blown engine apart entirely and might be able to help, its just hard to tell from the picture provided.

Are the bolt heads aluminum or steel? They look aluminum, and they say "AL" on them I just want to be sure.

There's only so many aluminum bolts on the inside of the engine. As for the plastic piece better lighting and a size reference for both would help me.

[rbaker1967]

Originally Posted by Joester

Can you post another pic with a size reference and better lighting? I just recently took my blown engine apart entirely and might be able to help, its just hard to tell from the picture provided.

Are the bolt heads aluminum or steel? They look aluminum, and they say "AL" on them I just want to be sure.

There's only so many aluminum bolts on the inside of the engine. As for the plastic piece better lighting and a size reference for both would help me.

Thank you JOESTER!
Here is a better shot of the broken bolt heads. The socket size is T-12 and yes they are frustratingly ALUMINUM!

[PhaseP]

Those are probably these bolts described in this article:

https://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/tec...lt_Testing.htm

[Joebie]

Originally Posted by rbaker1967

Thank you JOESTER!
Here is a better shot of the broken bolt heads. The socket size is T-12 and yes they are frustratingly ALUMINUM!

Hmm, E12 is kind of a medium size, I don't think they're the head bolts but I could be wrong. The head bolts are E14 or 16 I think.

Unfortunately I don't really recognize the E12s from anywhere. I went out to my garage and grabbed a E12 bolt... there's not many of that size in the engine.

My best guess is something to do with the cam chain plastic guide. That might be what your plastic piece is from too, but I definitely don't know that for sure, just a guess.

Sorry I couldnt be of more help, good luck!

[PhaseP]

It could also be oil pickup tube and related parts. That is a black plastic tube going from memory when I had done my oil pan gasket. Maybe you bumped on it when taking the oil pan out?

Picture of mine, it has bolts holding it to bottom of engine

[Joebie]

Originally Posted by PhaseP

It could also be oil pickup tube and related parts. That is a black plastic tube going from memory when I had done my oil pan gasket. Maybe you bumped on it when taking the oil pan out?

That pickup tube is pitch black plastic whereas the cam chain guides are brown-ish plastic.

The piece is his picture looked a little brown to me, but I am actually red-green colorblind so I could be wrong about this.

If I remember right, the bolts holding that in place are E-10s but once again memory could be failing me. I just remember them being small bolts.

What about the bolts holding the oil pump in place?

[rbaker1967]

Originally Posted by Joester

That pickup tube is pitch black plastic whereas the cam chain guides are brown-ish plastic.

The piece is his picture looked a little brown to me, but I am actually red-green colorblind so I could be wrong about this.

If I remember right, the bolts holding that in place are E-10s but once again memory could be failing me. I just remember them being small bolts.

What about the bolts holding the oil pump in place?

Yes the plastic piece is brownish. I looked at the oil pick up pipe and the bolts holding the oil pump and everything appears to be in place.
The current plan is to purchase a boroscope to see if i can get a visual on something up where the timing chain is, then to BMW dealership to see the parts guy to help me narrow it down ... THEN to an indy BMW mechanic I've used in the past to ask for any advice/clues/experience.
I will post again when there is any progress... but feel free to contribute if you have any other ideas.
THANK YOU!!

[Joebie]

Originally Posted by rbaker1967

Yes the plastic piece is brownish. I looked at the oil pick up pipe and the bolts holding the oil pump and everything appears to be in place.
The current plan is to purchase a boroscope to see if i can get a visual on something up where the timing chain is, then to BMW dealership to see the parts guy to help me narrow it down ... THEN to an indy BMW mechanic I've used in the past to ask for any advice/clues/experience.
I will post again when there is any progress... but feel free to contribute if you have any other ideas.
THANK YOU!!

I went back and dug up some pictures I took while disassembling my old engine in hopes that they would help. Below in the first picture is circled my best guess what the plastic piece is. There's only like 3 plastic pieces in the entire engine so it can only be so many things.

As for the bolts, I don't know. They could be any of the bolts you see in the pictures of the bottom of the engine. There's aluminum bolts around that size holding the oil baffle, oil pump, and bed plate on. Could be anything. Theres also a few aluminum head bolts up top that could be broken, that's somewhat common like a previous poster said.

On the last pic look at the lowest part of the pic that is still "in" the oil pan. theres a bunch of aluminum bolts in there, cant remember their size.

[NYCiROLL]

Hey rbaker1967,

When I did replaced the oilpan gasket on my 330i, I too found broken screws in the pan. They were the same size as the ones in your photos.
Turns out they were from the oil pump.

The brown-ish plastic could be from the lower chain guide, which might have chipped when removing the pan.



I had to order an Oil pump screw kit from the local dealer ($19)

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...um-11410426472

Guess where the screw came from?



Good luck. It seems the early production (5/2005) cars had this issue.

[Mrclean67]

Finished bolting the oil pan up today, all went well. I was a little surprised how tight the bolts got after the 90 degrees after torque, my buthole puckered a little as I was nearing the 90 degree mark!

[El Cheapo Loco]

Can someone please advise if the 3 horizontal bolts are steel or aluminum? And if they are aluminum and need to be replaced, what is the part number? TIA

[banglenot]

Best approach is to either call the BMW parts dept, or look up the bolts on realOEM with the last 7 digits of your VIN #.

They will be labeled with a warning if aluminum.

[Mrclean67]

Fired it up Saturday night all well do far. The air bleed procedure for the cooling system worked well and is one of the best I've had to deal with. Exhaust and intake sound great although I think I'm going to remove the secondary cats, not nearly as loud as I expected.

[paulzak]

Loktite documentation suggests using primer with blue Loktite on magnesium and aluminum. Has anyone used this on these pan bolts and any thoughts?

If I do this job, I'd prefer to only do it once.

Great thread. Thanks everyone. Paul

[Joebie]

Originally Posted by paulzak

Loktite documentation suggests using primer with blue Loktite on magnesium and aluminum. Has anyone used this on these pan bolts and any thoughts?

If I do this job, I'd prefer to only do it once.

Great thread. Thanks everyone. Paul

The OE oil pan bolts come with loctite pre-applied, making the job super easy!

[talisman311]

I just completed this job with this DIY. My car is a 06 330i, so I have the oil tube going into the pan.

2 tips -
1.) Get a fuel line separator tool to help with removing the oil line to the pan - https://www.autozone.com/test-scan-a...l-set/2356_0_0

2.) Unscrew 3 torx screws holding the front heater hose to the subframe to drop the subframe more.

Thanks for the excellent write-up!