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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 > Worth it to replace oil pan gasket



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      10-31-2018, 08:36 PM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Efthreeoh View Post
I should have added, if you are finding a half dollar sized spot on the floor, then the next time you drop the engine lower cover (belly pan) you'll find the belly pan a mess of oil and road grime. After I did my OPG it took me a good hour to fully clean the belly pan from the mess it carries. The belly pan on these cars hide a lot of fluid leaks.

I let my pan leak for about 88,000 miles and 2 years. It made a mess of the belly pan. Worst off it lets oil into the bell housing (which makes it look like the rear crank seal is leaking) and makes a mess inside the bellhousing, which I discovered when I replaced the clutch. The pressure plate has fan blades built into it for clutch cooling. The air turbulence inside the bell housing sprays the leaking engine oil all over the inside of the housing.
Does this "ruin" the clutch at all?
My 6MT has 106k on it and clutch still feels good and strong. Hoping it out lasts other parts of the car, because if the clutch goes, that MAY be the one of the few things that makes me get rid of the car. Clutch job would be $2500-3000 I would assume. Not sure if that is "worth it".... but for now, my clutch is good, I think yours has lasted pretty long?
Clutches are way more subjective, driving habits and style, etc, so I know mileage is not really a great indicator
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      11-01-2018, 05:34 AM   #24
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Originally Posted by AllBlackBimmer View Post
Does this "ruin" the clutch at all?
My 6MT has 106k on it and clutch still feels good and strong. Hoping it out lasts other parts of the car, because if the clutch goes, that MAY be the one of the few things that makes me get rid of the car. Clutch job would be $2500-3000 I would assume. Not sure if that is "worth it".... but for now, my clutch is good, I think yours has lasted pretty long?
Clutches are way more subjective, driving habits and style, etc, so I know mileage is not really a great indicator
I did the clutch at 293,000. The dual-mass flywheel broke. The clutch disk still had about 2MM to go before it needed replacement.
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      11-01-2018, 09:17 PM   #25
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Originally Posted by Efthreeoh View Post
I did the clutch at 293,000. The dual-mass flywheel broke. The clutch disk still had about 2MM to go before it needed replacement.
Do you think the oil in bell housing contributed at all to it breaking?
293k is awesome.
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      11-02-2018, 05:19 AM   #26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AllBlackBimmer View Post
Do you think the oil in bell housing contributed at all to it breaking?
293k is awesome.
No. The dual mass flywheels just break after high mileages.
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      11-02-2018, 02:09 PM   #27
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Try this before you do the fix: https://www.amazon.com/AUTOPROFI-Eng...ords=autoprofi

Guy I work with said it sealed up his leak dry on 328i. He’s now using half a can every oil change as maintenance dose. He did say his leak was closer to a weep so may not help every situation.
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      11-02-2018, 02:41 PM   #28
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Originally Posted by oolas3 View Post
Try this before you do the fix: https://www.amazon.com/AUTOPROFI-Eng...ords=autoprofi

Guy I work with said it sealed up his leak dry on 328i. He’s now using half a can every oil change as maintenance dose. He did say his leak was closer to a weep so may not help every situation.
That crap will not stop a N52 oil pan gasket leak. The gasket turns brittle and carbon charred like a steak left on a flaming grill too long.
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      11-02-2018, 04:27 PM   #29
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Just JB weld it like that one guy did on an N54. ROFL..
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      11-02-2018, 10:58 PM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oolas3 View Post
Try this before you do the fix: https://www.amazon.com/AUTOPROFI-Eng...ords=autoprofi

Guy I work with said it sealed up his leak dry on 328i. He’s now using half a can every oil change as maintenance dose. He did say his leak was closer to a weep so may not help every situation.
I wouldn't put any kind of stop leak in your engine. It will do nothing for the leak (like Efthreeoh mentioned) and could cause other issues.
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      11-02-2018, 10:58 PM   #31
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hassmaschine View Post
Just JB weld it like that one guy did on an N54. ROFL..
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      11-03-2018, 07:51 AM   #32
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Originally Posted by CTinline-six View Post
I wouldn't put any kind of stop leak in your engine. It will do nothing for the leak (like Efthreeoh mentioned) and could cause other issues.
I think that stop leak crap probably worked on old Chevy Novas when oil chemistry changed and wasn't compatible with engine seals from the 1960's...
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      11-03-2018, 08:23 AM   #33
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I can't speak to the N54 because I've not taken the oil pan off of one, but I can speak to the N52. I'm sure the N54 has similar design issues.

The reason the N52 oil pan starts to leak near the right rear corner (passenger-side of the engine) is because the gasket design is substandard (in my opinion) and due to the canted engine block design. Overhead cam engines are tall, so BMW rotates the engine block about 20 degrees clockwise (when looking froward from the rear of the engine) so the right side of the block sits lower than the left side. This has the right side partline between the bottom of the block and the oil pan lower on the right than the left. There is a windage plate below the crankshaft which is also canted with the block and its edges are on the same plane as the bottom of the engine block. The oil drips off the right side the windage tray directly into the partline between the block and the pan.

The oil pan gasket design sucks, it's basically three short and thin rubber ridges embossed onto a metal substrate. The pan gasket is then coated with a heat-reacting glue to attach the gasket to the surface of the block and pan. After several years and many heat cycles, the small rubber ridges become hard and lose any resiliency they had when new. So when the oil drips off of the windage tray into the block/pan partline where the gasket is, the gasket, once hard, lets the oil pass through.

It's not possible to change the gasket design because the metal substrate is required to keep galvanic reaction from starting between the steel (on manual trans cars) and aluminum (on auto trans cars) and the magnesium engine block; it's why the gasket sticks out beyond the perimeter of the engine block and the oil pan. In my opinion, the only way to improve the performance of the OE gasket is to apply a thin coat of gasket sealer to both sides of the gasket.

I finally found the pic:
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A manual transmission can be set to "comfort", "sport", and "track" modes simply by the technique and speed at which you shift it; it doesn't need "modes", modes are for manumatics that try to behave like a real 3-pedal manual transmission. If you can money-shift it, it's a manual transmission. "Yeah, but NO ONE puts an automatic trans shift knob on a manual transmission."

Last edited by Efthreeoh; 11-10-2018 at 06:30 AM..
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      11-05-2018, 07:55 AM   #34
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hassmaschine View Post
Just JB weld it like that one guy did on an N54. ROFL..
What ever happened to that guy?

He changed his neighbours oil pan gasket by JB welding the pan to the block.

Classic!

Found his original thread, enjoy! (Post #36)

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showt...1468992&page=2

Last edited by Wolf 335; 11-05-2018 at 08:20 AM..
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      11-05-2018, 01:27 PM   #35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolf 335 View Post
What ever happened to that guy?

He changed his neighbours oil pan gasket by JB welding the pan to the block.

Classic!

Found his original thread, enjoy! (Post #36)

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showt...1468992&page=2
That dude was just a complete ass.
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      06-21-2021, 09:34 PM   #36
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I’ve had my 328xi for less than 2 years, and currently has 59,500 miles. I’ve replaced the OFHG and the valve cover & gaskets in the last 7 months. Still seeing a small drip on the garage floor. Definitely from the oil pan, top of engine is dry.

Has anyone tried Liqui Moly oil saver? Seems to be a better product than the one linked a few posts above. Sorry if this has been discussed, couldn’t find a thread about it, so figured I’d revive this one. Wondering if the sealant could buy me some time, as I’m ready to “invest” in the complete 60k fluid service, and don’t want to spend an additional $1500 on the oil pan gasket.

Last edited by Cpet; 06-21-2021 at 10:32 PM.. Reason: Typo
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      06-21-2021, 10:04 PM   #37
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cpet View Post
I've had my 328xi for less than 2 years, and currently has 59,500 miles. I've replaced the OFHG and the valve cover & gaskets in the last 7 months. Still seeing a small drip on the garage floor. Definitely from the oil pan, top of engine is dry.

Has anyone tried Liqui Moly oil saver? Seems to be a better project than the one linked a few posts above. Sorry if this has been discussed, couldn't find a thread about it, so figured I'd revive this one. Wondering if the sealant could buy me some time, as I'm ready to "invest" in the complete 60k fluid service, and don't want to spend an additional $1500 on the oil pan gasket.
I have the same issue on two cars. Put in the oil saver on both within the last 1k miles. Too early too tell- many have reported improvement, but it's not a panacea. Both are 100k+ mile cars that are 10-11 years old, so it's only a matter of time before I'll have to replace them.
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      06-21-2021, 10:42 PM   #38
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Despite the low miles on mine, the vcg was extremely hard and brittle, so I can only imagine what the oil pan gasket is like.

With the used car market so hot and mine being in very good shape, maybe I should sell it. Should be able to break even except obviously gas and insurance/registration.
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      06-22-2021, 12:49 AM   #39
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cpet View Post
Despite the low miles on mine, the vcg was extremely hard and brittle, so I can only imagine what the oil pan gasket is like.

With the used car market so hot and mine being in very good shape, maybe I should sell it. Should be able to break even except obviously gas and insurance/registration.
The VCG is a different animal as it is simply a polymer, rather than polymer coated metal, but I understand the comparison. I hear you, though. I have 4 similarly aged cars and the two BMWs manage to leak oil from every orifice requiring gasket changes from everywhere that touches the block. Water pumps failed, eccentric shaft sensor failed… Yet, I haven't leaked a single drop of oil, nor done anything other than fluid and filter changes on my Japanese cars.
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      06-22-2021, 08:12 PM   #40
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OP here… haha saw this thread got revived…
I made this 3years ago I think at 106k… 3 years later and at 119k, almost 120k… oil pan is still leaking! I haven’t gotten it fixed.
Has gotten worse but I haven’t had to add oil between changes - yet - fingers crossed.

I’d like to get it fixed, but I’m not paying more than $500. Not doing it myself either… so… cardboard on my garage floor, and plastic underbelly pans are a mess… but still going strong!
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      06-22-2021, 11:19 PM   #41
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Quote:
Originally Posted by e91Owner View Post
The VCG is a different animal as it is simply a polymer, rather than polymer coated metal
Good to know, thanks. Hopefully that means it’ll hold up a bit longer.

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Originally Posted by AllBlackBimmer View Post
3 years later and at 119k, almost 120k… oil pan is still leaking! I haven’t gotten it fixed.
Has gotten worse but I haven’t had to add oil between changes - yet - fingers crossed.
Glad it hasn’t gotten to the point of adding oil even over 3 years. I’ll just keep putting cardboard on the garage floor til I bite the bullet. Fortunately and unfortunately, we replaced our driveway last week - guess I won’t be parking on it for a while!
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