[morphomeman]

OP, what was the wind-up
Inquiring minds want to know

[dlewis23]

A quick update for everyone. It is 110% not the valve cover gasket that is super easy to see and its leaking below the valve cover.

So in the past week or so now after getting the run around from 3 local BMW dealers who all told me the same thing and 2 independent shops, that head gasket is weeping oil. They all said to replace the headgasket, one of the independent shops wanted to rebuild the head while they were there because why the hell not, it's only $6000. So they say. They found oil all the way to the end of the motor.

I just could not justify spending $6000 on that nor did I really believe the head gasket is really leaking. The more and more I through the more I said to my self its not. But I love the car and it's paid for.

I cleaned up everything as best as I could and I decided that I was going to just replace both of the oil filter housing gaskets and go from there. I replaced both in 2 hours last Sunday night. Was quite the fun little job. Drove the car around and it seems semi fixed.

I am still getting small (very small) pools of oil on 2 of the ledges of the motor. It's nothing like it was before but each pool is about half the size of a dime every 2 days or so. Before I had large amounts of oil. So my next task will be figuring out what else could possibly be leaking. I've put about another 600 miles on the car since so we'll see how it goes.

I just have to say tho that while the people at these BMW dealers in South Florida are nice they really are so quick to jump at wanting you to spend thousands and thousands of dollars and everyone said the same thing after doing there $200 hour with the car. Independent shops were no better.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by dlewis23

I just have to say tho that while the people at these BMW dealers in South Florida are nice they really are so quick to jump at wanting you to spend thousands and thousands of dollars and everyone said the same thing after doing there $200 hour with the car. Independent shops were no better.

Congratulations on getting most of the way to the bottom of your issue!

This may be too strong, but my impression has been that many shops consider BMW owners to be piggy banks just waiting to be relieved of major chunks of change.

[Unicorn123]

dlewis,

Well done and way to go! Your efforts renew my faith in people who defy those who would be considered the "authority" on the subject. Thank you for sharing the update on your saga. Sadly, finding a good mechanic / technician who will methodically and properly determine the cause and corrective action on a problem is becoming most difficult.

drader, I hate to be cynical, however your assessment is probably more accurate than we would care to admit. May I suggest that your statement was not too strong!

[arhoads335i]

if it truly is the headgasket call BMW usa and see if they can help you out.

[zipstic]

Originally Posted by zipstic

Are you sure it's the head gasket? BMWs are know for oil filter housing gaskets going bad over time.

Originally Posted by dlewis23

I cleaned up everything as best as I could and I decided that I was going to just replace both of the oil filter housing gaskets and go from there.

Do I win a prize for my armchair diagnosis?

In all seriousness I'm glad you were able to stop a lot of the oil leakage and not fork out $6k to a shop.

Just be aware that since your oil filter gasket reached the end of its life I wouldn't be surprised if your VCG would be up for replacement sometime soon too.

[XutvJet]

If you know where the leaks are on the head/block, you might want to consider using some liquid gasket or similar product in the area to see if it will stop or slow down the leak. It won't harm anything. Just make sure to get the area of application really really clean with a solvent so the material adheres.

Was this car used? I do have to wonder if it was ever overheated. Oil leaking from the head gasket without coolant or some other issues like burning coolant is really rare.

[mikeyymonster]

What is the cost of the VCG replacement if it were to be done by either the dealership or an Indy shop? I want to plan ahead as I know this is guaranteed to come soon for me (almost 60K miles).

[seansurfn2]

Originally Posted by dlewis23

Thanks Ive also yet to come across anyone who has as many miles as I do. The car has really been solid since I have had it other then this big issue. lol.

I went to 3 different places to get some quotes today and its a full engine out service with the head gasket being replaced along with all the seals for the front of the motor and a few other small bits. Get's billed at 26 hours for a total of $6000 from all 3 places I went to. One shop wants to basically rebuild the head in that $6000 quote. So this is really going to suck. it's a good thing that I really do like the car and don't know what else I would go to.



I attached a picture from the amount I took yesterday with some notes thats further back.



It's defiantly not the valve cover from any part I can see. You can see in the picture I attached here that the cover is dry and the aluminum below is very clean.


Going to head to a couple more shops tomorrow to get estimates on what they might think it would cost to repair. I really want it to done right so I can go another 130k with no issues.

dude 6000 bucks? learn to fix it yourself and pay only for a new valve cover gasket. 26 hours of labor? lol engine swaps dont even take that many hours thats stupid af

[seansurfn2]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

If you know where the leaks are on the head/block, you might want to consider using some liquid gasket or similar product in the area to see if it will stop or slow down the leak. It won't harm anything. Just make sure to get the area of application really really clean with a solvent so the material adheres.

Was this car used? I do have to wonder if it was ever overheated. Oil leaking from the head gasket without coolant or some other issues like burning coolant is really rare.

no. don't do that please. i had an n54 and did almost all the work on my own car. the gasket seal and a fix like that is what created more problems for me. best thing is to learn how to work on your bmw yourself if you decide to drive one over the warranty mileage. i've noticed a trend of owners on these forums having no experience at all with working on their own cars which is a bummer

[LiNyGuy]

Did you ever figure this out? I have a similar issue, OFHG was bad, made a mess- replaced the 2 gaskets, can't visualize any leaks. Valve cover gasket was just done by BMW to replace Servomotor. Seeing oil in the SAME place, EXACT symptoms. Don't see anything coming from the valve cover gasket on the driver's side, unless it's easy to miss - and that was literally just replaced 100 miles ago. Though I'm never quite sure I trust what the dealers say they do, unfortunately. Car runs perfect, no smoke, codes, etc.

[FCBuff]

OP, when you did the OFHG, did you "prime" the oil filter housing with oil? I have read something about this and heard that sometimes there can be problems/oil starvation? Or did you just bolt and go?
If I was you, since you can DIY and turn a wrench, I would do the VCG and go from there. Traditionally, oil leaks can be damn difficult to diagnose and "digging in to it" is sometimes the only way to figure it out. I don't trust very many mechanics, dealer or indy. So much better to DIY whenever possible.

[dlewis23]

Originally Posted by FCBuff

OP, when you did the OFHG, did you "prime" the oil filter housing with oil? I have read something about this and heard that sometimes there can be problems/oil starvation? Or did you just bolt and go?
If I was you, since you can DIY and turn a wrench, I would do the VCG and go from there. Traditionally, oil leaks can be damn difficult to diagnose and "digging in to it" is sometimes the only way to figure it out. I don't trust very many mechanics, dealer or indy. So much better to DIY whenever possible.

When I changed the OFHG I did not prime the prime anything, just turned the car on and go. There really is not much oil inside it and its going to get filled with oil the moment the car starts and work its way through. I would not bother or worry about it.

What you have to be more worried (and careful) about is dumping some coolant down inside oil passages when taking this thing apart.

In my case the valve cover gasket was not leaking at all at this point. It is very easy to tell when it is leaking because about 4000 miles later it started to leak for me. It will likely do it in the far back corner on the exhaust side. With the engine cover off its very easy to see the majority of the gasket and be able to tell when its leaking.

I was driving one day and saw the slightest bit of smoke from under the hood, the sun light in the morning just caught it perfect and I knew right away what it was. I lived with it for a few weeks and was about to do it, then the passenger side wheel bearing started to fail. It was making noise.

I was gearing up for a weekend to fix all of this, even ordered the parts. But saw a car I wanted and the dealer offered me a shockingly good price. So I took that, enjoyed that car for a little bit. And recently picked up a perfect 2015 M235i Manual with 40k miles for a extremely good price. Missed driving a BMW.

[LiNyGuy]

I figured it out in my vehicle, doesn't seem to be an actual answer in this post..
.
I was told by a BMW tech he's rarely if ever seen a head gasket go, or seep.
Like me, if you aren't able to pin this down to a leak from another part of the engine (OFHG/Valve Cover - both replaced and inspected in detail with mirrors) , then consider this possibility: When we did the OFHG replacement, I spilled some oil from the oil filter itself down onto the engine. Wiped it up, but some of it must have pooled somewhere under the intake that I can't see (first port towards the front of the car), or made its way down and seeped in between the metal gasket. When the car was heated up, this began to flow and bubble/boil, and made its way back down in between the gasket, and appear to leak from that same exact spot in your photos. I could see it seeping out in one particular low spot, but it didn't appear to be seeping from the area where the bubbles were (which we thought was indicating some leak from the inside). I decided to finally degrease that entire area again, let it soak, and then rinsed with a high power water hose. The "leak" is gone, no more pooling, bubbling or dripping and bone dry and clean in that area after multiple long drives. It would normally appear almost immediately after driving, enough that it would pool and then drip down through that hole (seen in your main photos). Also make sure your oil filler cap is not leaking, though I couldn't trace this specifically, mine was leaking a bit, and was told with the engine fan it could slowly make its way into the strangest locations. I replaced the oil cap at the same time I degreased.