Oil leak thought pic's

bottom of transmission



other side/ bottom of transmission



Above steering rack



This is why I said the oil pan, see how above the second dry bolt the seeping seems to start. then runs back and down.



Front of the crank/ oil pan



Below the passenger side axle housing, did not smell like gear oil. Didn't smell like anything at all.'



Crappy pic of the inside of the passenger side inner axle seal. It had very dry maybe tacky residue by it but was not wet like the other pics. I don't think that's whats leaking. The oil seems to be running down around the casing from the top.



Another bad pic but I tried to get the inside of the transmission housing, there appears to be a little bit of oil from the rear main seal.




I cleaned it all up, and will check on it in a couple days, There's no way im loosing all that oil through those leaks its no wear near what I put in so most of it has to be getting burned up. That amount of oil shown all over the car is maybe 4-6 ounces. I tried to tighten the two rear oil pan bolts shown and they did turn a tiny bit. Some of that in front has been there for a wile I guess and somehow over looked it because it was old kinda dried. There was maybe a fist sized oil spot on the under tray on the passenger side. I know I said under the front diff last time but I was mistaken.

You ever track this down White?



I have similar deposits on mine as in this pic. Not as bad or as far back as tranny though. Right now I am guessing OFHG but I am not 100% I do seem to have some oil above the oil pan gasket on driver side above the crank so I hope its running down behind crank and making it look like the pan gasket is leaking since this is the lowest point.....

Like I said Im not 100% but I guess Ill start with with the OFHG.

prob oil filter housing gasket and/or vanos high pressure hose, check between your oil filter housing and intake manifold should see old oil build up there

^+1

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

Id rather have the vanos Line or the OFHG over the Oil pan gasket any day. I think I will go ahead and do the complete CCV while I have it opened up as well. Its never been done and it could be leaking too. And while I am at it maybe new intake boots, clean out the ICV, DISA, and throttle body. Oh boy...... Good thing I have some days off coming up.

I hear ya doing a window reg and messed up the vapor barrier haha.......I doubt though its your CCV could be but a leaking CCV would cause a lean mixture fault and throw a CEL on and car would be running rough 99% of the time. The OFHG is only like $2 and Vanos hose is like $40 and also get 4 crush washers thats if it leaking of course. not that bad of a job man about 3hrs....btw nice license plate. heres mine....still have to put it back on tho

doing the simple things such as VCG and OFHG first and clean up well. if still leaking, tackle the difficult ones such as oil pan gasket and rear main seal.

yeah goes easy stuff first cause I have maybe 1 or 2 oil pan gaskets leak on a E46 now E39s different story and maybe 1 main seal in 3 years. but you never know. GL tho

Originally Posted by 03E46xi

I hear ya doing a window reg and messed up the vapor barrier haha.......I doubt though its your CCV could be but a leaking CCV would cause a lean mixture fault and throw a CEL on and car would be running rough 99% of the time. The OFHG is only like $2 and Vanos hose is like $40 and also get 4 crush washers thats if it leaking of course. not that bad of a job man about 3hrs....btw nice license plate. heres mine....still have to put it back on tho

Nice plate yourself!

I get the sense from your posts that you work on BMWs for a living or at the very least quite often. In any case I am glad that in your experience you havent seen many oil pan gasket failures. Cause I am really hpoing that this isnt the case with mine.

Like everyone has said, my plan is to eliminate all of the "easy" stuff like OFHG, Vanos line, Valve cover, CCV etc. first before going into full blown panic mode.

I plan on keeping the car for a while yet to come and at my milage , ~110k, those things (OFHG, CCV, etc) will have to be done at some point regardless, so nothing is really lost if I get in there and fix something that aint broken yet.

my bet is on the oil filter housing gasket just did mine along with ccv. pretty easy. on my e36 i had the same issue and it needed the same repair and my undercarriage has been clean since

Yeah I work at a dealership. Just here to help out man but getting back into mods dont see a lot of that in a dealership so people help me out on here. I got 188k on my xi (i drive a lot) and I had to do the VCG, OFHG, and CCV on mine. just the CCV isnt that bad just when you do the hoses going to the CCV theres one hoses thats a real pain. thats why saying dont replace it if you dont need to. if the CCV looks like it leaking but not throwing a code or running rough prob just the botton hose thats on the bottom of the CCV going to your oil pan.

iTS the oil filter housig gasket-there is a DIY for it thats awesome. The gasket is $4. It looks exactly like my transmission did-mine also was trickling down under the alternator on the tranny.

just did my oil filter housing today at work. was identical leak as yours also,was super easy to do. took about an hour to do but did not pull p/s off like others do,no need to plenty of room to clean both surfaces and replace gasket.

Thanks for the first hand experiences everyone. I did shine a light down to the engine block (without removing the airbox or anything) the other day and could just make out some oil residue at the rear of the OFH. The "peering window" is very small but there is semi-unobstructed line of sight to a portion of the rear side of the OFH. So I'm feeling a little better that this is where my leak is coming from. Hopefully the only place.....


While I am in there I guess I'll make a day of it and proactively change out the CCV since I heard is easier with the OFH and other stuff out of the way. Clean up the intake components like ICV, throttle body, DISA, MAF sensor, new intake boots etc.

I just replaced my clutch, and after driving, I saw a lot of oil in the same places you have shown. I'm not sure yet, but i believe I may have cracked my crankshaft position sensor when reinstalling the starter. I will be checking it out after Christmas. The sensor has an o-ring seal. it is located just below the starter and cannot easily be seen.
Check out this link it shows a good picture. It could account for your leak.

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/attachm...1&d=1304128026

here is a link to the psot http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showpos...3&postcount=31

had a chance to take a look at the CPS, was dry as a bone, upon inspection don't think much oil could leak from there anyway.

Originally Posted by GCoop

Thanks for the first hand experiences everyone. I did shine a light down to the engine block (without removing the airbox or anything) the other day and could just make out some oil residue at the rear of the OFH. The "peering window" is very small but there is semi-unobstructed line of sight to a portion of the rear side of the OFH. So I'm feeling a little better that this is where my leak is coming from. Hopefully the only place.....


While I am in there I guess I'll make a day of it and proactively change out the CCV since I heard is easier with the OFH and other stuff out of the way. Clean up the intake components like ICV, throttle body, DISA, MAF sensor, new intake boots etc.

Well everything above is done .

• OFHG was leaking a little and needed to be replaced. Replacement was the right call.
• CCV valve and hoses were OK but didnt really have long to live. No clogs in any of the lines or dipstick tube. Opted to clean dipstick tube instead of replacing with updated version. Proactive replacement of CCV witht he cold weather version was the right call.
• MAF, DISA, ICV and throttle body all cleaned thoroughly. Seal on the DISA was still in good shape but I didnt chance it and used the red silicon "Ford Probe" o-ring. ICV was not moving very freely at all the cleaning really helped it out. Throttle Body wasnt very bad at all but cleaned it up anyway.

Now for the news. Still leaking oil...... and its not residual either. The whole engine block/bay/compartment was cleaned/degreased and I would have felt comfortable eating off of it. After a 15 mile test drive I had (what I consider) a fairly large amount of oil around the front lower oil pan corner as well as some that had made its way to where the bottom front bolt that secures the diff to the pan.

I have attempted to "snug up" as many oil pan bolts as I can reach especially in the area(s) from where it appears to be leaking. After 3 successive tightenings I dont dare go any tighter (16.5 ftlbs) for fear of much anguish and despair. However It does seem to have stemmed the tide as after the third test drive I couldnt see any new oil seeping out. I'll check again in a few days to see what it looks like. Hopefully its something I can live with for a while.






TL : DR Cliffs version:

• Sucessful OFHG, CCV DIY.
• Sill have oil leak.
• Tightening down some oil pan bolts was met with some sucess.
• Waiting to see if the leak is still there or if it returns later.

Thanks for listening and keep the schadenfreude to a minimum please

also don't forget to check the gasket between the vanos unit and the head or whatever it's called. on my e36 i had the same leaks. vcg and the gasket where the vanos unit attaches to the head then ofhg.

Just out of curiosity, why does your leak concern you that much? most leaks wont even register on the dipstick, and were that leak is it isn't, rotting, or soaking any rubber components..just sayin

Originally Posted by GCoop

Well everything above is done .

• OFHG was leaking a little and needed to be replaced. Replacement was the right call.
• CCV valve and hoses were OK but didnt really have long to live. No clogs in any of the lines or dipstick tube. Opted to clean dipstick tube instead of replacing with updated version. Proactive replacement of CCV witht he cold weather version was the right call.
• MAF, DISA, ICV and throttle body all cleaned thoroughly. Seal on the DISA was still in good shape but I didnt chance it and used the red silicon "Ford Probe" o-ring. ICV was not moving very freely at all the cleaning really helped it out. Throttle Body wasnt very bad at all but cleaned it up anyway.

Now for the news. Still leaking oil...... and its not residual either. The whole engine block/bay/compartment was cleaned/degreased and I would have felt comfortable eating off of it. After a 15 mile test drive I had (what I consider) a fairly large amount of oil around the front lower oil pan corner as well as some that had made its way to where the bottom front bolt that secures the diff to the pan.

I have attempted to "snug up" as many oil pan bolts as I can reach especially in the area(s) from where it appears to be leaking. After 3 successive tightenings I dont dare go any tighter (16.5 ftlbs) for fear of much anguish and despair. However It does seem to have stemmed the tide as after the third test drive I couldnt see any new oil seeping out. I'll check again in a few days to see what it looks like. Hopefully its something I can live with for a while.






TL : DR Cliffs version:

• Sucessful OFHG, CCV DIY.
• Sill have oil leak.
• Tightening down some oil pan bolts was met with some sucess.
• Waiting to see if the leak is still there or if it returns later.

Thanks for listening and keep the schadenfreude to a minimum please

Originally Posted by JDUTHIE

Just out of curiosity, why does your leak concern you that much? most leaks wont even register on the dipstick, and were that leak is it isn't, rotting, or soaking any rubber components..just sayin

Because its a leak that has been getting prgressively worse. I have lived with it since about 53k and only now has it passed my "acceptabiltiy threshold". It is not supposed to leak. Doesnt matter where the leak is originating the oil ends up EVERYWHERE and yes it is currently soaking other components namely the high pressure PS lines. Id rather not have to start putting diapers on my car. Like I said though, if my snugging up has stemmed the tide somewhat back to the origianl seepage amounts I can deal with that.



If left unchecked I dont what to have to deal with something like this every oil change:

Note: these arent my pics and are of an S54 but this is where I would be headed given the previous rate of leakage.






Like I said though, if my snugging up has stemmed the tide somewhat back to the origianl seepage amounts I can deal with that.