[JohnnyV1]

Just wanted to give you guys my experience with a new DIY garage in the LA area. My local BMW dealer recently told me that I have a leak at my oil filter housing on my 2006 330i and that my oil filter housing gasket would have to be replaced soon. Rather than spend the 900 bucks he was quoting me to get it fixed, I went to Your Dream Garage in Baldwin Park and fixed it myself. I recommend them highly as they had all the tools I needed to get the job done. The staff is friendly and competent and they have a mechanic to get you out of jams.

Check them out: http://www.urdreamgarage.com

[ckegg]

Need something like this in SF bay area

[melvin]

Originally Posted by ckegg

Need something like this in SF bay area

theres one in fremont.

http://liftedworkshop.com/

http://www.yelp.com/biz/lifted-inc-fremont-2

[Evil E90]

sounds like a cool idea. I have the same oil leak on my E90 330i. This local BMW shop near me wants $460 to replace that seal. I'm close to Baldwin Park. I might check it out. Thanks for this post.

[Amini77]

Nice..I gotta fix my oil pan leak I might look into this thanks for sharing

[JohnnyV1]

I got a PM about doing the oil filter housing gasket replacement procedure so I wrote up a mini DIY. For those of you that might undertake this task at Your Dream Garage, the staff probably will be better prepared in just giving you the special tools you need to get the job done since they already have experience in accommodating me. Much faster for you.

Your going to want to take your time with this one. I never did anything with the engine before so it took me about 4 hours which equates to 100 bucks at Your Dream Garage. I read the DIYs on this forum and they are a big help.

Basically you need to do the following:
1) Remove the plastic shield underneath the car and then the second plastic shield covering the radiator
2) Drain the coolant via the blue radiator plug
3) Drain the coolant via the hose going from the block into the thermostat. (This may not be necessary since most of the coolant is drained from the previous step but I did it anyway since the Bentley manual states that it should be done. It is a PITA to get this hose off. You have to remove a clip and then just pull on it. I had to use a screwdriver to get some leverage around the lip of the hose)
4) Remove the air box and air intake
5) Remove the oil filter and use rags to soak up the visible oil in the filter housing.
6) This is where it gets complicated. You have to remove 3 screws from the housing. The easiest one being the one directly facing you. You can just use a 10mm star socket. The one on the bottom, you can use a 8mm combo wrench. The one under the intake manifold is f#cking ridiculous to get off. I had to use a 1/4 driver with 6 inch extension, 2 inch, wobbly extension, 10mm star socket and try my best to get the leverage necessary to get this off. Be careful not to strip the head of this screw.
7) Once these screws are off, you can remove the housing. Also remove the coolant hose that goes from the housing to the radiator. Remove the old gasket with a pick. Clean the housing thoroughly with brake cleaner. Use rags and elbow grease to get that old gasket material off on the housing and its mating service on the engine.
8) Reinstall the housing along with coolant hose and oil filter. I couldn't torque the screws unfortunately because it is very hard to get a torque wrench in some of the areas. What you need to do is screw down each screw a little bit in turn so that the gasket makes an even seal. I also applied a little bit of oil from my finger onto the gasket before installing.
9) Refill coolant as per all the DIYs on this forum and do the venting procedure. It was very hard to hear the waterpump running during the venting process so time 12 minutes from start to finish exactly so you know when it is done. You can start assembling the airbox etc... while this is going on. I didn't bother connecting a battery charger to the car during the venting process.
10) Reinstall everything else.