[donR]

I have a slow but growing oil leak on the RHS lower part of my engine somewhere to the right of the oil pan.

To orient, in the first photo you can see the anti-roll bar to the left and in the background something with Contenental stamped on it. There is a clamp and black boot with quite a bit of oil on it including surrounding parts.

Second photo is closer view of the part with Continental Written on it.

Just wondering if I can DIY this or whether it needs to go in. I will go and give it another clean in the mean time to see if I can see where it is coming from.

Any tips would be appreciated.

thanks

Don

[donR]

More oil leaks! Now somewhere between the engine and gear box. Crazy given the car has done less than 50,000 miles!

[The Convert]

follow oil forward and upward. More than likely you have an oil filter housing gasket leak. I have a very slow oil pan gasket leak that produces very similar results to your engine/bell housing oil.

[Abacus38]

Oil filter gasket or valve cover gasket. Common problems on the N54

[donR]

Ok thanks for the responses. I will have a closer look but it looks to me like the oil is coming from below the oil filter housing around the pipes that attach to the device with Continental on it (oil pump?).

Is there any easy way to check the Oil filter gasket from above? ie., what needs to come off. I can't see anything from above or below

thanks

In second thought, this oil is coming from the opposite side of the engine to the oil filter housing so I'm thinking it has to be something else

[Flex68]

Clean off as much oil as you can then let it sit

[BMW_drei]

The part with continental on it is the water pump, leak isn't coming from there. Trace the oil, it's probably the oil filter housing, valve cover, or oil pan gasket (or all three). Keep in mind the fan will throw oil from the ofhg all over. Not unusual to see at this mileage.

[donR]

Ok thanks, it is really hard to see above it where it is coming from except around or somewhere above the water pump. So should I start from the top and start pulling things off and work my way down?

[KeepRidingDirty]

Mine looked like that around the water pump and it was the oil filter housing gasket, the oil runs down the engine and to the water pump, get it fixed the oil will degrade the coolant hoses and serpentine belt. The gasket can be changed in like 1-2 hours, easy stuff. The valve cover gasket I did also as preventative which could very well be contributing to the mess, especially the one at the back of the engine where it meets the transmission. One thing it could also be which no one mentioned was the rear main seal. Usually when those leak though it isn't a very big leak. Good luck

[007_e350]

remove the front snorkel and see if serpentine belt area is damp - OFH gasket & Oil Cooler gaskets you can do easy DIYs.. I put in a ton of silicon also

ValveCover is typical to crack from Cyl 3 area, just look all around it if there's oil leakage... Its a longer DIY but def do-able... I also have that area pounded with silicon lol

lastly, check the power steering leak, I've had that leak down but that was in 95 deg summers, which I heard is normal IDK

[donR]

Ok thanks everyone, this is really helpful. I have only been looking from below so as you say I will remove the snorkel and start looking from above. Consensus suggests it is most likely the OFH gasket.

So the rear leak which is relatively minor and appearing between the sump and transmission I'm assuming might be due to a separate problem... maybe the valve cover?

[BMW_drei]

If the oil pan gasket is leaking, the oil gets blown back and can look like it's the rear main seal. Don't confuse the two.

FWIW, I've been gently tightening the oil pan bolts (the ones I can reach) for the last 20k miles (at 140k now). I'm waiting until I can combine it with another repair if I can (turbos, suspension, etc.) where I have to drop the subframe. It seems to keep the leak rate down, and I'd rather drop the subframe once (I expect it's coming eventually).