Oil pan gasket leak? Should i just sell the car?

9iron · 08-06-2015, 10:20 PM

I have an '08 E90 w/ MT and it is approaching 96k miles. The car has been great. I replaced brakes/rotors/plugs/coils/VCG/tires this year. I havent had any issues and it still drives very well.

Yesterday, i noticed a few oil spots in my driveway. I checked the VCG and OFHG and they both look clean. There appears to be dripping oil near the oil pan (i will jack the car up and take a better look this weekend).

I planned on keeping this car for at least 150k miles, but i dont want to be "nickel and dime'd" to death. I heard (and will look into pricing) that the oil pan gasket can cost ~$1800 to fix

.

Should i cut bait and sell the car? The cost of replacing everything that *may* go wrong is concerning. What do you guys think?

I know a small oil leak doesnt NEED to be fixed, but i hate having my driveway trashed.

cpie168 · 08-07-2015, 08:31 AM

perhaps put a piece of cardboard under the car in your garage?

9iron · 08-07-2015, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cpie168

perhaps put a piece of cardboard under the car in your garage?

My car gets the driveway. I only have a two-car garage, so i let the wife park in there. I thought about cardboard, but it will look really ghetto having that in the driveway

UncleWede · 08-07-2015, 11:42 AM

As they age, they do need maintenance. Something like that (although $1800 sounds really steep!) I would fix. It's things like the valvtronic codes I'm getting on my 06 that even the dealer can't diagnose that bother me. We have about 16 months until smog is due again, then I may be getting rid of the car.

Efthreeoh · 08-08-2015, 07:48 AM

OP, first thing you need to do is figure out where the leak is and how bad it is. You are right, not all minor oil leaks need to be repaired. At 96K your car has a whole lot of life left in it, but as stated in an earlier post all cars regardless of manufacturer need TLC. An N52 with a manual transmission is tough to kill.

In you case you need to pull the belly pan and see how much oily grime is on it. Most of it gathers at the right-side rear where the aluminum shield is where the exhaust cutout is on the belly pan. My car has had a weeping oil pan gasket (on the right side) and rear crank seal for about 100,000 miles now and I just keep cleaning everything. Once I need to put a clutch in, I'll address the crank seal, and maybe I'll do the pan gasket, but in the meantime I've been keeping the pan bolts torqued to help with the leaking pan gasket. My car does not leave drippings on my parking space.

If it is a troublesome leak then you should shop the job around at a few BMW independents. People here have had the pan gasket replaced in the $700 range IIRC.

Good luck with it.

winn3r · 08-08-2015, 08:30 AM

Depending on the extent of maintenance you have spent on the car, determines the choice of your keeping the car. I recently turned mine in because the oil pan and rear main seal were my breaking point. After changing VCG,turbos, Oil filter gasket change, battery/alternater and still needing more work done i decided to part ways. I took my car to the dealership and walked out with a lease, no more worries about maintenance. Even before i got my 335xi, i knew what to expect, but after forking out thousands every month are so wasnt worth keeping the car. Once my ILX lease is up I'll probably lease a 435xi gran coupe.

GuitarDTO · 08-08-2015, 10:11 AM

Are you stalking me, and pretending to be the owner of my car?

Sorry for the problems with your car. I literally signed on to start a thread about similar topic. I have a 2008 E92 with 94k miles on it. My car recently had a service check back in February, and the following items were recommended along with the pricing the dealer gave me:
-Valve Cover Gasket leak - $1120
-Oil Filter Housing Leak - $550
-Oil Pan Gasket Leak - $1230
-Control Arm Bushings - $805

I did none of the work at the time, as I have had no signs of oil on my driveway or low oil warnings. Just yesterday, during an hour and half drive near the end my car threw me a low oil warning light, I was a quart low. So in roughly 5 months I've burned a quart of oil. Not a big leak by any stretch, but it's now got me pondering the fixes. At the time, my dealer said the Oil Filter housing leak should be top priority because once it goes, its significant.

$1800 is too high for the oil pan gasket. Again, my dealer quoted me $1230 for whatever it's worth. I am debating dropping my car off and seeing if they'll give me some kind of discount if I Have all of the above work done.

It brings me to the same predicament we all likely go through, how much are we willing to pay for repairs in time, money and annoyance vs. the peace of mind of just ridding ourselves and getting a new car. I'm really struggling with this decision now because I love this car, I don't really love anything new out there right now and I think everything is overpriced. I'm debating anything from buying to leasing a new BMW, GMC Sierra Trucks and Ford F150's lol. I'm all over the map.

It's interesting to hear how others work through these decisions.

9iron · 08-08-2015, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GuitarDTO

Are you stalking me, and pretending to be the owner of my car?

Sorry for the problems with your car. I literally signed on to start a thread about similar topic. I have a 2008 E92 with 94k miles on it. My car recently had a service check back in February, and the following items were recommended along with the pricing the dealer gave me:
-Valve Cover Gasket leak - $1120
-Oil Filter Housing Leak - $550
-Oil Pan Gasket Leak - $1230
-Control Arm Bushings - $805

I did none of the work at the time, as I have had no signs of oil on my driveway or low oil warnings. Just yesterday, during an hour and half drive near the end my car threw me a low oil warning light, I was a quart low. So in roughly 5 months I've burned a quart of oil. Not a big leak by any stretch, but it's now got me pondering the fixes. At the time, my dealer said the Oil Filter housing leak should be top priority because once it goes, its significant.

$1800 is too high for the oil pan gasket. Again, my dealer quoted me $1230 for whatever it's worth. I am debating dropping my car off and seeing if they'll give me some kind of discount if I Have all of the above work done.

It brings me to the same predicament we all likely go through, how much are we willing to pay for repairs in time, money and annoyance vs. the peace of mind of just ridding ourselves and getting a new car. I'm really struggling with this decision now because I love this car, I don't really love anything new out there right now and I think everything is overpriced. I'm debating anything from buying to leasing a new BMW, GMC Sierra Trucks and Ford F150's lol. I'm all over the map.

It's interesting to hear how others work through these decisions.

Thats funny. I started looking at new car alternatives too, including f150's. Those damn pickups are expensive as hell and have great resale value too. The new ones are around $60k......sign me up for an M3 in that price range.

I was eyeing a new Subaru STI or maybe the new Focus RS when it comes out (fall 2016). The problem is im a 31 year old professional and these cars, although fun, give off a boy racer vibe. The RS looks like it may a fun car though.

I called the dealer today and was quoted $980 for the OPG and $500 for the OFHG. I think i might bite the bullet and fix these two gaskets and hope nothing else breaks. I love how the BMW drives, and i know the N52 with a MT is a strong, durable engine. I just hate how its so much $$$ to fix such a simple part.

jin · 08-09-2015, 03:59 PM

OFHG is a must you don't want bits of rubber getting into the coolant and wrecking your water pump.

Meeni · 08-09-2015, 09:43 PM

Try to retorque the pan bolts (at leats the ones you can get close to). It's a shit job to change the gasket, but many have had success at stopping or reducing to under the pain level leaks by simply retorquing.

9iron · 08-09-2015, 10:23 PM

Thanks for the replies guys. I jacked up the car today to get a better look: it seems to be leaking pretty good, but i cant tell exactly where from. I only have a floor jack, and i didnt take off the skid plates (i guess thats what theyre called?).

I thought about it quite a bit, and im gonna have the dealer fix this (if it is in fact the oil pan gasket) and the OFHG. I have an appointment scheduled for August 17th, so we will see what they say.

Any other suggestions on what to preemptively replace? I heard the water pump and thermostat will probably crap out next, but should i just wait until they break? Any hoses, belts, mounting brackets, etc...?

9iron · 08-09-2015, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meeni

Try to retorque the pan bolts (at leats the ones you can get close to). It's a shit job to change the gasket, but many have had success at stopping or reducing to under the pain level leaks by simply retorquing.

Yeah. I think i'm just gonna have them replace the gasket. I hope to drive the car a while longer, so its probably better to just fix it.

I saw the thread where you tried this as a DIY and i will definitely NOT try that, haha

BashShah · 08-10-2015, 03:59 AM

Ummm.... Does your car have a belly pan or not?
If you are seeing even minor oil drips and your car does have a belly pan.....your leak is serious.
Or at least s serious to most.

Before Doing anything figure out where is the leak.

DN

UncleWede · 08-10-2015, 11:43 AM

Any of you contemplating doing these repairs really need to find a qualified independent repair place and NOT take it back to the dealer for anything that requires money out of your pocket.

I think I had the Oil Filter housing done for no more than $200. It was actually a guy who works at the dealer then moonlights on weekends. Valve cover was done during a regular service visit at my local indy. Certainly wasn't anywhere near $1000. . .

David0ff · 08-10-2015, 02:53 PM

YOu have to learn to DIY on this car if you want to keep running it on the cheap.

Everything is ez to do if you can rent some tools and are handy. If you toss it in the shop it will certainly cost you an arm and a leg in the long run. But certainly 1800 for a oil pan gasket is crazy expensive , most corner garages can tackle the job as it does not require and special tools other than a engine support in order to drop the subframe.

Meeni · 08-12-2015, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David0ff

YOu have to learn to DIY on this car if you want to keep running it on the cheap.

Everything is ez to do if you can rent some tools and are handy. If you toss it in the shop it will certainly cost you an arm and a leg in the long run. But certainly 1800 for a oil pan gasket is crazy expensive , most corner garages can tackle the job as it does not require and special tools other than a engine support in order to drop the subframe.

Generally true, but the oil pan gasket is a pain to perform. I do not recommend DIY this maintenance. Now if it is an oil filter housing gasket, or even the valve cover, I'd be with you, but not for this one.

That being said, I did it, and it worked at the end of the day. It was just very frustrating.

Efthreeoh · 08-13-2015, 06:04 AM

I've owned a bunch of cars over my life time (I take every car at least to 150,000) and not one of them didn't develop some sort of an oil leak at the pan gasket. Just because the pan leaks a bit doesn't mean you need to go off and replace it right away. Save the money for a repair that keeps the car from moving...

KeepRidingDirty · 08-13-2015, 10:03 AM

You think the i is bad, I changed the oil pan gasket on an xi. So much more crap to remove. Took me 6 hours in my garage, including time for lunch. I'd rather buy me some more tools than waste money on a mechanic.

David0ff · 08-13-2015, 10:49 AM

^ Canadians handle their Buizzness and still have time for lunch

Jklad · 08-22-2015, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UncleWede

Any of you contemplating doing these repairs really need to find a qualified independent repair place and NOT take it back to the dealer for anything that requires money out of your pocket.

I think I had the Oil Filter housing done for no more than $200. It was actually a guy who works at the dealer then moonlights on weekends. Valve cover was done during a regular service visit at my local indy. Certainly wasn't anywhere near $1000. . .

+1. Honestly you need an Indy or a tech who does work on the side. Oil pan gasket should be around $600, 300 or less for ofhg, valve cover less than oil pan. It's just nuts what you all are considering paying for these repairs.

EPT535i · 08-23-2015, 10:29 AM

I was lucky, a lot of my issues were taken care of before c.p.o warranty went out, oil pan gasket, valve cover gasket, oil filter housing gasket, oil cooler gasket, water pump, turbo lines, fuel pumps high and low and some other stuff. Car has 96,000 miles its a 2008 and runs strong. I myself would love a new truck but there stupid expensive. But since my car is running good, I will stick with her for a while. Good luck to u and hopefully u can get your fixed.

e90mbition · 08-25-2015, 10:15 AM

Overtime gaskets start to weaken. I guess some minor seeping or small drips is normal given your cars age.

If your oil level is good and barely dripping, I would leave it alone for now. My friends N52 is seeping and leaves small drops on the driveway floor over time but his last oil change was done around 4500KM ago and the oil level has not dropped.

For that, I recommended that he not fix it yet as it is not bursting oil out and just monitor it every oil change until it gets a little worst as many of you said, oil pan gasket job aint cheap but around 5-600$ sounds fair.

08-06-2015, 10:20 PM	#1
9iron Second Lieutenant 69 Rep 262 Posts Drives: 04 WRX Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Louisville iTrader: (0)	Oil pan gasket leak? Should i just sell the car? I have an '08 E90 w/ MT and it is approaching 96k miles. The car has been great. I replaced brakes/rotors/plugs/coils/VCG/tires this year. I havent had any issues and it still drives very well. Yesterday, i noticed a few oil spots in my driveway. I checked the VCG and OFHG and they both look clean. There appears to be dripping oil near the oil pan (i will jack the car up and take a better look this weekend). I planned on keeping this car for at least 150k miles, but i dont want to be "nickel and dime'd" to death. I heard (and will look into pricing) that the oil pan gasket can cost ~$1800 to fix. Should i cut bait and sell the car? The cost of replacing everything that may go wrong is concerning. What do you guys think? I know a small oil leak doesnt NEED to be fixed, but i hate having my driveway trashed.
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08-07-2015, 08:31 AM	#2
cpie168 Major 173 Rep 1,117 Posts Drives: 2010 E90 328i 6MT ZSP BSM Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: K/W and GTA, Ontario, Canada iTrader: (1)	perhaps put a piece of cardboard under the car in your garage?
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08-07-2015, 11:42 AM	#4
UncleWede Long Time Admirer, First Time Owner 18460 Rep 9,428 Posts Drives: G01 X3 M40i Dark Graphite Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Oxnard, CA iTrader: (0)	As they age, they do need maintenance. Something like that (although $1800 sounds really steep!) I would fix. It's things like the valvtronic codes I'm getting on my 06 that even the dealer can't diagnose that bother me. We have about 16 months until smog is due again, then I may be getting rid of the car.
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08-08-2015, 07:48 AM	#5
Efthreeoh General 19203 Rep 19,727 Posts Drives: The E90 + Z4 Coupe & Z3 R'ster Join Date: May 2012 Location: Virginia iTrader: (0)	OP, first thing you need to do is figure out where the leak is and how bad it is. You are right, not all minor oil leaks need to be repaired. At 96K your car has a whole lot of life left in it, but as stated in an earlier post all cars regardless of manufacturer need TLC. An N52 with a manual transmission is tough to kill. In you case you need to pull the belly pan and see how much oily grime is on it. Most of it gathers at the right-side rear where the aluminum shield is where the exhaust cutout is on the belly pan. My car has had a weeping oil pan gasket (on the right side) and rear crank seal for about 100,000 miles now and I just keep cleaning everything. Once I need to put a clutch in, I'll address the crank seal, and maybe I'll do the pan gasket, but in the meantime I've been keeping the pan bolts torqued to help with the leaking pan gasket. My car does not leave drippings on my parking space. If it is a troublesome leak then you should shop the job around at a few BMW independents. People here have had the pan gasket replaced in the $700 range IIRC. Good luck with it. __________________ 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."
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08-08-2015, 08:30 AM	#6
winn3r Private First Class 21 Rep 115 Posts Drives: 2020 X4MC Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: NYC iTrader: (0)	Depending on the extent of maintenance you have spent on the car, determines the choice of your keeping the car. I recently turned mine in because the oil pan and rear main seal were my breaking point. After changing VCG,turbos, Oil filter gasket change, battery/alternater and still needing more work done i decided to part ways. I took my car to the dealership and walked out with a lease, no more worries about maintenance. Even before i got my 335xi, i knew what to expect, but after forking out thousands every month are so wasnt worth keeping the car. Once my ILX lease is up I'll probably lease a 435xi gran coupe.
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08-08-2015, 10:11 AM	#7
GuitarDTO Private 17 Rep 98 Posts Drives: 2008 335i Coupe Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Florida iTrader: (0)	Are you stalking me, and pretending to be the owner of my car? Sorry for the problems with your car. I literally signed on to start a thread about similar topic. I have a 2008 E92 with 94k miles on it. My car recently had a service check back in February, and the following items were recommended along with the pricing the dealer gave me: -Valve Cover Gasket leak - $1120 -Oil Filter Housing Leak - $550 -Oil Pan Gasket Leak - $1230 -Control Arm Bushings - $805 I did none of the work at the time, as I have had no signs of oil on my driveway or low oil warnings. Just yesterday, during an hour and half drive near the end my car threw me a low oil warning light, I was a quart low. So in roughly 5 months I've burned a quart of oil. Not a big leak by any stretch, but it's now got me pondering the fixes. At the time, my dealer said the Oil Filter housing leak should be top priority because once it goes, its significant. $1800 is too high for the oil pan gasket. Again, my dealer quoted me $1230 for whatever it's worth. I am debating dropping my car off and seeing if they'll give me some kind of discount if I Have all of the above work done. It brings me to the same predicament we all likely go through, how much are we willing to pay for repairs in time, money and annoyance vs. the peace of mind of just ridding ourselves and getting a new car. I'm really struggling with this decision now because I love this car, I don't really love anything new out there right now and I think everything is overpriced. I'm debating anything from buying to leasing a new BMW, GMC Sierra Trucks and Ford F150's lol. I'm all over the map. It's interesting to hear how others work through these decisions.
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08-09-2015, 03:59 PM	#9
jin Second Lieutenant 74 Rep 252 Posts Drives: 2007 E90 335i Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: NZ iTrader: (2)	OFHG is a must you don't want bits of rubber getting into the coolant and wrecking your water pump.
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08-09-2015, 09:43 PM	#10
Meeni Gateropode 332 Rep 2,846 Posts Drives: BMW 330i 06 Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: TN iTrader: (0)	Try to retorque the pan bolts (at leats the ones you can get close to). It's a shit job to change the gasket, but many have had success at stopping or reducing to under the pain level leaks by simply retorquing.
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08-09-2015, 10:23 PM	#11
9iron Second Lieutenant 69 Rep 262 Posts Drives: 04 WRX Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Louisville iTrader: (0)	Thanks for the replies guys. I jacked up the car today to get a better look: it seems to be leaking pretty good, but i cant tell exactly where from. I only have a floor jack, and i didnt take off the skid plates (i guess thats what theyre called?). I thought about it quite a bit, and im gonna have the dealer fix this (if it is in fact the oil pan gasket) and the OFHG. I have an appointment scheduled for August 17th, so we will see what they say. Any other suggestions on what to preemptively replace? I heard the water pump and thermostat will probably crap out next, but should i just wait until they break? Any hoses, belts, mounting brackets, etc...?
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08-10-2015, 03:59 AM	#13
BashShah Colonel 314 Rep 2,021 Posts Drives: 2012 335i Sedan Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Vancouver, Canada iTrader: (0)	Ummm.... Does your car have a belly pan or not? If you are seeing even minor oil drips and your car does have a belly pan.....your leak is serious. Or at least s serious to most. Before Doing anything figure out where is the leak. DN
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08-10-2015, 11:43 AM	#14
UncleWede Long Time Admirer, First Time Owner 18460 Rep 9,428 Posts Drives: G01 X3 M40i Dark Graphite Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Oxnard, CA iTrader: (0)	Any of you contemplating doing these repairs really need to find a qualified independent repair place and NOT take it back to the dealer for anything that requires money out of your pocket. I think I had the Oil Filter housing done for no more than $200. It was actually a guy who works at the dealer then moonlights on weekends. Valve cover was done during a regular service visit at my local indy. Certainly wasn't anywhere near $1000. . .
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08-10-2015, 02:53 PM	#15
David0ff Combined Applications Group 1052 Rep 654 Posts Drives: Lada Scrapus Trofeo R Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Classified iTrader: (1)	YOu have to learn to DIY on this car if you want to keep running it on the cheap. Everything is ez to do if you can rent some tools and are handy. If you toss it in the shop it will certainly cost you an arm and a leg in the long run. But certainly 1800 for a oil pan gasket is crazy expensive , most corner garages can tackle the job as it does not require and special tools other than a engine support in order to drop the subframe.
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08-13-2015, 06:04 AM	#17
Efthreeoh General 19203 Rep 19,727 Posts Drives: The E90 + Z4 Coupe & Z3 R'ster Join Date: May 2012 Location: Virginia iTrader: (0)	I've owned a bunch of cars over my life time (I take every car at least to 150,000) and not one of them didn't develop some sort of an oil leak at the pan gasket. Just because the pan leaks a bit doesn't mean you need to go off and replace it right away. Save the money for a repair that keeps the car from moving... __________________ 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."
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08-13-2015, 10:03 AM	#18
KeepRidingDirty Professional Monkey Trainer 65 Rep 423 Posts Drives: 2007 BMW 335xi Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Ottawa, On iTrader: (1)	You think the i is bad, I changed the oil pan gasket on an xi. So much more crap to remove. Took me 6 hours in my garage, including time for lunch. I'd rather buy me some more tools than waste money on a mechanic. __________________ JB4 G5 ISO / ER Charge Pipe and Tial BOV / Wagner FMIC / CYBA Tips & Air Scoops / AFE DCI / BMW PE Exhaust Mod / M3 Rep Bumper / Dynavin E9x
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08-13-2015, 10:49 AM	#19
David0ff Combined Applications Group 1052 Rep 654 Posts Drives: Lada Scrapus Trofeo R Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Classified iTrader: (1)	^ Canadians handle their Buizzness and still have time for lunch
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08-23-2015, 10:29 AM	#21
EPT535i Major 57 Rep 1,023 Posts Drives: F10 535I Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: EL PASO, TEXAS iTrader: (12)	I was lucky, a lot of my issues were taken care of before c.p.o warranty went out, oil pan gasket, valve cover gasket, oil filter housing gasket, oil cooler gasket, water pump, turbo lines, fuel pumps high and low and some other stuff. Car has 96,000 miles its a 2008 and runs strong. I myself would love a new truck but there stupid expensive. But since my car is running good, I will stick with her for a while. Good luck to u and hopefully u can get your fixed. __________________ F10 535I ALPINE WHITE MSPORT
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08-25-2015, 10:15 AM	#22
e90mbition First Lieutenant 17 Rep 313 Posts Drives: E46, E90 Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Toronto iTrader: (0)	Overtime gaskets start to weaken. I guess some minor seeping or small drips is normal given your cars age. If your oil level is good and barely dripping, I would leave it alone for now. My friends N52 is seeping and leaves small drops on the driveway floor over time but his last oil change was done around 4500KM ago and the oil level has not dropped. For that, I recommended that he not fix it yet as it is not bursting oil out and just monitor it every oil change until it gets a little worst as many of you said, oil pan gasket job aint cheap but around 5-600$ sounds fair.
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