Is there a oil filter housing gasket DIY?

[hC1001]

Im going to be doing the valve cover gasket and thought i might do the oil filter housing gaskets at the same time. Has anyone done it? Must i follow the instructions in ISTA or can some steps be bypassed like intake manifold removal and draining coolant etc...

FCP sells a kit for $160 but you dont need to replace bolts, oil pressure sensor, or thermostat housing plugs.

Any input would be great.

[xwilkinx]

Also interested… I’ll be doing this soon (already have the parts) but couldn’t find any F8x specific DIY.

I did this on my N52 a long time ago and the process should be identical, but the S55 has some additional lines in the way. It may also need the oil system primed afterwards as required on the N55.

Here’s the only vid I found for the S55: https://youtu.be/tlKRn2aTJ1I

[hC1001]

Yes, saw that video too. He only loosened the intake manifold. I guess there might not be any shortcuts for this one.

If I'm loosening/removing the intake manifold, I'm gonna replace the gaskets with new ones. Don't want to risk any leaks.

I might as well replace belts and tensioner pullies while I'm in there too.

[hC1001]

So i just finished this.

It was pretty straight forward. You can follow the youtube posted above and N55 DIYs.

-You want to prepare for priming the oil system. I removed fuse 165 in the trunk and start the car and let it die. Try restarting it a couple times until it no longer starts. Do not crank for more than 10 secs and wait 20 secs before trying to crank again(you dont want to overheat your starter). The fuel should be gone if it cranks that long. There are different ways to doing this. Choose the way you want. Here is the TSB with what BMW instructs to do. https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...25106-9999.pdf
-Break the bolts for the oil cooler thermostat while the housing is still on the car.
-You can lift the intake manifold offs the studs but first disconnect the connector for the high pressure fuel sensor on the fuel rail. Turn the J pipe sideways to give more room for you to pull the intake manifold from the alignment studs on the engine. You'll have about 1-2" of space to work with for the 6 seals and it gets tighter towards the rear because a lot of the cables is holding the manifold in place.
-I removed the coolant hose with the 2 10mm bolts to access the lower oil filter housing bolt. The coolant hose has an o-ring but i couldnt find a replacement in the parts diagram so i just reused it.
-Once everything is back together, crank for 10secs, cool off for 20 secs, repeat these steps 2 more times. This should circulate the oil around and lube the system good. Plug the fuse back and fire up the car. It might take long to start or have a bad idle at first.

The 6 intake seals were a PITA to install. Space was tight. You need to pull the manifold out with one hand and use the other hand to install the seal. Fit the the top horizontal part first and then work your way around. I sat on the front hood latch area to work on the 3 rear seals. The old seals were compressed about 1-2mm and thats leaving the manifold unbolted overnight. Im glad i got new seals but maybe the old seals wouldve sealed fine, i dunno.

All the gaskets i replaced still looked good. They werent brittle or squashed. Same with the valve cover but it was leaking on the passenger side. Not sure why they didnt use more bolts there. They skipped some spots. It made me think maybe if i tried retorquing the bolts, it might have stopped the oil leak for a bit. I have a 3/2016 M3 with 118K miles. All gaskets were original.