Oil leak at 9,000 miles

[Treeboy]

Just dropped off the car at the dealer.
July 2015 production. 15,000 km on the odometer. Daily driver, 10 miles long commute.

During the oil change in August the service department reported oil pan leak.
I did not notice any oil dropping on the garage door floor. The iDrive still shows oil at the max level, same as before the annual oil change.

The repair is covered by the warranty, but I am not thrilled by the fact that the oil pan will need to be replaced (assuming based on what the service associate said).

Could not find anyone mentioning dealing with the oil leak at this F80/F82 forum. To have the car leaking oil after 2 years is definitely bummer . I wonder how well the repair will be done and if there will be other connecting issues coming...

[JOHNBMWM5]

Never heard of this one before, could be a number of things, loose bolt, poor gasket fit, cracked sump, what puzzles me is WHY they left it.

[Treeboy]

I assume they left it without any fix in August because the annual oil change was done as an express service (within 2 hrs max), and they did not have shop capacity to investigate the exact cause on the same day.
I was asked to bring the car back after my return from 3-week long vacation in Europe. The car was parked in my garage for the trip duration. I double-checked with the service that it is not critical to bring the car to the shop before the trip, they said that it is ok since the car will not be driven.

[4everkidd]

I wouldn't worry about it; replacing the oil pan is minor and shouldn't cause any further issues

[Treeboy]

Oil leak was fixed yesterday by replacing just the pan gasket. So the original oil pan was not replaced.

[Rockshaker]

Originally Posted by Treeboy

Oil leak was fixed yesterday by replacing just the pan gasket. So the original oil pan was not replaced.

I had my 2018 M3 with 9445 miles in for the first oil change since the 1200 mile service. The shop Forman took me to the service bay to show me they found oil leaking near the oil pan. I didn't have any oil on my garage floor either.
This shows on my service invoice:

(Diagnostic - Oil Leak (Visual): Tech. notes that there is a dripping Oil leak. Customer will need to return/drop off for Diag./repairs. Shop Foreman consulted. (W))

He said it wasn't serious and I could still drive, but to schedule a diagnostic as soon as possible. I'm dropping it off on Tuesday. More to come.

[HPIA4v2]

And BMW has yet figured it out, designing a better gasket or metal lip joint on high heat low emission engines. All BMW N54 and N55 engines leak oil at many places, I have a feeling this S55 is no different.

[pbar]

Originally Posted by 4everkidd

I wouldn't worry about it; replacing the oil pan is minor and shouldn't cause any further issues

No, unfortunately it is not a minor job on this car. You have to drop the entire front suspension/axle to remove the oil pan (BMW quote 7 hour job!). The casting itself is about $700. Part plus labor came out over $2000 with a sympathy discount.

And to make it worse, the lowest part of the oil pan casting is the three studs used to mount the oil level sensor - these stick out vertically downwards. All this is covered by a flimsy metal sheet that gives the appearance of protection. If your car is lowered and you take a speed bump a little carelessly there is a very real chance that these studs will impact the ground and crack the casting (and probably destroy the $500 oil sensor in the process). See photos below of my 'small oil pan leak'. You can see the crack in the casting in the second photo :-(

Sounds like you were very lucky in that a leaking gasket can be replaced without having to remove the sump pan completely!

[HPIA4v2]

on all BMW engines I know of, dropping oil pan to replace it's gasket means subframe needs to be unbolted, the engine needs to be secured to suspension tower or on reliable engine crane. Not easy like replacing transmission oil pan

[Rockshaker]

Originally Posted by Rockshaker

I had my 2018 M3 with 9445 miles in for the first oil change since the 1200 mile service. The shop Forman took me to the service bay to show me they found oil leaking near the oil pan. I didn't have any oil on my garage floor either.
This shows on my service invoice:

(Diagnostic - Oil Leak (Visual): Tech. notes that there is a dripping Oil leak. Customer will need to return/drop off for Diag./repairs. Shop Foreman consulted. (W))

He said it wasn't serious and I could still drive, but to schedule a diagnostic as soon as possible. I'm dropping it off on Tuesday. More to come.

Originally Posted by Rockshaker

I had my 2018 M3 with 9445 miles in for the first oil change since the 1200 mile service. The shop Forman took me to the service bay to show me they found oil leaking near the oil pan. I didn't have any oil on my garage floor either.
This shows on my service invoice:

(Diagnostic - Oil Leak (Visual): Tech. notes that there is a dripping Oil leak. Customer will need to return/drop off for Diag./repairs. Shop Foreman consulted. (W))

He said it wasn't serious and I could still drive, but to schedule a diagnostic as soon as possible. I'm dropping it off on Tuesday. More to come.

Update: I was told there was oil in one charge pipe & the oil pan gasket was leaking oil. Parts were ordered from Germany to replace some seals, oil pan gasket & charge pipe.

Final Update: I finally had my M3 repaired for the oil leak. It took two weeks to source parts listed below from Germany. Side note, my dash cam (Thinkware F800 Pro with the Cellink B battery backup installed) was able to work for 2 weeks without starting the car. It picked up motion and recorded video from when I dropped it off May 29th until I picked it up on June 20th.

[Rockshaker]

Originally Posted by Rockshaker

Update: I was told there was oil in one charge pipe & the oil pan gasket was leaking oil. Parts were ordered from Germany to replace some seals, oil pan gasket & charge pipe.

Final Update: I finally had my M3 repaired for the oil leak. It took two weeks to source parts listed below from Germany. Side note, my dash cam (Thinkware F800 Pro with the Cellink B battery backup installed) was able to work for 2 weeks without starting the car. It picked up motion and recorded video from when I dropped it off May 29th until I picked it up on June 20th.

Attachment 1848001

Originally Posted by Rockshaker

Update: I was told there was oil in one charge pipe & the oil pan gasket was leaking oil. Parts were ordered from Germany to replace some seals, oil pan gasket & charge pipe.

Final Update: I finally had my M3 repaired for the oil leak. It took two weeks to source parts listed below from Germany. Side note, my dash cam (Thinkware F800 Pro with the Cellink B battery backup installed) was able to work for 2 weeks without starting the car. It picked up motion and recorded video from when I dropped it off May 29th until I picked it up on June 20th.

Attachment 1848001

BMW is giving me $500 because it took over weeks to obtain parts to repair my car!

UPDATE: I received my check from my BMW dealer today for $500.

[maniz]

Rockshaker, thanks for the detailed update. Glad it hear it is taken care of. The dealer seems quite on top of things!

BTW what's the reference to PDR? Or was it a clear bra re-application?

[Rockshaker]

I had a scratch repaired by Dent Wizard through BMW and they were suppose to reapply Ceramic Pro at the time scratched was fixed 2 months ago. They finally got around to doing it.

[Treeboy]

So here is an update on the initial oil leak repair.

Although no drops were found on the garage floor before the first repair (oil pan gasket replacement), about 10 months after this repair, the oil drops started to appear. The weather in May was unusually warm in our area and the oil dropped (1 or 2 drops) always after I was driving the car a bid harder. Maybe three occurrences over 5 weeks. I scheduled the repair and dealer diagnosed the oil level sensor to cause the leak. It was replaced and the oil service was done at the same time.
About 10 days later, single drop appeared on the garage floor again. I reported to the dealer and left for 3 weeks in Europe. Upon return, I checked the floor and it was clean. I took the car for a spin (about 30 miles running errands) and next morning I found two drops on the floor. I schedule the service for 2 weeks later.
BMW dealer kept the car for 9 days. They were also replacing both taillights due to heat cracking. The scope of work is explained here:



2 weeks since the repair, I see no signs of new leak on the garage floor. I am not thrilled that they did not really find what happened , since they said the gasket replacement was done properly in July 2017. I suspect this is not over yet...