F80 red fluid leak on both front left and front right wheel wells

[Sir Loin]

Did oil change on my 2015 F80 this morning (only 50K miles). I noticed there is some red fluid leaking under both left and right front wheel wells. What may be leaking from where? Any suggestions? Thanks.

[mapster37]

Take a look at your shocks

[Sir Loin]

Originally Posted by mapster37

Take a look at your shocks

Thanks for this suggestion. I have adjustable shocks. The shocks themselves are clean. Is there a reservoir for the shock fluid on either side?

[Sir Loin]

Turned out it was the cleaned and over-oiled K&N air filters that I installed a few days ago. I completely forgot about them.

So no problem after I cleaned the air boxes and wiped down the underside of the car.

[Yuille36]

Did you soak the K&N Filter in oil? As there supposed to be lightly sprayed and not soaked. Looks like an oil leak.
You better clean your MAF sensor, as it is probably covered in oil.

[hC1001]

Lol thats a familiar sight on older BMWs, the only other red fluid it could be is ATF oil but these cars dont have hydraulic power steering.

Glad you figured it out.

[SteveYem]

What am I missing here? Even if you did completely saturate the air filters to the point that they were dripping oil, how did the oil get out of the air boxes?

[Yuille36]

All airboxes have a drainage hole, just in case water enters from heavy rain, etc. And since water is heavier than air, it naturally drops to the bottom of the airbox and drains out. And that is where all that oil has collected and draining.

[SteveYem]

Originally Posted by Yuille36

All airboxes have a drainage hole, just in case water enters from heavy rain, etc. And since water is heavier than air, it naturally drops to the bottom of the airbox and drains out. And that is where all that oil has collected and draining.

Ah, makes perfect sense.
Still....that's a heck of a lot of air filter oil haha

[Yuille36]

Originally Posted by SteveYem

Ah, makes perfect sense.
Still....that's a heck of a lot of air filter oil haha

Exactly, he must have soaked the air filter in oil, to have that much draining from it. And it will surely get caked up with dirt/debris very soon. Besides imagine what his MAF sensor looks like, most likely will throw CEL.
The bottom line is your supposed to lightly spray those K&N filters, and not soak them. Studies have shown that K&N really doesn't produce any real horsepower gains, but what it actually does is save you some money as they are useable.

[SteveYem]

Originally Posted by Yuille36

Exactly, he must have soaked the air filter in oil, to have that much draining from it. And it will surely get caked up with dirt/debris very soon. Besides imagine what his MAF sensor looks like, most likely will throw CEL.
The bottom line is your supposed to lightly spray those K&N filters, and not soak them. Studies have shown that K&N really doesn't produce any real horsepower gains, but what it actually does is save you some money as they are useable.

Years and a few cars ago I went through my K&N phase. After my first cleaning and re-oiling interval I quickly realized that having to leave the car parked for hours to let everything dry before driving it was not for me. On the one car I ended up buying a spare filter so that I could always have one ready to go for immediate swap, then clean and oil the second one and put it on the shelf so it's ready to go for the next swap. So in my case there was no savings, whether it was time or money.

On my B8.5 S4 I spent a few extra dollars on an AFE dry filter which only needed to be tapped / vacuumed to clean it periodically, with no washing or re-oiling (and waiting for it to dry) required. According to my butt dyno it performed as well as the oiled filter that preceded it, but it was a lot more user friendly and less time consuming.

More recently on the F80 I went with OEM filters, removed the charcoal filters to allow some audible turbo spool in Sport Plus mode, and I'm a happy camper. Live and learn!

[Yuille36]

I also used K&N Filters back in the day, and the issues associated with them. Needless to say, I went back to OEM air filters, change once and you're done.
No more of the remove/clean/oil/dry/reinstall.

[Sir Loin]

Originally Posted by Yuille36

Exactly, he must have soaked the air filter in oil, to have that much draining from it. And it will surely get caked up with dirt/debris very soon. Besides imagine what his MAF sensor looks like, most likely will throw CEL.
The bottom line is your supposed to lightly spray those K&N filters, and not soak them. Studies have shown that K&N really doesn't produce any real horsepower gains, but what it actually does is save you some money as they are useable.

No need to imagine. No code, and MAF sensors are clean.