M3 Ninja

Sorry for necrothread, but what did they say?

bmwrt

I had a leak on mine under the oil filter housing and the main block. Two round seals had to be replaced. The intake had to come off for the job. Warranty paid for it.

mts1021

I have a leak under the front end but don't know what part (oil pan?) this is. Can anyone help? Thanks

smith2010Q7

If it is in the front then it looks like the oil pan.

testarossaguy

If it's the oil pan, I believe that some major disassembly of items underneath it is required to fix it. From what I've read, there is NO gasket for the oil pan, just sealant. I've been putting off trying to find my oil leaks but I'm sick of smelling oil dripping on the catalytic convertors. So I will be going stealership to get an assortment of gaskets and O-rings. It really bugs me that these fine German machines suffer from so many leaks. Not looking forward to tearing the top of the motor off to replace items that cost only a few cents....but no choice.

bozack

Have to agree, our daily beater Pathfinder has over 200,000 miles and our 70k mile Q7 now seems to leak the same amount of oil.

Ours started after a last oil change, I haven't dived into the oil change process on where the filter is hidden but any chance there of something not being done correctly? Or just a coincidence now with the oil leaks?

I may do the same thing and let the dealer give an estimate on parts.

M3 Ninja

The oil pan does use a gasket. It is an involved procedure. You have to unbolt the engine mounts and lift the whole engine slightly to get the pan off.

testarossaguy

BOZACK- if your leak started immediately after the oil change, then I would say the odds are that it's related to the oil filter housing o-ring or something in that area. I've also heard that the housings themselves can crack.

M3 NINJA...thank you for clarifying that the oil pan uses a gasket. When I looked through the Bentley I thought all it showed was sealant.

testarossaguy

Today I removed the right-front wheel, inner wheel well, and passenger's side air intake box, to try and get a closer look at my oil leak. The leak appears to be at the back of the passenger's side cylinder head. I tried to snap a picture for everyone, this is looking upward from under the vehicle.. The tight spaces and crammed packaging leaves me cursing the engineers who come up with this stuff. I'm not sure what to do next...so I welcome all opinions...thank you.

testarossaguy

I think my leak is the rear cam chain cover...circled in RED in the picture. It looks like the motor will need to come out (at least partially dropped down) to access this area. Anyone done this with the motor left in the vehicle?