E60 BMW 528i Oil Pan Leak

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I was recently talked into inspecting a co-worker’s 2008 528i. During the inspection, one of the issues found was a leaking oil pan gasket.

Based on what I saw (and the info online), it appears that I will need to support the engine from the top and also lower the subframe in order to remove the oil pan bolts. The book time for the repair is 5 hours, but most shops are asking for 7-8.

I will be using a new OE gasket and installing new bolts. I plan to buy a new angle torque wrench and properly torque the bolts to the 8nM + 90-deg requirement.

Can anyone provide some tips on this job? This is new territory for me.

Thanks
 
I hope your getting paid a lot that's a PITA job. Luckily your in CA so all the bolts underneath will come out.
 
wonder what the in germany euro price is? id there a short cut?

I once had an izusu sedan, dealer showed me the the factory service said to remove the engine from the car to replace the timing belt. thats what it said.
went to chevy dealer who sold the same car as a spectrum, they said they just took off a motor mount after putting a jack under the oil pan> gave plenty of room.
 
what are your plans for holding the engine up? since you are going to be underneath it, you probably don't want a HF thingy to hold the engine up! Is somebody buying the tools?
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
what are your plans for holding the engine up? since you are going to be underneath it, you probably don't want a HF thingy to hold the engine up! Is somebody buying the tools?


I think the vehicle owner is getting the bill for the tools.
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Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
I hope your getting paid a lot that's a PITA job. Luckily your in CA so all the bolts underneath will come out.


Yeah, that's the part that I'm still undecided about. Book time says 5 hours, but no one wants to charge book time for it....which leads me to suspect that it's a bigger job than advertised. A local indy wants $1k, and the dealer wants $1550. The dealer did say that he can do the pan and the bushings ($900) in one day....which leads me to believe that the 5hr estimate is attainable by someone who does 'em all the time.

Originally Posted By: Skid
You may need external torx sockets if you don't have them already.


Good point, I don't have those. Thanks!

The torque spec on the bolts (as posted in the other thread) is 8nM + 90-deg for the short bolts. I don't see any angle torque wrenches that go this low.

As Trav smartly suggested, I'll just use my in-lbs torque wrench and get it to 70 in-lbs, then I will use a sharpie to mark the new screws at 12 o'clock, and turn them to 3 o'clock.
 
Originally Posted By: CBR.worm
Just out of curiosity, how many miles on the car and what is the overall condition?

I also have an '08 528i.


The car had 183k on it. It's pretty much original all around, at least according to the owner.

The owner is not much of a car guy so I doubt much has been done to it. He did mention changing some coil packs and repair a leak in the valve cover and oil filter housing gasket. I think he follows the 10-15k intervals per BMW.

Supposedly the car consumes a decent amount of oil now so he wanted me to fix the oil pan leak...but judging from the size of the leak, I doubt that's the real problem. Perhaps that electronic dipstick has gone bust? LOL

Diff and transmission fluids are original. Drive belt is supposedly original but looks surprisingly good...but it's probably EPDM. Cooling system is original.

The shocks are probably getting tired, but there were no leaks that I could find. The tension strut bushings are moderately torn, so I am getting a new pair of arms from the BMW value line to replace them. He complains that the front-end is a bit loose and there's a shimmy at highway speeds. I told him that we'd start with the worn bushings and re-evaluate after.

Haven't looked that closely at the rear-end yet.

On the electronics side, I think everything still works, but there is a TPMS fault.
 
What is preventing the guy (or you) from re-torquing the pan bolts? Or it was already tried and given up? What size puddle are you talking about under the car when parked overnight? Is there any redneck solution with specific type of miracle cure or epoxy to stem off the oil leak?

The biggest question is though how in the world a premium 2008 car ends up with this symptoms which are reserved for 15 year old jaolpies? In my neighborhood, that is a practically a brand new car!
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
The biggest question is though how in the world a premium 2008 car ends up with this symptoms which are reserved for 15 year old jaolpies? In my neighborhood, that is a practically a brand new car!

Welcome to the world of BMW. They've been using some inferior gasket material for many years (not sure if they still do), that results in frequent oil pan leaks, oil filter housing leaks, valve cover gasket leaks, rear main seal leaks, rubber gaskets around windshields disintegrating, etc.

It's really inexcusable, IMO, but it continues to happen.
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Originally Posted By: Vikas
What is preventing the guy (or you) from re-torquing the pan bolts? Or it was already tried and given up? What size puddle are you talking about under the car when parked overnight? Is there any redneck solution with specific type of miracle cure or epoxy to stem off the oil leak?

The biggest question is though how in the world a premium 2008 car ends up with this symptoms which are reserved for 15 year old jaolpies? In my neighborhood, that is a practically a brand new car!


Its a BMW not a Mercedes. Lease and dump, lease and dump.
 
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Its a BMW not a Mercedes. Lease and dump, lease and dump.

Modern Mercedes is not a whole lot different, I'm afraid.
 
But we are talking about TheCritic here. So I suspect, by oil pan leak, he really means that he found a drop of the oil on the edge of the oil pan and has convinced his friend to fix it correctly :) No sane person is going to spend thousands of dollar to fix minor leak even on a newer BMW without exploring other alternatives.
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
But we are talking about TheCritic here. So I suspect, by oil pan leak, he really means that he found a drop of the oil on the edge of the oil pan and has convinced his friend to fix it correctly :) No sane person is going to spend thousands of dollar to fix minor leak even on a newer BMW without exploring other alternatives.

It's leaking a good amount. The undercover is all wet, and there's pretty much oil all over the rear portion of the pan (side that faces transmission).

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there's also a rear main seal leak.

Originally Posted By: Vikas
What is preventing the guy (or you) from re-torquing the pan bolts? Or it was already tried and given up? What size puddle are you talking about under the car when parked overnight? Is there any redneck solution with specific type of miracle cure or epoxy to stem off the oil leak?


The bolts are aluminum and one-time use. I ain't touching them.
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
No sane person is going to spend thousands of dollar to fix minor leak even on a newer BMW without exploring other alternatives.

It's why I spent $3 on a plastic tray that I park my car over in the garage. It was either that or $1000+ for a rear main seal job.
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European cars like to mark their territory.

Its not a leak unless it makes a mess, a couple of drips a night isn't worth fixing.
 
Even for an European car, this is way too early unless the vehicle has already over 250K miles.

How many days/weeks/months would it take until the cardboard on the parking spot will need to be replaced? Remember, even a few drops of oil is going cause lot of surface area on the car to get oily.

So, rather than trying to re-torque the bolts, you are going to buy brand new bolts anyway and have your friend spend hundreds of dollars so that you can fix his oil leak? Explain that logic to me please!
 
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