The $15 gasket that needs to be replaced.

My wife’s 2011 BMW 335xi is leaking from the oil filter housing gasket. The dealer pointed this out when it was in for the Takata airbag recall. $690 for them to replace it or $15 part so here we go!

The car is a turbo and has an oil cooler so you’re supposed to drain the coolant as the filter housing connects to the radiator. 

• Remove fan shroud
• Remove air intake
• Remove undertray
• Remove support brace
• Remove intercooler
• Open drain on radiator that was blocked by the intercooler.
• Disconnect really hard to get to hose on back of thermostat housing to drain more coolant out.
• Remove electric fan.
• Remove intake manifold

Then you can remove the oil filter housing! Yay. I got most of it done tonight. Just have to remove the intake manifold.

This was a much easier job on the e46 330. 

A bit late, and second-hand, but a BMW pro tech I know claims that a 1/4" drive E15 (I think, I'm going from memory) universal allows you to get in there without pulling the intake, and makes for a much shorter job. Trouble is, the only one I've found is Snap-On and like $75, but it's probably worth it if it saves hours of labor.

For that much trouble, I would've probably played the "how bad is it really leaking" game.

TheRX7Project said:

For that much trouble, I would've probably played the "how bad is it really leaking" game.

Problem is they don't just stay small leaks. Every N5x motor leaks from those gaskets eventually, and once they start the leaks continue to grow, sometimes quite quickly.

I used to describe gasket leaks as a "$5 part in a $500 place".

Two weeks ago I had to do cam seals on a Mazda Z6-engined car because one just sort of blew out.  (I think that is the name - the updated narrow-angle version of the DOHC B6)  Took out the timing belt of course, because oil saturation.  Came back a week later "It's still heaving oil".  It was - from the rear main seal, which of course requires removing the transmission.  If it had been leaking before, it was not noticable due to how much oil had been heaving from the ejected cam seal.  THAT seal was still in its proper place, but after 20 years or so it was rock hard and the sealing lip had been shaved flat.

Also oil drips on acc. Belt causing it to fail and get ingested into timing cover and wreck engine.  Well thoughtout failure mode, I swear it is intentionally designed.

In reply to Harvey :

You may as well leave the tools out, because next up will be your valve cover gasket and oil pan gasket.

kilgoretrout said:

In reply to Harvey :

You may as well leave the tools out, because next up will be your valve cover gasket and oil pan gasket.

Oil pan gasket on an E46:  Never done one, because nobody ever wants to spend the money, and they all leak.  Due to the way the front differential mounts you have to dismantle the front supension to get at it.  (I assume: again, nobody has ever had us fix the leak)

I rarely see post-E46 3-series.  I assume this is because they mostly die before they get out of dealer service.

It's not just the Germans doing that.  Apparently the going rate for intake manifold gaskets on the Vortec 5700 is about 1200-1500 to replace two stupid gaskets that have no business ever failing in the first place.

In reply to wae :

After a lot of infodump about problems elsewhere, it makes sense.

When you tighten down the intake manifold, it wedges the heads and therefore the block apart.  This hurts cylinder sealing, especially on the small block Chevy head bolt pattern with six of the bolts threaded practically in the cylinder walls as if destroying ring seal was a design criteria.  Therefore increased emissions.  So Chevy used an intake gasket that was designed to require very little torque, so as not to warp the block.  It's a good idea and a good design, but unfortunately they made it out of plastic and not something more durable.

(Incidentally, I have read articles about being able to measure the distortion in the crankshaft journals of certain Common Pushrod American engines before and after installing the intake manifold!  And then there's the Ford 4.0 SOHC where the first step to removing the cylinder heads is to unbolt the main caps so you don't damage the block!  Engine blocks are not solid monolithic slabs, they are thin-as-possible lattices of iron or aluminum and they are very springy/warpable!)

I have replaced many plastic backed intake gaskets on Chevys and Fords after they sag or break.  I have never replaced an aluminum backed one.  As a company policy, we never install a plastic gasket if a metal one is available for that engine.

Even old, simple motors get you. The 318 in the ZJ leaks a little coolant where the timing cover gasket is shot. And the rear main seal leaks. 

I'll get to it one of these days...

Knurled. said:

kilgoretrout said:

In reply to Harvey :

You may as well leave the tools out, because next up will be your valve cover gasket and oil pan gasket.

Oil pan gasket on an E46:  Never done one, because nobody ever wants to spend the money, and they all leak.  Due to the way the front differential mounts you have to dismantle the front supension to get at it.  (I assume: again, nobody has ever had us fix the leak)

 

I rarely see post-E46 3-series.  I assume this is because they mostly die before they get out of dealer service.

From what I understand ever the RWD oil pan is pretty miserable; the AWD must be awful. I'm very thankful that one of the previous owners of my 128i had all these gaskets taken care of before the car came to me.

I know the math doesn't work, but it sure feels like it makes the case for yanking the engine and replacing every seal and gasket as soon as the first awkward one gets too bad to live with. I hate it when "the complete fix" isn't the right answer...

kilgoretrout said:

In reply to Harvey :

You may as well leave the tools out, because next up will be your valve cover gasket and oil pan gasket.

Oil pan gasket is done already. Good times changing that on the XI.

“Klaus! Where should we put the front axles on ze XI?”

”Right through ze oil pan of course!”

02Pilot said:

A bit late, and second-hand, but a BMW pro tech I know claims that a 1/4" drive E15 (I think, I'm going from memory) universal allows you to get in there without pulling the intake, and makes for a much shorter job. Trouble is, the only one I've found is Snap-On and like $75, but it's probably worth it if it saves hours of labor.

I haven’t started back in yet so the manifold is still on. Was up till 9 last night doing the initial disassembly. You’re making me wonder if I can get one of my wrenches in there. It looks pretty damned tight.

02Pilot said:

Knurled. said:

kilgoretrout said:

In reply to Harvey :

You may as well leave the tools out, because next up will be your valve cover gasket and oil pan gasket.

Oil pan gasket on an E46:  Never done one, because nobody ever wants to spend the money, and they all leak.  Due to the way the front differential mounts you have to dismantle the front supension to get at it.  (I assume: again, nobody has ever had us fix the leak)

 

I rarely see post-E46 3-series.  I assume this is because they mostly die before they get out of dealer service.

From what I understand ever the RWD oil pan is pretty miserable; the AWD must be awful. I'm very thankful that one of the previous owners of my 128i had all these gaskets taken care of before the car came to me.

Oh, it’s quite bad. The front axles go through the pan. Among other things you have to drop the subframe and pull the axles to get enough clearance.

Harvey said:

02Pilot said:

A bit late, and second-hand, but a BMW pro tech I know claims that a 1/4" drive E15 (I think, I'm going from memory) universal allows you to get in there without pulling the intake, and makes for a much shorter job. Trouble is, the only one I've found is Snap-On and like $75, but it's probably worth it if it saves hours of labor.

I haven’t started back in yet so the manifold is still on. Was up till 9 last night doing the initial disassembly. You’re making me wonder if I can get one of my wrenches in there. It looks pretty damned tight.

That's why it needs to be a 1/4" drive, apparently - 3/8" drive won't fit, which means it must be super tight. A quick search suggests it's E10 you need, not E15; assuming that's correct, here's the Snap-On piece. Looks like it's come down in price a good bit since I last checked.

I don’t think anything was getting on this thing. Maybe some of the other motors have access, but this is what I was working with. 

https://i.imgur.com/juSErcD.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/pXAfKNi.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/iy5wHoR.jpg

The manifold curves right over the bolt. You have no angle at it. I’m not spending $43 on that one universal. If it worked and I was a pro that needed to do a hundred of these I would get one, but otherwise no.

As it is I unbolted the manifold and pulled it loose but not totally off and was able to get to it easily enough. Except  for the part where I had to remove the cabin filter housing and the OTHER cover underneath the first engine cover that is apparently protecting the wiring harnesses that crisscross the top of the motor. All of which was a huge suckfest. But in the end, success.

 Now I just have to put this heap of crap back together after I clean off all the sand and dirt that has accumulated in the crevices under all these covers.

That one, I can almost see paying someone to do that. I broke a few plastic clips and lost some screws along the way, but the car runs fine so I think I'm safe until the next leak.

That was way worse than working on the E46 330. I replaced the whole PCV system on that car and it was less work than this one gasket.

This thread is vaguely related to why I'm not interested in the upcoming Supra. 

In reply to Harvey :

Ah yes, reminds me of pulling the intake manifold off of my S40 so I could get to the oil separator/PCV system, which required removing the turbo to intercooler pipe, which was FAR more complicated than it should have been.