Finally replaced my oil pan gasket

[Thunderguts]

Seems like forever since I've posted anything...

I've had the parts sitting in my garage for 6 months, but when my battery finally died, I decided to minimize the risk to my footwell module and do the oil pan gasket at the same time. I don't know why, but I ponied up and bought the Braille type 49. It's complete overkill, but damn is it powerful. If only the gasket had been as easy to install...

All I can say is that I know why shops ask $1800 to do this. A manual 128i is probably the easiest of all N52s to replace the gasket, but whatever. What a PITA!

I followed the standard procedure lifting the engine slightly and dropping the subframe. These were the key annoyances in order of severity

1) The threadlock applied on the OEM bolts is so effective that I was way past 8nm, just installing them. They went in cleanly and easily until the threadlock contacted the block. My pucker needle was in the red on at least 10 of the bolts. Fortunately nothing broke, but I wonder what will happen if I ever need to remove them a second time.

2) Just removing that many oil pan bolts killed my wrists. I didn't want to snap anything so I did them all by hand with a 1/4 drive breaker and ratchet. Half came out easily, half required a lot of work.

3) Reinstalling the pan isn't easy. I probably should have pulled the subframe down more, but I was already on the steering shaft. It's right up there with reinstalling the valve cover. I think I got it on the 4th or 5th attempt.

4) My old gasket wasn't as bad as some. It pulled away semi-cleanly for 3/4ths of the pan. The other 1/4 was tough. It also pulled away some of the paint and I didn't trust the gasket to seal well enough so I used black RTV. On the plus side, this held the gasket in place when I reinstalled the pan.

No leaks so far and the new motor and transmission mounts make shifting a little smoother. The car also feels smoother overall. I didn't see any cracking on the old mounts, but they're almost 15 years old now with 89k miles. I did see a little cracking on my giubo so that may be coming up soon. I hope the clutch is easier to replace...

[Almuliman]

Mine's slowly developing a seep at just over 90K / 10.5 years. Nothing urgent at all, but I'm not looking forward to doing it.

[Thunderguts]

Originally Posted by Almuliman

Mine's slowly developing a seep at just over 90K / 10.5 years. Nothing urgent at all, but I'm not looking forward to doing it.

Other than being messy, a small leak might not be a cause for concern. Mine has been weeping for at least 3-4 years and the oil was never noticeably lower when I changed it. The leak had gotten a little worse lately, but I would still call it a heavy weep, rather than a dripping leak. My old Prelude had a slight drip for years and years until the gasket suddenly let go and spewed out all my oil on my way to the post office.

I decided to change it while the weather was cool. The whole process took me 2.5 days. I jacked up the car and installed the engine brace and a few other things on Saturday. I worked on it from 12-7 on Sunday, and another 2-3 hours on Monday. It wouldn't have been that bad, except that I get nauseus when lying flat under a car. That made things 10x worse.

I would consider a car creeper a necessity for this job. You'll appreciate it the 30th time you need to roll out from under the car to get something.

[Almuliman]

Fair point about the weeping, but since they're known to go eventually, I'm mentally preparing myself.

I got myself a creeper at Griot's garage sale a few years ago – absolute lifesaver, IMO, for basically anything under the car, never mind anywhere between the axles.

[tracer bullet]

Thanks for the write-up! Always good to read notes. I'm lucky enough to have no leaks at all, or at least the last I checked (last weekend up top, about a year ago underneath w/ the pan off when I did the water pump). I always wondered how bad it would need to get before doing the job, if / when it does begin leaking. Because, yeah, to an extent it's really just not worth it.

[Thunderguts]

Wow! For a second I was going to recommend buying a new oil pan since it almost always pulls up the paint when you remove the old seal. I thought there would be an OE supplier option for under $200, but no, it's $900 for a genuine BMW oil pan. Nope.

For those with mild weeping, it wouldn't hurt to try to snug up the bolts. Several of mine required almost no effort to break torque. I probably could have done it with nothing but my fingers and the socket. When the gasket hardens it also shrinks. Snugging up the bolts might buy you several more years. I wouldn't use anything more than a 1/4″ driver. You'll feel right away whether or not you can tighten them. If you can, a good 90° turn would probably do it.