Risks of delaying oil pan gasket?

[jkoral]

I have a leak in the rear of my oil pan (hopefully not rear seal too). This was about 6 months ago and 2K miles driven. Although I have some drips in my garage, my oil level sensor has not dropped. (It's never dropped from full between my 5K OCI for life of car). My indy wants $1K to do the oil pan gasket (seems high?), but didn't act like it should be done ASAP. I'm driving the car much less than I used to, and I don't use it for trips. Are there any risks of delaying this repair?

[juld0zer]

What engine is it?
Dont trust the oil level sensor - measure what comes out and base your consumption/loss calculations off that.

[Lucky1]

Originally Posted by juld0zer

What engine is it?
Dont trust the oil level sensor - measure what comes out and base your consumption/loss calculations off that.

I'd also like to know if there are any risks besides running low on oil.

[Thunderguts]

Hell, I've drove for years with a leaking main seal on my last car. Eventually it let go and I lost all my oil on the road, but I was less than a mile from home and made it back. If you keep an eye on oil levels (hard to do without a damn dipstick), you shouldn't have any problems except an ugly driveway.

[Russiandl]

I'm going on 3 years. They said, it's leaking pretty bad. As soon as the tech wipes it, it's already dripping. I don't have much loss in oil level. Whenever I change it I'm at about 6.5qts being emptied. And I haven't seen a drop of oil on my concert in the garage. I personally have not seen it in person, just from what they told me, when the were doing a smoke test. So how risky is it I'm not sure but all seems okay so far.

[JimD]

The only risk from a leak at the gasket is that the oil level might get too low and cause engine damage. That risk can be mitigated by checking the level and filling as soon as it gets below the fully full mark.

My 128i is my first BMW but most of my cars over the years have been used cars well up in miles which leaked a little oil. The impact is to the driveway, not the usability of the car.

I do not like our oil level sensor system but I think mine works. I didn't tighten the oil filter housing cap after an oil change and it told me I was losing oil. I think it is sufficiently accurate to tell you if you are low. (the oil filter cap junction is pressurized so you can loose oil much more quickly than from the pan gasket which is not pressurized)