Yes those o-rings are way too thin. It's a poor design I think they should be a thicker o-ring. Both of mine were leaking really bad there. I was not able to obtain that dust cover part anywhere online or from any of the local dealers. Where did you get it from? I tried for a few days, as I knew I would damage that o-ring but I think I got lucky.

Sorry to hear yours exploded. I'm worried about mine, as when I first dropped the oil out, there was quite a few metal chunks.

I've used that engine support bar 4 times now, I would recommend that over working around the legs of the crane. Especially if you're just going to lower the subframe and not take it all the way out. It'll be a little claustrophobic under there. Just don't use the floor jack on the oil pan unless you want to have a leaky oil pan soon.

It's a great time to replace your oil pan gasket and about 65 other things, engine mounts rod bearings etc etc. Definitely do the axle seals and the o-ring on the diff side and on the half shaft side. To put the axles back in if you put the opening in clip up at 12:00, they go right in.

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'05 E53 3.0 6mt
'17 F30 340ix 6mt
'96 E36 328is, in progress