Need help finding the oil leak (picture heavy)

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by Bmwe5320023.0

Well I wish I knew this plate was so important, drove 2 years without it, planning to find the leaks before reinstalling it.
Oh well, got it all figured out now and as a bonus learned that the pan can seep through...

You call that a bonus?

[Bmwe5320023.0]

Well I mean I never actually considered that to be possible lol.
Could've totally missed it and would've still be looking for the damn leak...
Now that I thoroughly cleaned the plate I see it says not to drive without it haha!
Bmw manual also says to replace the bolts everytime the plate is removed ... that sounds excessive I wonder what happens if you reuse the same bolts

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by Bmwe5320023.0

... Bmw manual also says to replace the bolts everytime the plate is removed ... that sounds excessive I wonder what happens if you reuse the same bolts

That's another WELL debated topic!

Short answer - many folk re-use them with no ill-effect. You get 3-4 re-uses before they reach a point where they may shear off when torqued to spec (which is required, BTW).

Others have used aftermarket nuts and bolts. And some use new BMW-supplied hardware (though I suspect not many!!).

[Henn28]

Originally Posted by wpoll

That's another WELL debated topic!

Short answer - many folk re-use them with no ill-effect. You get 3-4 re-uses before they reach a point where they may shear off when torqued to spec (which is required, BTW).

Others have used aftermarket nuts and bolts. And some use new BMW-supplied hardware (though I suspect not many!!).

Well debated to say the least! I'm on my third re-torque of mine and am going to bite the bullet and buy new bolts next time I need to drop the plate.

[andrewwynn]

When destructive testing, I never got five and I was could feel it weekend on the fourth

[Bmwe5320023.0]

Hahaha $40 CAD per bolt that's $240 for 6 bolts. Yeah I can see why it's a debated topic...

[andrewwynn]

They aren't extra special bolts you can buy the equivalent at a hardware store M10x55mm 10.9.

(That's from memory it might be slightly different)

You can (as I did) buy 12.9 with some proper locking washers and get unlimited re-use with similar clamping force.

I think maybe captive washer or something doesn't make them worth 10x the price!

One logical compromise that I've seen is to only torque to half the angle (45 vs. 90) but when I looked into that it's a very large drop in force like 40% so cheap normal bolts proper torque is the best low cost option.