Exxon Valdez - oil Separator? PICS ADDED!

[Weasel]

If you are losing that much oil that fast from inside the bell housing, odds are the rear main seal is blown out... Unfortunately you may be pulling your transmission and flywheel to change that now.

[TwinTurboGTR]

Ahh dangit Weasel! lol. Why didn't I think of that. I got stoopid for 15 minutes, haha.

[o. l. t.]

Originally Posted by Weasel

If you are losing that much oil that fast from inside the bell housing, odds are the rear main seal is blown out... Unfortunately you may be pulling your transmission and flywheel to change that now.

I was going to say that but I thought surely that would trigger a block oil pressure sensor?

[Weasel]

Well, the oil pressure would remain the same internally, but the oil coming out of the back end of the rearmost main bearing would no longer be contained. The oil pressure sensor wouldn't trigger the red light till the level dropped enough to cause oil pump cavitation etc.

[roadfrog]

Well, thanks all. Guess it's off to the shop. Normally I do all my automotive work myself, but clearly it'll be best to take it in. Guess I've been lucky, as I've NEVER spent more than 4 or 5 hundred bucks on a mechanical repair in the 30 yrs I've owned vehicles. I think it's safe to say, that winning streak will end today!I suppose I should have expected that with a Bimmer. LOL.

I'm debating whether I should drive it in or tow it as it's a 10 minute drive and about 5 miles away.

I'll keep y'all posted on what happens.

[TwinTurboGTR]

Ummm, tow it. You don't want to limp in with it. a $2000.00 repair might end up being a 15K engine rebuild. If you are mechanically inclined, which it seems like you are. Take some time to rip the motor apart and get to that valley pan. Then from there you can kill the coolant problem and check to see where the oil is coming from. If the oil is coming from the rear main seal as weasel suggested, then you know the tranny needs to be dropped and then can take it to the shop. That bill might be a $900 to a $1k, but atleast it saves you another $1000 to $1500 by doing the valley pan yourself. Just my $.02

[roadfrog]

Shop just called. They quoted me 1300 dollars for a valley pan job, replacing the OSV with the cold weather pkg version and valve cover gaskets. They said that they ran it on the hoist for nearly and hour and the coolant was leaking out at a steady pace. Weird thing is, there was no leakage of oil! He can't explain why and said that they'll have a closer look while replacing the valve cover gaskets and OSV. I'm pleasantly relieved at the price. I anticipated much higher $$ for this repair. Obviously, I could be looking at another bill if/when they find the oil leak.

[roadfrog]

So I peeked into the shop on my way home from work and everything is going as per plan. They said that the OSV was leaking after all. A pipe/hose was split, allowing a large amount of oil to spill out. They said the valley pan gasket was kaput as expected. It'll be ready tomorrow afternoon and so far, the quote of 1300 dollars stands including the updated OSV (cold climate). I'm pretty happy all things considered.

Stay tuned......

[roadfrog]

All done! Grand total: 1450 dollars plus tax. This included the CCV (insulated version), valve cover gaskets, valley pan gaskets, fluids, hoses, intake manifold gasket and all labor. Interestingly, this shop charges only 69 dollars/hr for labor! That seems really low to me. Immediately noticeable was how smooth the X feels now. We'll drive it for 1000 kms or so and then I'll change the oil and filter for piece of mind.

Thought y'all would like to know how this all panned (no pun intended) out. Thanx again for your input!

[TwinTurboGTR]

Hey Chris! Well done. Glad we could all help. And yeah $69/hr is low. Kind of wondering how the bill was $1450.00. My BMW $stealer quoted $1500.00 @ 8 hrs labor; $129/hr = $1,032 plus parts and tax. Even the indy was at $1300 at $99/hr labor. Kind of wondering how much he banged you for parts or how long he worked on it. I think book says 8 hrs. But any who, at least it is done. Working on mine this weekend. All my parts came today! I am EXCITED!