How can you tell valley pan gasket is leaking?

[Multibeemer]

With all the trim and such blocking the view of the engine, how can you tell if the valley pan gasket is leaking, given that whatever leaks (antifreeze, I assume) would tend to collect at the bottom of the "V"? Thanks.

[TwinTurboGTR]

You can look under the X, towards the bellhousing and you will see crusty coolant buildup. That is usually a dead sign of a bad gasket.

[DallasGV]

Check out the pic on page 2 of my post. The valley pan is dead center and if you look towards the back you will see two very small holes to the left and to the right which are overflow holes that bleed out onto the transmission bell housing.

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...-pocket-2.html

[Multibeemer]

Thanks; I have to get under there to change my fuel filter, so I'll take a look around the bell housing area for signs of coolant build-up. I was under there not too long ago, and didn't see anything, so hopefully things are still OK. I hope so, because I've heard the valley pan gasket replacement is a big job...