oil leak on drives side

[ernaldamerican]

I have a 2003 x5 3.0, and have an oil leak on the drivers side of engine. having a hard time finding out where its coming from. it doesn't look to be a valve cover leak as the oil isn't that high on the engine (from what I can see). One thing I thought it might be is it coming from around the font axle where the drive shaft goes thru the oil pan, and on the drivers side between the differential and oil pan there is a seal, which needs the entire sub frame dropped to replace. But I'm wondering if there is anything on that side of the motor halfway up to look at before I go any further. it is difficult to see on this side as all the air oil separator and air system is there. I didn't see oil from the air oil separator lines or bottom of canister.

Any thoughts, or if anyone has seen where its the seal around the oil tank to drive shaft would greatly appreciate to hear.

Thanks

[gotohelp]

Hi there,

its the oilfilter housing, attached to the lower Part of the engines left hand side locking forward. Check the seal item 6 on this link. No big deal to replace.

http://de.bmwfans.info/parts-catalog...em_oil_filter/

Rgds
Thomas

[X5SND]

Definitely the OFHG. Its just time a time consuming job as you needs to move a few things out of the way to gain access.

[upallnight]

Hardest part of the ofhg is to remove the fan clutch. Get the special tool to hold the pulley while you use the special tool to remove the fan clutch. The threads on the fan clutch is LHD so it's righty loosey.

[ernaldamerican]

Thanks for the reply greatly appreciate it, will pull it off and replace. A lot easier then the dam oil pan removal.

[Whitecat]

Just throwing this out, i had a leaks on the driver side too. But was unclear to see the source until i removed the front plastic cover (under engine) and realized that the leaks originate from hose coolant (passenger side) but was sliding on the plastic cover and drop aligned with the driver side.