We need the O.P. to post an update...

I am curious exactly what he found to be the root cause...

You can try a private message.

I haven't had a chance to do anything yet, so as of right now, I don't have an update to share with you guys unfortunately.

As I mentioned above, my 2004 X3 M54 with 90K miles has been leaking a tiny at the same exact bolt. It barely consumes any oil.

Question: How many miles is in your X5 (O.P.) and how much oil (if any) you have to add every ___ miles?

My car has 190k miles now. I don't pay attention to how much oil I have to add every certain milage, but it's a lot. Maybe 1 quart every 1-2k miles right now. However, the leak persists when the car is still parked, so it's not really milage dependent.

Are you sure it engine oil and not some other type of oil, like diff oil?

I put UV dye in the engine oil and the dye shows up in the leaks that are occurring.

I haven't checked that yet. I missed this post before. Is there a good way of checking these hoses? I'll have to do some searching.

Now, looking at the whole thing with fresh idea, this whole thing may be just the $7 OFH gasket.

It can leak down from the OFH gasket ---> along the L side of the engine (mimicking oil pan gasket leak) ---> rear of engine along the top of REAR portion of oil pan gasket ---> now it runs just BELOW the RMS but above the oil pan gasket (mimicking RMS leak) ---> to the RED arrows mentioned in the photo above ---> drips down onto the bottom bolt posted above. Please see photo for what I mean...


So, always fix the cheap and easiest first, which is the OFH Gasket.
Then wipe everything clean.
Some residual oil will trickle down in a few weeks. Again, wipe it clean.

Then monitor the bottom bolt for any more oil leak after a few weeks.


---

When I have time, I will do the following experiment to mimic OFH Gasket leak...

- Get a small hose and funnel and place the tip of the hose below the OFH, just above the oil pan gasket area (as in the solid RED arrow above).

- Will add H2O, one drop at a time and see whether it goes to the bottom bolt at the rear of the engine. If this is the case, it proves my point.

- Will report back later...

- Or anyone has time, you can do this experiment and report back...