Exxon Valdez - oil Separator? PICS ADDED!
 

Found a massive oil spill on my driveway when I came home from work where my wife's X5 4.4 was parked earlier. My wife had already left for her shift and when I phoned to ask her if her X drove ok, she said it had but that the oil light was on, (no kidding honey?). Ugh. Anyway, we've had a an unusual cold snap here (well below freezing for several days) and I've read quite a bit about the OSV. This was clearly a huge leak and not the usual smaller leaks I've read about. I'm pretty sure most of the 8 liters was on the driveway and that she drove the 10 mins and 6 miles to work with little or no oil. I have no idea where to start. What can I expect? I'm debating allowing an Indie shop to do the work. My wife states that there was no smoke, no overheating, no odd noises. Just the check oil light. She said it drove fine.

Holy crap. ???? Any words of wisdom?:(

Oil puddled on the ground often looks like more than it is. If there were no additional warning lights beyond the check engine oil level, then it is more likely that it didn't run out of oil. First, see how low it is. Add oil back until it is on the dipstick.

Look under the hood and see if it is obvious where the oil came from. If so, describe it to us. If not, book it in with your mechanic.

Good luck.

Don't let women drive anything that is expensive to repair.

Mine drove 50 miles with the brake on.


Uhg................

Thanks for your responses. When I checked the oil level there was none on the dipstick - bone dry. There was a very minute amount of peanut butter at the end of the dipstick as well as a minute amount on the oil cap. I'm worried about putting all that oil in the engine and having it spew all out again, but I guess there's no other choice. I did have a quick look around the valve covers and it's dry.

Stay tuned.

8 qts of oil would look like a murder scene. how much did you have to add? speaking of wives driving. mine called one day telling me my pickup was a p.o.s. that it wouldnt go over 60 on the highway! my 1st thought was emergency brake on? then she called back a few minutes later after people kept pointing at her when they passed, so she pulled over. BOTH back tires were missing. she was driving on rims. she drove em flat til they came off. lololol when i went to rescue her the 1st words out of her mouth were "don't you say a word" hahaha

Update;

So i added 5 litres of oil and fired it up. At first, nothing as far as leak goes, but then it started to drip after 5 mins. I went under the vehicle and tried to trace the leak. It appears to be coming down between the block and bell housing. There are three square holes on the housing and the drip is coming from them. However, it would also appear that some coolant is involved as well. I took pics and I just need to figure out how to add them here. FWIW - no warning lights, no check engine, etc. Runs like a top.....well.....other than the leak! I had a good look at the OSV/CCV hoses and they're dry and in good shape. from what I could see the OSV looks dry too. I have noticed lately having to add coolant at the rate of a cup or so per month.

Ideas??

Looks like there in antifreeze mixed in that sludge/

Yes there's definately antifreeze leaking as well, but it is not mixed together. I believe they're two different issues. Coolant has leaked at the rate of about a cup per month (that I've added to the reservoir). The oil is leaking at a far more alarming rate (nearly all of the 8 quarts in a day).

You can't get a pressure washer wand under there from a car wash and spray it down with degreaser? Makes it pretty much impossible not to find BOTH issues with the only oil being from the leak point after it's clean. (I know you are in BC, but I have no idea what the temps average)

Well I can tell you that coolant leak is from the Valley pan gasket. And at a rate of a cup/mo, sounds about right. So there is your coolant answer, especially if there isn't any white smoke a sweet spelling odors. And with the oil leaking the CCV valve its self might be failing, or because of all that coolant, might have deteriorated the seals on the valve cover gasket? I know it is hard to see the back of the motor cuz the damn windshield is about a third over the motor, but feel around, take the BMW plastic acoustic cover off and check between the intake manifold. See if you see any oil there.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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......

All done!
 

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!

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!

He had more work done, the intake manifold/valley pan etc. is about 8 hrs, the valve cover gaskets are additional labor above that. That is a realistic price since their shop rate is so cheap. If they have good mechanics and do good work you may have found a great indy shop there!

Yeah, really need to read better. Didn't see the extras, just saw valley pan. haha.

I would also check the coolant expansion tank. They seem to go bad about the same time as the CCV and Valley pan gasket. and while you are in there check your valve cover gaskets...

I did the expansion tank myself about 4 months ago as it was leaking. They did the valve cover gaskets in this job. Here's a breakdown of my bill:

diagnosis: 103.50
Valley pan gasket - 6 hrs labor @ 69/hr $414.00
" " " - part $159.70
" " cover - " $39.15
coolant crossover pipe gaskets x2 $17.80 (8.90 ea)
O Ring coolant pipe x4 $ 20.60 (5.15 ea)
Intake gasket x4 $132.60 (33.15 ea)
Oil separator $118.99
Red Antifreeze x3 $59.34 (19.78 ea)
Valve cover gaskets x4 hrs labor $276.00
" " " PARTS $38.60 ea (77.20)
misc shop supplies $22.00
12% tax $172.99
total $1614.53

Yeah, these guys have been great to us and are very personable. They advertise themselves as an Audi, Porsche, VW and MB shop but are very familiar with BMW. They seemed to know exactly what was needing work as well as the new cold weather CCV, problem areas, etc. :thumbup:

Wow! And I thought tax was bad in NJ 12 points!!! Geez, I should stop crying about 7

Ours is 20% here in the UK. I'm always crying!!:(

Roadfrog, glad to hear you've found what would appear to be a good indy as Weasel pointed out. And that you've discovered and are rectiying your problems.:thumbup:

20%? Well there's your second reason why Lehman Failed. Had to pick up all that toxic but lucrative debt just to pay the damn taxes! Oh how I miss my old firm.

Yep, that's no typo! 12%. They harmonized our provincial and federal taxes. Good times.... But hey!!! Free healthcare! LOL :rolleyes: whoopee

Now I gotta sort out my oil preferences. I know....a WHOLE other topic and can o' worms opener. I can get a good deal on a a group 3 synthetic made by Shell (5w30), but still wanna keep my 15k mile oil changes. :dunno:

WOW! 20%!??? Yikes.

We should have found this thread a few weeks ago, paying attention to post 16

engine oil leaking by the transmission case? - Bimmerforums - The Ultimate BMW Forum


We might have been able to rule out some things. :)

You forgot to mention that BC has the lowest personal income tax rates of any province in Canada. Now there is something to cheer about!

Well, I still have a leak at the back of the motor, albeit a small one. There is a drop or two off the sway bar and off the exhaust flange bolt/nut on the passenger side. Normally one would assume it's coming from the CCV system, but that was replaced. You can smell the oil burning off the exhaust. Obviously, it goes back to the shop this coming week, but wondered of y'all might have an idea?

Possibly residual oil, if they didn't get it all cleaned up when they did the job.

I suppose it's possible, but I have a feeling it's still leaking. I've re-wiped the area clean. We'll see.

Hey Roadfrog,

Sorry to resurrect the thread but I'm having a minor leak (1 drop a day) in the same location (sway bar). It is dark in color and not oily so I don't think it is the trans fluid. I wonder did you end up need additional work on your X beside the valley pan and Valve Cover Gasket? I'm hoping it is not the main seal. I'll inspect the engine sometime this week.