Oil Leak
 

Hello,
I have an oil leak, most of the oil is on the passenger side of engine compartment.. Thought I had it fixed when I found oil seeping around the oil filter cover...I put a new O-ring in & it stopped leaking there...

Drove for 3 day's & came back Friday (Really cold Day)..The first time it leaked was really cold as well....We do not normally have temperatures dip this low in Maryland...

Can anyone point me in the right direction. Thank you in Advance.
Jay Vickers

Member since 2008 and still no model/model year/build date info? Help us help you better...in this case...some details at least as to which engine your asking us about. :)

oil leak
 

Sorry,,,
2004 x5, 6 cylinder.
Thank you,
jay

Most likely you'll need to have the valve cover gasket AKA VCG replaced.

If it got worse suddenly in very cold weather, you may be seeing the ccv freeze up problem that can (as one of several outcomes) pressurize the valve cover space and push oil out the oil cap or valve cover gasket. It often causes smoke in the exhaust and oil in the intake system. Something to watch out for...

Left and right are as viewed from the driver's seat.

The 3.0L engine (M54) is known to leak from the valve cover. Due to the orientation of the engine, the oil runs to the rear of the engine then down the right side, where it drips onto the exhaust manifold.

Thank everyone.
j

I'd like to restate my comments a little bit. What I said is true and correct, but perhaps a bit misleading.

Oil normally flows inside of the engine from the front to the rear because the front is higher than the back. It also flows from the left to the right, because the engine it tilted. This is the normal flow of oil inside of the engine. The valve cover gasket is supposed to keep this oil contained inside.

The problem when the gasket fails is that the oil that normally pools at the right rear corner of the engine now seeps out from that corner and drips onto the exhaust manifold.

When one replaces the valve cover gasket, there are 15 grommets for the screws that hold the cover on, be sure to replace these grommets else they might break when you go to reuse them, or they will be hard and this can allow them to leak. The valve cover gasket does not include the grommets. There are also two gaskets that seal the spark plug wells, but I think they are part of the gasket set. There are some 90-degree corners around the cam shafts that should be sealed with a dab of RTV.

The job on an E46 is not difficult, but you must remove the box for the cabin filter to reach the back of the engine - the rear most screws that hold the cover on. The E53 fits further to the rear, which might complicate the access to these last 4 or so screws, and to the locations where the RTV is needed. You might find some joy in searching YouTube for a video on this project. If you can find a valve cover gasket video that is specific to the E53, then you want to follow it. The E46 video will get the job done, but there are variations.

The bolts that hold the cover on are set to something like 7 lb. ft. DOUBLE CHECK THE SPEC., but the idea here is that you can use a nut driver to attain the correct value, so do not go crazy on making them tight.