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  • Oil Leak - Help!

    Just went out to do the traditional bank holiday Monday car clean and spotted a few drips of oil on the drive. Looked under the bonnet to find that the front offside bottom of the engine is caked in oil :shock: and I'm now below the minimum mark on the dipstick.

    Is this just a blown seal or pipe or has the dreaded vanos unit died? :(

    It was booked in on Wednesday for an oil service anyway but I'll see if they can do it tomorrow now...

    Any one any experience of oil leaks in this part of the engine?
    99T Estoril Blue, Sunroof, HK Speakers, Cruise
    Read my M Coupe experience @ Auto-Journals.com

  • #2
    I doubt it's the Vanos unit, you would see oil at the front of the engine.

    My guess is that it's the constant pressure valve, this is the first place i would look.
    It's located just underneath the exhaust manifold, it's tricky to get to.

    Alternatively if it's going in for a service ask them to check it, i think it's about £20 for the part?
    99vS50 Titan silver, currently on life support waiting for a miracle cure

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    • #3
      I found some oil on the passenger side of the engine undertray, which turned out to be the constant pressure valve. Part cost was £18.39 plus vat. It is as stated a bit of a swine to get at though.
      Black S50

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      • #4
        I found some oil on the passenger side of the engine undertray, which turned out to be the constant pressure valve. Part cost was £18.39 plus vat. It is as stated a bit of a swine to get at though.
        Black S50

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        • #5
          The chap's just been to pick the car up and he reckons it's a seal on the front of the engine, just below the vanos as it was the only place he could find fresh oil . He did say which one but I've forgotten ops: . He too said that he doubted it was the vanos as there would have been more catastrophic symptoms like oil sprayed up the inside of the bonnet and engine warning lights.

          When I know what it was I'll let you know.
          99T Estoril Blue, Sunroof, HK Speakers, Cruise
          Read my M Coupe experience @ Auto-Journals.com

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          • #6
            Keep us informed, mine is weeping in a similar place to where you mention so i would be interested to know the outcome.
            99vS50 Titan silver, currently on life support waiting for a miracle cure

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            • #7
              Question for all,

              The constant pressure valve -- is that located under cylinder #6 (adjacent to the gearbox) in an S50 engine ?

              I've got a minor oil leak from underneath the exhaust manifold near cyl #6.

              Thanks, Will

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              • #8
                Heard back from my indy today. Not good :cry:

                They can't repair my engine as they don't have the right tools apparently :evil:

                The car now needs to be taken on a flat bed to my local BMW dealer and have them see if they car repair it. It's beginning to sound expensive :cry:

                Let's hope warranty direct cover it!
                99T Estoril Blue, Sunroof, HK Speakers, Cruise
                Read my M Coupe experience @ Auto-Journals.com

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                • #9
                  I'm assuming that if they don't have the correct tools then they must know what's wrong with it, did they not say?
                  99vS50 Titan silver, currently on life support waiting for a miracle cure

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                  • #10
                    I'm afraid not, they just said it was leaking from a seal which they couldn't get access to :roll:
                    99T Estoril Blue, Sunroof, HK Speakers, Cruise
                    Read my M Coupe experience @ Auto-Journals.com

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                    • #11
                      Sorted at last

                      Well after having the car off the road for 2 weeks finally picked it up today and the leak has been fixed. I had a right old experience getting it fixed, are you sitting comfortably? Good then I'll begin...

                      Car was picked up by local specialists on Tuesday 30th May by my local specialists, Didcot Auto Centre. Wednesday morning they phoned me saying that it was a leak on the vanos unit and they didn't want to remove the cover as they weren't confident that they had the necessary tools to put it all back together again. This meant it was off to BMW, Cooper Reading as North Oxford wouldn't return my phone calls, typical :evil:

                      Thanks to a mix up with my recovery agent the car stayed where it was till Friday morning. So the car arrived at BMW Friday early afternoon. Cooper Reading said that they wouldn't have a chance to look at it till Monday so no car over the weekend :x

                      Got a phone call from CR on Monday saying that it was the rocker cover gasket that needed replacing, this struck me as a bit suspect as DAC had said that it was vanos related. Phoned DAC again to get the exact fault they suspected and they said that one of thr O rings behind the inlet cam cover on the double vanos had gone and that was why there was oil over the front of the engine. Phone CR back to ask them to check this part and was told that they were the experts and their diagnosis was correct :shock:

                      Got a call on Tuesday to come and pick the car up, got CR and thought I'd have a look before I paid the £417 they wanted. Opened the bonnet, and immediatly found the real oil leak exactly where DAC said it was. I was livid :evil: :evil: :evil:

                      I talked to the service chap, Mark Williams, and he got the car put back in the workshop where the workshop manager, Lee, said that the cover was fine and it was the bolt holding the filter in which was loose and that's where the oil had come from. I argued that this couldn't be the cause as that part was not under enough pressure to cause such a big leak.

                      Anyway they said they needed the car for another night to do some more checks and to come back tomorrow.

                      So I went back on Wednesday 7th June only to be told that, surprise, surprise they had found that the O rings had gone behind the inlet cam cover on the vanos unit. :x :x and they needed the car another day to fit some more.

                      I went nuts and said that I wasn't paying for the work as they were incompitent and even after I'd asked them to check the vanos they still missed it. Out came a chap called Phil who was the head of servicing I think and offered to pay half for the rocker cover work and have the O rings replaced free of charge.

                      So went back to CR today and paid £208 for a rocker cover gasket replacement, including having one of the bolt holes rethreaded, and an O ring replacement and a complete engine bay steam clean. Car is now sorted with no oil leaks!

                      So from my experience I can say that DAC are brilliant at diagnosing problems and know their M engines but should invest in some more tools and that the supposed M specialist at CR isn't worth bothering with, unless you like arguments and needless trips to reading. However the chap who handled the whole mess, Mark Williams was excellent. Always polite and more than willing to get people out to explain things and take the time to make sure that you're happy.

                      I reckon I would use Cooper Reading again but only if DAC couldn't do it and I'd go there with the part numbers that need changing and the haynes manual process for changing them so that their 'experts' couldn't get it wrong.

                      So Col if your engine is leaking in the same place check out the right hand bulge on the double vanos unit held in place with 6 bolts. Run the car for a bit and leave to cool then run your finger underneath it, if you find fresh oil then sounds like your O rings might have gone too.
                      99T Estoril Blue, Sunroof, HK Speakers, Cruise
                      Read my M Coupe experience @ Auto-Journals.com

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                      • #12
                        Jules,

                        Thanks for the write up, it doesn't inspire confidence in BMW when the so called experts fail to recognise the true problem.

                        I don't think mine is coming from the same place, mine is futher to the left at the end nearest the screen washer bottle, it's only minimal weeping but i'm going to keep my eye on it for the time being.

                        At least your all sorted now.

                        Cheers
                        Col
                        99vS50 Titan silver, currently on life support waiting for a miracle cure

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                        • #13
                          Re: Sorted at last

                          Jules,

                          That's absolutely shocking. You should definitely get more back out of them than that. I'd expect a full refund on the original "work" and some goodwill gesture beyond that for time wasted, although at this point you'll probably get more mileage out of writing to BMW UK. I've had good results from complaining to VW UK about their dealers, and I have a friend who used to work for a manufacturer's customer service division and he confirms that such complaints usually will be effective - their company maintained a league table of crap dealers. Get too close to the bottom and you'd quickly find yourself not an authorised dealer any more :)

                          Given that their "expert" did something utterly culpable - explicitly telling you that your correct diagnosis was wrong even thought yours was logical and backed by another expert when his wasn't is pretty good grounds for complaint.

                          North Oxford have yet to do something so bad that they've driven me to complain via BMW UK. I would say it's only a matter of time, but my warranty has just expired so they want be getting the chance to screw it up now :)

                          Paul

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                          • #14
                            I have got a slightl leak under my car and I suspect it is the constant pressure valve. The annoying thing is that I have just dot the car back from an Inspection 1.

                            I told them about the leak on handing the car over. On picking up the car they said they suspected a faulty oil filler cap which they replaced. 2 days later I can see a small pool of oil under the car.

                            Will this constant pressure valve be covered under warranty?

                            Cheers

                            Greenbat

                            Ex MC Owner

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