[Brotherhef]

Have a oil leak that has stumped me (I'm an enthusiast that does dyi and not a tech).

-'14 335i 56k miles.
-oil pan gasket and oil housing gasket changed 1.5 year ago.
-I do smell oil when turn on/off car. (Makes me think valve cover)
-zero oil on ground, but some on the small skid plate that's sits behind the large belly cover/tray.
-have been watching it for a couple days, and was hoping to get confirmation today by using my dye and black light. Wasn't not able to find anything definitive after warming up engine twice and watching for leaks above and under the car. (I'm going to try and clean everything I can and watch again).
-oil still measures full according to computer after 2000 miles and one track day.
-I see a drop here and a drop there, but nothing major. I want to figure this out, so I'm not just throwing wasted time and money.

Any input appreciated and thoughts appreciated!

[cfm56d7b]

Mileage alone makes valve cover gasket a reasonable suspect. Do you see any oil around the gasket?

[Bl00DY F30]

If you take off the under tray and its a bit of oil leaking from the front passenger side could be a seal on your turbo is going bad as well. Had this happen to me on my stock turbo couple months back.

[Brotherhef]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

Mileage alone makes valve cover gasket a reasonable suspect. Do you see any oil around the gasket?

There is a tiny bit in that silver shield/pan on passenger side next to valve cover. No standing oil at any time, but there is evidence of oil there. Maybe if I put a small piece of sheet metal in that trough towards the back and see if it pools any oil? Maybe that would help:

[Brotherhef]

Originally Posted by Bl00DY F30

If you take off the under tray and its a bit of oil leaking from the front passenger side could be a seal on your turbo is going bad as well. Had this happen to me on my stock turbo couple months back.

Bummer!

-What all did you have to do and pay to fix?

- and how did you know for sure it was turbo?

[Bl00DY F30]

Originally Posted by Brotherhef

Bummer!

-What all did you have to do and pay to fix?

- and how did you know for sure it was turbo?

I first came out to oil on the ground thought it was the oil pan but couldn't have been I just done it in march. But they got the car up on a lift and checked around seen that in the middle of the cold & hot side of the turbo it was leaking right from the turbo indicating the seals are going bad. I ended up just doing a turbo upgrade because I was going to anyways.

[F32Fleet]

Valve cover. Passenger side look for staining OR leaks. Especially towards the back side of the engine.

[Brotherhef]

Originally Posted by F32Fleet

Valve cover. Passenger side look for staining OR leaks. Especially towards the back side of the engine.

There is some staining, but I haven't seen anything that would cause droplets. Maybe tiny seepage over time? I'm just tired of the oil smell in the cabin.

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by Brotherhef

There is some staining, but I haven't seen anything that would cause droplets. Maybe tiny seepage over time? I'm just tired of the oil smell in the cabin.

First pic looks to show a little staining near a VC Bolt. I'm guessing you're getting an intermittent burning smell? That's what I experienced. I replaced my VCG at around 56k miles.

[14F30Daily]

+1 for VCG. Mine was replaced around 62k and the leak looked very similar to what you're seeing.

[Brotherhef]

I may have two battles to work on. 😡Here are some pics that I observed. 1) is rear of engine, dripping from around the exhaust manifold. I'm guessing it came from rear of valve cover. 2) front of engine, looking like maybe coming from filler cap?

[Brotherhef]

Pics attached this tim
Other than annoyance, How urgent of a repair would you say these leaks are?

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by Brotherhef

I may have two battles to work on. Here are some pics that I observed. 1) is rear of engine, dripping from around the exhaust manifold. I'm guessing it came from rear of valve cover. 2) front of engine, looking like maybe coming from filler cap?

VCG isn't really serious. A leak around the OFH is serious in the sense that if sufficient oil lands on the belt it'll slip off and can get ingested into the engine via front crank seal. You don't want that!

Oil filter caps don't really develop leaks.

Q: Did you use a genuine BMW gasket on the OFHG repair? Did you also replace the oil cooler gasket?

I would look in those areas.

[Brotherhef]

[/QUOTE]
VCG isn't really serious. A leak around the OFH is serious in the sense that if sufficient oil lands on the belt it'll slip off and can get ingested into the engine via front crank seal. You don't want that!

Oil filter caps don't really develop leaks.

Q: Did you use a genuine BMW gasket on the OFHG repair? Did you also replace the oil cooler gasket?

I would look in those areas.[/QUOTE]

Appreciate the info. I did not change oil cooler gasket and I believe I used oe gasket. I normally do. I'll look there some.

[Tpriest7893]

I also replaced VC around 70k under warranty