Oil leak question

[Riggie]

I noticed yesterday that there was an oil leak which appeared to be coming from the front offside of the engine bay.

On closer inspection, it is coming from the intercooler pipe at the bottom joint. I'm not totally conversant on how the turbo system works, but am I right to suspect that the oil will be coming from the turbo seal on that side?

Car is under AUC and it is going to the stealer on Mon. I understand that they don't replace turbo seals therefore, will I be correct in asking for a new turbo?

Is there anything else which can cause this?

Car is a 56 plate E53 with 40k miles.

Thanks.

[X5Sport]

There definitely should not be oil in the inter cooler routing!  It's a 4-stroke not a two-stroke needing oil and fuel!!

Given it's an AUC car definitely one to hand to the Dealer, but it may not be the blower.  If the crankcase breather is blocked you could have excess pressure causing oil to get into the wrong places.  There are a number of oil pipes in that area and it might be one of those, but it's defo not right.  BMW won't replace the turbo seals as that needs 'real' engineering and Dealers aren't allowed to do that.... >:(. They would only be allowed to fit a new or remanufactured unit.

Given that there is a risk of a 'runaway' with oil in the air feed, keep use to a minimum.  Runaways are very rare, but simply means the engine runs on it's own oil rather than fuel supply and that usually means goodnight engine!!

Premature turbo failure is often caused by owners (not you, but it's first or second) not allowing the turbo to warm up, and especially cool down after a high speed run which 'cooks' the oil in the bearings and the seals/bearings can fail giving rise to a leak.

Richard

[Riggie]

Thanks Richard

It won't be used other then the 9 miles to the dealer on Monday morning, they can then sort it out. I might just drop the hint that a new turbo is in order !

[Riggie]

Car dropped into the stealer yesterday. They said having oil in the pipe between the turbo and intercooler is normal, just depends how much !

I pointed out that it should not be dripping on the floor and the response was that one of the o rings could be leaking. I suggested that if they wanted to fit a new turbo under warranty, I was happy for them to do so. The response was that if it needs a turbo, it will have one !

We'll see.

[X5Sport]

Hmmm, sounds like soneone's trying to duck the issue.  It's an air system so there might be a tiny bit of oil, but that's all.  As you say, you'll see.

Where's StevoX5, he might know for sure just how much there should be.

R

[stevox5]

Hi There

I agree with all points mentioned so far, more likley to be a breather issue than a turbo I would say but still possibly turbo seals I suppose.

A small and I mean small oil trace in the pipe work would not be an immediate worry but it most certainly should be not dripping from the pipe under any circumstance.The seal on the pipe could be dammaged but you should not have enough oil to drip out anyway.

I would remove all of the pipe work on the turbo and intercooler and inspect the ammount of oil then check the condition of the bearings on the turbo impeller shaft closley.the intercooler needs to be removed and tipped up to see if any oil is trapped inside also(cleaned if required)
If the turbo bearings are ok and the car was not smoking badly from the exhaust a very close look at the oil seperator/breather should be in order including the diapragm in the assembly then a judgement made.

Its hard to say without seeing it but to sum up i would say definatley you should not have oil dripping from the pipe.

Get it checked over and see what the diagnosis is , dont be fobbed of by a seal in the intercooler pipe though if it was in fact dripping.

Good Luck

[Riggie]

Stealer rung today, said it is all done. They said they checked the turbo impeller, bearings and seals and all is ok. They also said that the amount of oil in the pipe wasn't excessive and the 'o' ring seal in the pipe was leaking and they have replaced the offending seal and all is ok.

In fairness, the oil wasn't running out, maybe one drip in a couple of days. I did 1600 hard miles in the car in a week before noticing the drip.

AUC warranty still has 8 months to run and I do 2500-3000 per month, so if the seal doesn't sort it, it will rear its' head again before AUC runs out.

There was no smoke and no loss of power.

[mikem]

I had the same issue, last month - mine is still under warranty too but decided to do it myself and replaced all the seals on the piping (£5 each). No problems since. (if you search google, its a common problem and the pipe/seal had to be redesigned on the 335d because of it).

The PCV breathes dfirectly into the oil filter and hence you end up with oil in the intake tract where it condenses, I`m willing to bet the air filter is all shit up as it`s probably never been changed, mine hasn`t smoked at all since changing the PCV and air filter at the same time.

[rjkc600]

My understanding is that overfilling the engine oil can cause oil to enter the inlet tract excessively.

Nto sure if that applies to the X5 though.