engine oil leak onto manifold, smell burning oil

sapphireblack · Post by **sapphireblack** » Fri Mar 26, 2021 1:56 pm

Fingers crossed then, hopefully found the issue at last.

Andy Collings · Post by **Andy Collings** » Wed Apr 07, 2021 7:48 pm

Finally got car back today ! Not only was the gasket split when replaced last but rocker cover was warped and damaged too. Apparently warping of cover is common on older cars. Some forums and garages recommend changing the covers at same time as gaskets. Be aware though that a new cover from BMW is £320 for one. You can get a pair and gaskets from ebay etc for around that price. Oil filler cap was also seeping. Car seems fine at moment but time will tell. The engine does not have to be dropped to change the N/S cover gasket, original garage was mistaken or didn't know what they were doing, as proved by damaging the gasket and cover. Will post update after a few weeks of trouble free motoring ! Hopefully.

sapphireblack · Post by **sapphireblack** » Wed Apr 07, 2021 10:02 pm

Hopefully sorted now

The more i read of this type of issue it confirms what i concluded years back and partly why i sold my E53. The V8 motor is a beastie but with age is susceptible to oil leaks, which by their nature are costly to resolve and equally costly to identify.

Andy Collings · Post by **Andy Collings** » Thu Apr 08, 2021 4:32 pm

Seems that most of the oil leaks and coolant leaks are from common area's, mine has had the majority of them. Costly to sort all of them but at least the forums etc helped me identify them.
The worst one was the smell through vents one, which if the original garage had changed the valve cover gasket properly would never have happened. Really annoyed because the garage that did it couldn't find any leaks or didn't want to, all other leaks were the common ones. Taught me one thing though, if you find a garage that go all out to help and spend time to do things properly, explain all the diagnostics and all the work carried out, stick with them. Even the place that finally found the leak and rectified it weren't perfect. Communication was terrible, gave false promises, lied, chipped coating on all 4 wheels when changing brake pads, left 2 screws out of battery cover, which I found loose in boot.
Main thing though smell has not recurred after 2 days, hopefully stays that way. I agree that the V8 is a pain in the backside for leaks and cost to pocket but sounds lovely and drives great. Be keeping it for at least a year now to at last get some enjoyment of a leak free car. So far car has cost me around £3500 in bills, some though caused by unscrupulous garages.
Will update if any further woes!

Andy Collings · Post by **Andy Collings** » Wed Jul 14, 2021 2:08 pm

Several weeks passed now, all good. The next thing that went wrong was Front Prop Shaft, had a clacking tapping noise as I had before which seemed to disappear after the broken link rod on suspension was changed. Happened at low speeds and disappeared at cruising speed. Checked the forums and most likely culprit was a cv driveshaft. Purchased one and took car to garage, had a phone call to go down and see what they had found. The car was up on ramp and when the rear wheels were rocked back and forth it made the noise I was hearing. It was coming from the front driveshaft which had a lot of front to rear play in it which mechanic said was way more than normal. Propshaft sourced from BMW and fitted, total cost £450.00 for shaft and other parts and £150.00 labour. Did some research and found this fault has been apparent on X5's for a while but BMW would not do a recall even though if it fails at speed it is very dangerous and either goes through the engine or transmission. However I contacted Sytner BMW Cardiff and asked about a good will gesture for something towards cost of replacement. Had to send copy of invoice and all service history to show car properly serviced and send any info showing loyalty to BMW. Sent all info and had a great result. BMW refunded all the £650.00 costs even though work carried out at an independent garage. Very good service.
I would advise any one reading this to get their front propshaft checked. Could be a lifesaver.
This afternoon having transmission remapped using XHP stage 3 software, had stage 1 done to ECU last week and what a difference it makes, will post transmission results after a few days of playing.

sapphireblack · Post by **sapphireblack** » Wed Jul 14, 2021 3:05 pm

A BMW refund is a result, congratulations. Curious what age the car is, sorry if its noted and i have missed it.

** 4.8 E70 suggests 2007?

henrym3 · Post by **henrym3** » Wed Jul 14, 2021 7:19 pm

You’d be better of doing the gaskets yourself, if not confident then watch a utube video. After all, 3 now 4 garages (experts)don’t know how to do it but still charge your hard earned.

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