oil leak. oil pan gasket / head gasket / head rebuild questions

[baehan]

2002 530i sport 85k miles. oil leak and power steering leak.

bmw service said vehicle needed oil pan gasket replaced. how difficult is this to do myself? how many hours of labor are typically charged for a service like this? what do the parts cost? do you recommend that i service or replace anything else while the pan is off?

went to another auto shop to verify the oil leak. they said it was not the oil pan gasket and said it was the head gasket. how many hours of labor are typically charged for a service like this? what do the parts cost? do you recommend that i service or replace anything else while the head is off?

shop recommended that, if needed, to rebuild the head while it is off. what is involved with a head rebuild? how many hours do shops normally charge for labor on something like that. what do the replacement parts typically cost?

is the oil pan and head gasket something that can be done in the same repair or are they 2 separate issues? are there any other points of failure for oil leaks besides those 2 areas?

power steering lines are leaking as well and i will get those replaced while they do the work. if the head comes off, do they need to disconnect the power steering hoses? trying to save labor costs where i can.

sorry about all the noob questions. i would like to be prepared when i speak with the shop regarding repairs. i do plan to take the vehicle to a 3rd shop to verify which is the correct leak. thank you in advance for all your help.

[turbo20psi]

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1220347 Here is a good read on the head gasket repair.First I would steam clean the engine to see for myself were this leak is coming from exactly.

[Poolman]

Your shop isn't really on the ball--your oil leak is coming from your oil filter housing.
There is a gasket behind the filter housing that is starting to go out on many. The problem is the material that it's made of ,slowly hardens and then starts to leak.
Cn90 has a good write up on how to replace this gasket--I replaced mine about a month ago--it's not a hard DIY --about 3 hours tops--hardest part is to take off the fan shroud to get to all the parts---there are a number of things I would do along with this job, just because your already half way there when doing the gasket.
Valve cover gasket and Vanos seals--if the cooling system hasn't been replaced
do it all--and lastly the ccv valve and the 4 hose's with it. Do those things and enjoy the car another 100k miles.
Good DIY on the oil filter housing
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...r+housing+leak

[Jackcat559]

OP find your local BMWCCA chapter http://bmwcca.org/index.php?pageid=n...l_regional_map , and see if they have a local shop that can help you.

Your car has too many conflicting diagnosis's going on. Sounds like at least one those shops just may have taken a wild stab at the problem. Any of one of which are expensive fixes. Little less, all of them together, don't make sense.

[joako]

Chances are your oil pan gasket does have a minor leak but it is too much effort that I think it is not worth it unless you are leaking massive amounts of oil.

[Jackcat559]

I don't know.

I had an oil leak from the banjo bolt to the vanos at the back of the oil filter housing, basically under the intake manifold. Which when it dripped down. Could have looked like all three of the OP's diagnosed problems. Ever since then when ever an oil pan gasket replacement is suggested a red flag goes up.

[Poolman]

Same here Jackcat---after finding my filter housing leak (which I thought was a pan gasket) just try to point people in a direction thats not been looked into engough.
As stated before--the filter housing gasket is made up of the same material that the
Vanos seals were made. The material's not compatable with Syn oil, and starts to harden and fail after awhile.