Well shit, I had a drop of oil at the front of the pan and a drop at the rear forming. Same places as before. Either it's residual or I have not solved the problem. Has anyone ever used the dye kits? I am grabbing one today, cleaning the motor and then adding it to the oil. Unacceptable. This shit is pissing me off already. I may pull the trans and damper to do the front and rear seals, but Ill check with the dye first to make sure.
Last edited by PITT M3 RR; 12-29-2017 at 02:19 PM.
I've used a dye kit and UV light before, works excellent. Was your front crank seal the newer PTFE style or older spring band compression style?
Did the dye test...def not as night and day as they lead you to believe. Anyway, - -an fittings at the OFH adapter are/ were leaking like a bitch, had no idea. I’m going to order 2 new 45 degree fittings and some an wrenches. I am hoping that this leak is what was forming at the front of the oilpan...it was a decent amount.
Second, where the trans meets the motor was glowing and covered again. Looking in the trans peep holes, I saw a spray pattern at on the flywheel. I doubt turbulent air blew the oil onto the FW so I’m thinking rear main. Lastly The CPS at back left of motor is dripping...I’m thinking valve cover SO, I’ll do this again and hope that is what was flowing down to the trans by way of the back side of the motor. If the VC and AN fittings don’t remedy the problem, the rear main will be replaced and screw the front drop, thats life, I’m not doing the pan again. Front crank seal is dry.
EDIT This is interesting https://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=883240 guy hit everything a few times and when he did the rear main WITH the pan gasket that stopped the leak finally. I may just do it all once again.
But for now, I have ordered
- 2 new an fittings for the OFH to solve that known leak
- an wrench
- New VC gasket kit
I am going to look into that bolt at the back of the head too
Last edited by PITT M3 RR; 12-30-2017 at 12:59 AM.
oh man thats annoying as all hell. considering the amount of work you were putting into it. Where were the AN fittings leaking at? where the hose goes in or the attachment to the OFH where it screws on? what brand did you use? I got some no name ones of Amazon, thinking about switching to Aeroquip or Russell. For hose im using stainless braided line from Aeroquip.
before you redo the oil pan gasket, check the deck of the pan, its aluminum, it might have a slight warp to it. worth checking if its leaking in the same place.
98 Estoril ///M3 4/6
S54 swap CSL
The -An fittings were from ebay, no name. They were great until recently, but I wont lie, I never used aN before and def over torqued them. It's 30ftlbs for 10-an. This time I have 2 more from ebay, but alittle better ones and also the wrench needed so it doesn't damage them. Right now the leak is where the hose goes into the fitting, not at the OFH. That too was an ebay adapter...works as intended.
I also just checked the car further w/ vanity cover off, airbox off, back of the motor is dry. Half moons dry, freeze plugs dry, CPS's dry, VC dry. IDK what the hell else. Really leaning toward RMS unfortunately. but, I don’t know, the back leak doesn’t ever leak at idle even with the front raised way in the air on stands and the back down on the ground. I revved 2k-4K repeatedly, oil at 200 degrees and still nothing out back. It’s only after a drive...thoughts?
At the front, where the right corner meets the timing cover and the block, there’s a tab on the pan gasket. Mine is weeping there, but only at full warm and higher rpm. Not at idle only. I can physically wiggle the tab which is odd, but the pan is torqued to spec? I've cleaned it and used high temp RTV on the exterior there so we'll see. I think you might be right about the warp...I should not be able to wiggle that tab and see it squeeze the oil at the top an bottom out.
Last edited by PITT M3 RR; 12-30-2017 at 04:03 PM.
yeah that tab shouldnt wiggle.. during search mode last year, i found that people had issues with Victor Reinz gaskets, namely the oil pan and valve cover gaskets. Great things and hardly any issues with Elring. Thats what i used on my car as the factory BMW ones are like 2-3x's the price.
try getting the Koul Tool i posted for the AN fittings, i got mine off Amazon, shipped directly from them in 2 days, i also bought some aeroquip fittings from Summitracing that should be here tuesday.
only other things that i know have some oil flow, are the oil return/vacuum lines that run down to the oil pan. there is also the oil line off the valve cover(hard line) that runs to the oil pan too, hard to see it leak from the top view, use a mirror
Last edited by TH3 Shifty; 12-30-2017 at 06:07 PM.
98 Estoril ///M3 4/6
S54 swap CSL
actually just started thinking, my motor came from a rollover. The crank case vent / oil separator is on the VC...if it was upside down, it would have gotten filled with oil, not just spatter / fumes. I'm thinking maybe its clogged and when driving, the crank pressures are up, blowing the oil passed the rear main. I'm going to bypass it for a catch can set up here and test once again. well after this 5" of snow goes away.
My other thought was that residual oil was being held in the bellhousing from the leak before and only presented itself when I was moving. This isn't 100% though because the oil was glowing from the dye...What gets me is it never leaks when the front is raised in the air at idle.
and my new and old gasket were VR I read good things dammit.
Last edited by PITT M3 RR; 12-30-2017 at 06:11 PM.
So I tore apart the -AN fitting that was leaking. First mistake I saw that I made before, was using electrical tape on the braided line when I inserted it into the fitting, internet said okay, but reality says no... I believe this is what compromised the seal. Second was overtightening...the threads looks pretty abused. Third was not lubing the threads so the aluminum doesn't mar. I'll correct all those when the new fittings arrive. In my search I did see the pushlock option...not hating it. 300 psi, no clamps screws or special wrenches. I may redo the whole deal with that if I cant get this to work.
Anyway, once those arrive I'll toss them in and try it out, but I don't believe it will solve the rear leak. I'm going to be fabbing an S54 swap exhaust for a buddy here soon, so once that's done, I will then drop the trans. Ill update if anything changes.
Heres the front of the pan now, I blasted it with brake cleaner, wiped it and created an external gasket for time being. This really should contain the drip there with no negatives other than looks, but meh, not worried about it.
Also I went back down and triple checked all of these
- CPV bone dry
- Rear of head dry (half moons, the allen head plugs, Crank position sensors, VC)
- I traced where the trans meets the motor with my finger, all dry
- oil pan along side of the motor is all dry
- chain tensioner dry
- vanos related connections dry
- bolt on driver side of head behind OFH dry
- vanos accumulator is dry
I also pulled the oil separator expecting to see it full of gunk and build up but it was completely clean and clear so I reinstalled it. Also check the driver side drain to oil pan check valve and that was all good too.
So that is where I am.
Last edited by PITT M3 RR; 12-30-2017 at 09:09 PM.
Fixed the oil leak at the OFH -aN adapter with new the koul tool shifty recommended. With a re tape and the tool, I was able to mend the steel braiding and reinstall the hose in the old fitting without issues. Did some more reading and taping is ok as long as it’s wrapped the direction of the spin when installing. That way it doesn’t unwind in the fitting and create a path for oil.
Another drive with the dye revealed that the oil is coming from behind the crank pulley higher than the area I RTV’d at the front and a decent amount of oil at the trans to motor connection still. The back is a mystery, but the front seems to be the seal. Nothing is glowing above the damper. Because of this I have a rear main kit on the way, fly wheel bolts, front seal (new style) and damper bolts. Nothing like redoing work haha
yellow is where I think it’s comin from, red is wetness areas. pretty difficult to find these leaks.
Last edited by PITT M3 RR; 01-06-2018 at 10:58 PM.
oh good you got that sorted out... whats the "dong" looking thing inside the bag?
98 Estoril ///M3 4/6
S54 swap CSL
Its a -aN 10 extension I case I had to cut the end of the hose shorter. I ended up not needing anything shown except the koul tool. Haha
Small update
added a final 4” 45° Silicone bend that goes deep into the wheel well for the intake. That’s finsihed up. Still battling the rear and front leak. I pulled the VCG cleaned everything and used Hylomar in the specified areas (joints and half moons) and reinstalled it all...still leaks. Searched the rear of the motor trans meeting points and everything is dry except for the lower passenger side. Due to this I said screw it and pulled the trans.
Along the way I found the slave is leaking and looking behind the flywheel it appears the rear main is also leaking. Tomorrow I’m going to pull the clutch and replace the rear main seal and plate w new hardware. I also ordered a new clutch fork and FTE slave cylinder. After it’s all together, I’ll take care of the front crank seal and that should be it, every single seal on motor will be new haha
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Damn dude! Did you replace the rear main during the swap? Also I highly recommend the newer PTFE front crank seal even though it can be a PITA to install. Also remember with PTFE seals to not use any oil/lube either as they need the first startup friction to "break in" and seal.
Clutch is off - found an interesting circumstance. The leak was inside the bell housing but not the RMS, rather it was coming from the flywheel bolts! Odd, but I know because there’s a distinct spatter that showed up under the black light at about 1/4 of the way around.
When I originally did the swap, I refused my FW bolts and red loctite sparingly. Didn’t really clean anything at the back. Anyway, ordered new FW bolts which uuc advises are 1 time use. I also noticed a layer of compressed loctite over the entire hub that was crusty...I think all this together formulated into the leak.
you can see there’s nothing running out from where the hub/seal meet...only what looked after the motor shuts off. This could explain why it didn’t leak at idle.
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Last edited by PITT M3 RR; 03-28-2018 at 04:31 PM.
Anyway, cleaned the hub - vacuumed the threads out, scraped the layer of loctite off and just made it all nice. I am going to hold off on the rear main at this point, It’s easy enough to drop the trans that if it ever gets me a problem I’ll just change it then. I don’t want to make a problem by attempting to solve another.
Also broke the clutch down and gave it a deep cleaning. Dust / loctite and hunk free again. Can’t wait to get it all together.
Super awesome that you finally found the source of the leak! Nothing worse than doing such a nice swap only for it to constantly leak on itself.
Man you get work done! Hope you get it back together and all is well.
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I hope that’s the leak. I’m fairly confident. If it’s not I’ll just drop it all and do the RMS. But I don’t want too many variables in each step...this step is cleaning, flywheel bolts/sealing and the slave. I can have the trans out in about 2 hours so it’s not a huge huge task, just annoying at times.
and yes the cars dicking me over haha but it WILL be leak free when in am done. I’m not convinced the oil pan is the issues, there’s no evidence or dye showing upon inspection. Nothing showing on the hub curved side either...this has to be the leak.
Got the flywheel looking fresh and cars just waiting for all the parts. Also ordered that urethane rear shifter carrier bushing from TMS.
second opinion from the husky haha
you have a very adorable little helper there for you watching for leaks
Sure is haha
Heres a better shot of the intake up to this point. They sell 4” inlet velocity stacks so that might be the final piece...I’ll decide when it’s up and running
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