2004 X3 2.5i Oil all over the passenger side of engine

[Adifferentmatt]

I just bought a X3 2.5 with 150,000 miles. I git it relatively cheap because it has a major leak at the valve covers (I'm assuming). The previous owner had a mechanic change the gasket and the problem actually came back worse. I was actually able to get ahold of the mechanic and ask him if he changed the gromments as well. He didn't even know what the gromments were. He told me that he told the previous owner the valve cover was warped. Would a warped valve cover cuase oil to leak 2 quarts in 17 freeway miles? I'm wondering if the mechanic just didn't know what he was doing. Thanks for any help or adice you can give.

[e30luv318i]

He didn’t know what he was going . Probably messed the half moon part of the gasket up

[Adifferentmatt]

He didnÂ’t know what he was going . Probably messed the half moon part of the gasket up

Yep, this guy hadn't a clue what he was doing. I wouldn't trust this guy to change a spark plug on a lawnmower.


First off he put an obscene amount of grey rtv on the top of the gasket.


Second he put a large amount of some kind of red sealant all over the mating surface as well.


Third there where two gromments missing and he apparently reused 13 of the old ones. One of the old grommets was so over tourqued it looked like the texture of melted cheeze. Atleast 3 of the gromments were split as if they were two seperate peices, a small one and a bigger one....

This guy olso over tourqed one of the ground nuts that goes on a stud that's connected to a vc bolt next to the plug well. I put an 8mm 6pt socket on it with a 1/2 drive, and in a half of turn it was completely stripped to a round head. I finally had drill it to shreads to get it off. Bad news is when the bolt finally snapped my drill jumped and poked the vc a little bit. I checked the vc for a hole internally, so far it appears to be superficial.


I have the cover off now. The VC doesn't appear to be warped, but then again I can't put it fully on a flat surface because of the half moon part. How can I tell if it is warped? Can these VCs really warp? The thing is plastic, you'd thing they would just take shape when you tighten it down. It is hard plastic, but it is definitely pliable relatively speaking.


I'll be the first to admit I know nothing about BMW's. I was a Mercedes guy for the longest, but this forum is filled with so much knowledge and helpful people.


I really have to question why someone would work on such an intricate machine without so much as 5 minutes of googling for info.


There are bits of this rtv stuff stuck everywhere in the outer gasket area and plug well areas of the vc. It's going to take some time to get that cleaned up.


Some other trouble I am having now is figuring out where or what to put the sealant on. I watched 10 different youtube videos and they all said different things. One guy said use 3 bond all over, another guy said put rtv on half moon and vanos slits. Another guy said to put Permatex "The Right Stuff" all along the mating surface.


Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


Also if there is anyone out there in the Stow/Ravenna/Cuyahoga Falls area of Ohio that would like to make some money PM me, I'd be willing to pay for some help from an experienced BMW Maintainer.

Thank You!


P.S sorry about the bad grammar I'm on typing all of this from my android.

[Adifferentmatt]

Update, installed the vcg and now oil is spraying iut if the dipstick when I check the oil with the engine off!

[Adifferentmatt]

As I stated in my previous post, there is pressure building in the crank case and cuasing oil to spray out of the dipstick. The o-ring on the dipstick is pliable and snug, I don't think it is soraying out of there while itvis on. If I pull the dipstick out less than 2 minutes after shutting the car off oil will spray out. Before I did the vcg the oil appeared to be spraying out of the back left of the vc. I attributed it to the poor vcg job done by the previous owners "mechanic". In hindsight it doesn't make sense to have that much oil spraying out of the vc all over a bad gasket job. A bad vcg or warped valve cover probably wouldn't allow oil to spray as much as I witnessed. My guess is the vcg was the path of least resistance to pressure build up in the crankcase. It seems upon doing the vcg correctly this cuased the dipstick to be more susceptible to pressure escaping. I am truly hoping this is not a piston ring issue. Maybe all that sealant the other guy used got into the ccv and clogged the system? Would a clogged ccv build enough pressure to spray oil out of the dipstick?

Another thing, it sounds like there is a clunking noise or rattle (like something is bouncing around in there) its coming from inside the air intake manifold. It does it for a few minutes after starting. Then it will go away for a few minutes only to return. It's not a knock, and It's not in sync with the engine sound. It wasn't there when I bought the car, I would never have bought it if I heard a noise like that).

I am praying it is something simple and relatively cheap to fix. I bought this to replace the tiny car my wife is driving. It breaks my heart to see my 2 & 3 year old crammed into that little rust bucket. I had enough money to buy her a nice reliable minivan, instead I let my ego get to me and I bought a Bimmer with issues.

This car is so clean! Zero rust and a few miner dings that are only seen on close inspection. All of the scratches could be easily buffed out. For worst case I started looking at motors on EBAY, sellers are asking $800 to $1500 for motors that have as much or more miles than mine.


Any help at all would be tremendous for me right now!

Thank you and god bless!

[my1stE30]

if you are getting pressure buildup inside the engine then one would need to suspect a head gasket failure .... where exhaust gas is leaking into the engine crankcase

have a compression test done to diagnose that possibility

[Em3297]

The oil spitting out is crankcase pressures due to the crankcase valve not unctioning correctly. That would make sense with the valve cover leaking so bad. Cranckcase valves are very common on these. Do some research on them you'll find a lot of info. But also take a lo of what people say with a grain of salt there are a lot who have no idea what their talking about and lead you in the wrong direction. Also about the rattle noise I wouldn't worry Im having that problem too right now its like under the intake manifold only at idle. Not vanos rattle. Maybe DISA is rattling but I have to futher diagnose. Good luck

[Adifferentmatt]

Thanks for the replies. I really goofed buying this thing as I can't really afford to dump money into this. And to top it off I just got laid off from my job, one of my companies major clients didn't renew their contract because they are outsourcing overseas. So I am in a bit of a bind.

if you are getting pressure buildup inside the engine then one would need to suspect a head gasket failure .... where exhaust gas is leaking into the engine crankcase

have a compression test done to diagnose that possibility

I really hope this isn't the issue, But I will definitely do a compression test and see what happens. Wouldn't I need to do a leakdown test to diagnose a blown headgasket as it could just be bad piston rings alowing excessive blow by? I guess even if it was piston rings than the head would have to come off anyway.

The oil spitting out is crankcase pressures due to the crankcase valve not unctioning correctly. That would make sense with the valve cover leaking so bad. Cranckcase valves are very common on these. Do some research on them you'll find a lot of info. But also take a lo of what people say with a grain of salt there are a lot who have no idea what their talking about and lead you in the wrong direction. Also about the rattle noise I wouldn't worry Im having that problem too right now its like under the intake manifold only at idle. Not vanos rattle. Maybe DISA is rattling but I have to futher diagnose. Good luck

I drove it to a shop and back home yesterday that was 2 hour trip there and back. There is so much pressure coming out that I put a rag over the oil filler hole and put the cap on losely so the pressure could vent. There was definitely a steady stream of steamish like smoke comming out of the filler hole. I pulled the plugs and 5 out of 6 had oil all over them. I'm guessing this is what's cuasing the missfire. If I have a blown head gasket I don't want to even waste my time and $ Crank Case Vent componets. I know the parts are generally under 100 bucks, but it is time intensive and a huge waste becuase I don't have the means or resources to do a head gasket and all the other stuff that comes with it.

I'm thinking about using some top cleaner down the plug holes and letting it soak over night. Then turning it over with all plugs out and rags over each hole to purge it. Then finally shooting compressed air to fully clean it out. I read alot of people were successful and getting the piston rings to snug up and build better compression by freeing up any amount buildup on the rings.

All my friends (Which never owned a beamer) are telling me to get rid off it even if its at a loss.

[Alpine 318is]

All my friends (Which never owned a beamer) are telling me to get rid off it even if its at a loss.

Well I hate to say it but they are probably right. Sounds like in your current situation you don't have the money to repair the car and considering this is like a headgasket or something serious with the motor which would make sense at 150k you best to probably dump it and get something less luxurious and more reliable.