N52 Oil Leak

[hoda022290]

I know this is a E90 forum, but there are much more n52ers in here. Story is, I bought an 07 X3 3.0si a while ago that was in very poor running condition. It had all kinds of leaks. Oil filter housing gasket, bad valve cover (cracked) and gasket, bad oil cooler gasket.... the list goes on. I got it all ironed away along with some vanos solenoids and thought it would be up to snuff. Still stalls when starting and had this massive oil leak coming from the front of the oil pan. I very reluctantly did the job (PITA) only to find a cob web of a serpentine belt in the oil catch. Cleaned it all out and am convinced there is nothing left in there (seen the top and bottom of engine, no belt bits it timing/oil ways ect.). Put it all back together and it had the same leak in the same place . Yes I did the procedure correctly, yes i replaced the aluminium bolts. I'm convinced that this is caused by too much pressure in the oil pan and I'm not sure where to start diagnosis. What do you guys think?

[legoman67]

If it sucked a belt through the front main seal then its probably the main seal.

[hoda022290]

That's a pretty good point. I remember cleaning it and seeing it come out from around that area, but I could have sworn it was from the oil pan. I thought this was a very unique issue until I read about some belts getting sucked in on the forum. I'll check it out as soon as I can and let you know. Either way I'm so glad I took the oil pan off and got all that crap out. Thanks!