Low oil pressure problem

[jmargo]

Whoops, forgot that part!

Yes, I have one of those steel beam engine supports that sits on legs either side of the engine compartment. Under $100 and one of the best investments I ever made.

For the benefit of those who don't want an engine in their laps, I'll add that point to my original post.

Neil

Is there a trick to doing this with the head off ? Attach points ?

[94is]

Is there a trick to doing this with the head off ? Attach points ?

Trans bolt on the block for the rear support. I'm not sure if you could use the PS pump or alternator mounting for the front support.

[NeilM]

Is there a trick to doing this with the head off ? Attach points ?

Don't know - never tried it with the head off. In principle I'd be inclined to screw a stout bolt into some handy bolt hole and use that, but I don't know if there's a suitable location available in real life.

Neil

[94is]

Wait, I didn't even think. Use an old head bolt into the block for the front mounting point. That's what my advice after 2 beers looks like.

[Michael9218]

I received my new oil pickup tube today from the dealer. I had to wait to get this part from Germany. Apparently they don't sell many of these since mine had some surface rust from sitting around for a while. I'd been thinking that the part could use a little reinforcement. Even though this failure may be rare, it happened to me once and that was enough. I decided to braze weld a gusset from the tube to the pickup bell using some 22 gauge weld steel from Lowes and some silver braze from McMaster-Carr. I had to practice to get the hang of this, but the welds came out pretty solid. Maybe not the prettiest, but they're solid and the bell should now stay put and not fatigue crack like the original.

[clopez95m3]

I received my new oil pickup tube today from the dealer. I had to wait to get this part from Germany. Apparently they don't sell many of these since mine had some surface rust from sitting around for a while. I'd been thinking that the part could use a little reinforcement. Even though this failure may be rare, it happened to me once and that was enough. I decided to braze weld a gusset from the tube to the pickup bell using some 22 gauge weld steel from Lowes and some silver braze from McMaster-Carr. I had to practice to get the hang of this, but the welds came out pretty solid. Maybe not the prettiest, but they're solid and the bell should now stay put and not fatigue crack like the original.

Excellent idea in my opinion. Ideally you'd want that braze to look like a lap weld covering the edges of your reinforcement piece. What did you use for a heat source? I've only brazed with an oxy-acet torch.

Carlos.

[fbirch]

I found this old thread while diagnosing a recent oil pressure problem similar to the OP: Startup up idle pressure is fine and then it drops very low as the oil heats up. Based on info here I ordered some parts and brought the car over to my excellent mechanic. Below is a picture of what he found - the brazing that holds the pickup bell to the tube was cracked all the way around, just attached by a small piece and held in place by the bracket.

Cracked pickup tube low res by F birch, on Flickr

One of the parts I ordered was a pickup tube recommended and sold by Turner for tracked S52s. It is the OEM pickup tube for 2.8L Z3. BMW added some additional reinforcement on that tube for some reason, and it has the same geometry as the S52 tube. I'm also installing a new oil pump and changing the rod bearings while the bottom end is open. Fingers crossed the new pickup tube will solve my problem! I really appreciate this forum for identifying obscure problems such as this.

Below is the link to the Z3 tube with OEM reinforcement on Tuner's website, although I like what the OP did too:

https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-1...m50m52-s50s52/

[aeronaut]

Wow. That's an ugly failure.

Did you already order the Z3 tube? If not, I have a used one (maybe 20k miles on it) happy to sell you cheap.
Also, if you're interested in a baffled oil pan, I have one.

[fbirch]

It looks very ugly peeled apart as in the pic. When first dropping the pan, it appeared to be intact, but upon closer inspection you could see a very prominent crack running all the way around it. My mechanic unbolted the bell from the bracket and it flopped apart.

Unfortunately I already bought the Z3 tube. Didn't think to ask here first, but at least it was only $60. When Turner originally track prepped this car (prior to my ownership) they installed their baffle kit with rubber flaps. I may know someone else who wants the pan. If you could PM me a few pics and a price, I'll ask.

[NeilM]

Below is a picture of what he found - the brazing that holds the pickup bell to the tube was cracked all the way around, just attached by a small piece and held in place by the bracket.

Well, there's a certain satisfaction in identifying the root cause beyond all shadow of a doubt!

For people with decent welding skills — i.e. not me — it's straightforward to weld in a small brace to triangulate the attachment of that pickup bell to the tube on the stock part. Saves special ordering the Z3 version.

Neil

[SpeedRx]

I thankfully came across this thread (among others) while trying to diagnose a similar low oil pressure issue (based on my Auto Meter gauge readings). During a cold start, pressure looked fine, but once things warmed up the pressure started fluctuating more. The thing that initially caught my eye was a significant abnormal dip in pressure under braking / while coming to a stop. Then it would gradually ramp back up to some steady state at idle, presumably when the oil in the sump leveled out. I then noticed some really bad lifter tick with the windows down while driving through a downtown area where the sound could bounce off nearby walls (this was over the sound of my Bimmerworld race exhaust). Interestingly, my (functional) low oil pressure light never came on, so the pressure must have been dipping down to just above that threshold (~7psi?).

Finally got around to dropping the subframe and oil pan last night, and sure enough, the pickup tube had completely failed at the bell/strainer brazed joint. The only thing holding it together was the fact that it was bolted to the oil pump at the front and the bracket at the rear. I replaced it with the Z3 tube I ordered from Turner (same link as above in post #32). Slightly unfortunate that the price has gone up to $94 as of today, but oh well. If you ever have the oil pan off for any reason, you should probably replace the pickup tube with a reinforced/Z3 part.

image0.jpgimage1.jpg

[CroCane]

Good info. Thanks.