M50 Oil Pan Gasket - General Thoughts!!

[OhioTouring]

Last night I started the task of changing the oil pan gasket on my 92 525i Wagon. Figured after 4 years of light leaking it was time.

I cracked open the Bentley manual, took a look under the car, and thought: This is going to be interesting.

The manual and several posts here seemed to indicate that the pan should be able to come out with out dropping any cross members or lifting the engine.

So tonight the pan is sitting on the cross member, and there is no way it is coming out without the engine going up or the cross member coming out. I am opting for dropping the cross member. Anyone else have to do this? Seems that the manual is flat wrong. So tomorrow I have to go pick up my engine hoist from a friend!!!

The other thing that I found interesting is there is no picture to indicate where all of the pan bolts are. I found out the hard way....on the creeper searching for what the heck was still holding the pan up. I found 2 bolts that had to be accessed through 2 holes in the bell housing. Wish they would elaborate a bit more :D
And with the cross member out, the one bolt that gave me the most heartache coming out (the one almost directly above the x-member on the drivers side) will be easy!!

Anyways, wanted to pass along some thoughts.

On a side note: Have a couple questoins.

Does anyone have some quick steps on taking off the oil filter housing? Looks like it is just bolted to the side of the block. This gasket has some leakage and I figure since I am at it, I would fix that too.

And

What is the quickest way to determine if you have a VANOS M50 or a non VANOS M50?

I am sure enjoying this car. After working on nothing but American cars for the last 25 years, these BMW's are a nice change. The engineering is pretty amazing.

[yaofeng]

I sympathize with your undertaking. I took the hard way by removing the drive train. But the rest is easy. VANOS engine has a big bump on the head. See picture.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b274/yaofengchen/BMW_95_525i/DSC_1554-1.jpg

Can't remember if the alternator is in the way if you want to take out the oil filter housing. The picture doesn't tell you definitively one way or another.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b274/yaofengchen/BMW_95_525i/DSC_1551.jpg

[BimmerMeUp]

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b171/pkhines/vanosnonvanos.jpg

[BimmerMeUp]

A good source for drawings (ans part numbers) of what your working on, is RealOEM. Check these links out, they may be helpful to you:

In this drawing you can see the three bolts holding the housing, you can also see gasket #9, which is the one leaking on my car right now. My parts lady called me today to tell me it is in.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=HJ63&mospid=47414&btnr=11_0526&hg=11&fg=30


This one may help you figure out how many bolts you are looking for on that oilpan....

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=HJ63&mospid=47414&btnr=11_1898&hg=11&fg=10

[OhioTouring]

Perfect. I think in pictures!! Thank you. I have the non-vanos engine then.

[OhioTouring]

So it looks like no little parts should come flying out. It's suppose to rain tomorrow so I'll be off to the BMW Store here in Cincinnati to get the gasket. Thanks again for those links. The Bentley manual doesn't mention anything about this part.

[winfred]

alt and steering pump need to come out to do the filter housing, it's a straight forward job, for the pan i raise the engine and put 3-4" wood blocks under the motor mounts for it to sit on and that's usually enough to get the pan out, i can't remember if you need to unbolt the oil pump on a m50 to clear the pan out, you gotta on a m30

[Anton CH.]

The oil pan on the m50 is easy to do. Well ok the first time it was a nightmare. 2nd time around I did it perfect.

Your pan is on the cross member, at least you found all the hidden bolts.

From there on what you want to do is undo the passenger side nut on the engine mount and jack up the engine slightly. After that you should be able to wiggle the oil pan out rather easy.

For that one messy bolt right over the cross member that you mentioned, you want to use a U-joint extension. No need to drop the x-member. Good luck.

[OhioTouring]

I wrapped everything up this evening. Since I was able to easily support the engine, I dropped the cross member, and after that, things went very well.

I put a geniune BMW metal/rubber gasket on, and also replaced the oil filter housing gasket, and the Oil Pressure switch cover gasket. Spent a couple of hours getting things all cleaned up. No leaks so far!!!

In fact I think the thing actually runs better. Fancy that!!

[Black 535i]

... I did not remove the cross members so I jsut slid the gasket over the pan and under the pump. Well, nothing would fit. Pan would not go back up at all. Put my fingers in the oil pan reservoir and guess what I found? About 40 small pieces that made up the timing chain guide!

Just what I needed. Turned out to add another 7 hours work to the job to get the covers off, belst and hoses off, fan off, guides replaced, check the chain and sprockets (were fine) and then put it and all the pumps, new belts and such back together. Quite the learning curve. Next time anyone does this, check inside the reservoir for shits and giggles to make sure there is nothing in there like in my case.

[OhioTouring]

Next time anyone does this, check inside the reservoir for shits and giggles to make sure there is nothing in there like in my case.

I was cussing through out the entire job, but finding what you did, may have resulted in a couple of swings with the hammer!!!

Very good thing you thought to do that, and a great tip.