Oil leak-possibly type of oil?

[russiankid]

Ever since I got I have been having an issue with oil leaking from two unknown caps on my oil filter housing. The M50 non-vanos engines do not have these, so I assume they have something to do with vanos.

Now here is the odd part about this whole thing. If I try to reseat the plugs(they can be pushed in with engine off), they will stop leaking. Sometimes, they will not leak for a week, sometimes they will leak right away. What I am confused about is that when they do stop leaking, what causes them to leak again?

The only thing I can think of is that the type of oil I am using(Chevron Delo 15w40) is not creating enough oil pressure to push these caps against the housing to seal.

Any insights?

P.S. They are located above and below the vanos oil line. They look like freeze plugs.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e58/russian03rustler/525i/S6301804cropped.jpg

I also think they started leaking after I got the car and put that Chevron oil in, but I am not sure. From that pic it doesn't look like they were leaking. I did accidently push them in while I was cleaning the housing when I changed the gasket.

[632 Regal]

maybe they need new "O" rings. Oil wont have anything to do with it.

[russiankid]

maybe they need new "O" rings. Oil wont have anything to do with it.

Issue is that BMW doesn't even list these caps as a separate part.

[632 Regal]

that is because they are not available as a part, just the whole unit as an assembly. Perhaps if you unscrew the caps there are O rings under it? Just trying to be helpful even though sometimes (mostly) I may be full of shyt.


Issue is that BMW doesn't even list these caps as a separate part.

[russiankid]

that is because they are not available as a part, just the whole unit as an assembly. Perhaps if you unscrew the caps there are O rings under it? Just trying to be helpful even though sometimes (mostly) I may be full of shyt.

These caps are held in by some type of clip. I did some searching and this only happens on VANOS engines. I've read that E36,E46,and E39 all have this issue. Only solution is to either get a new housing or get one from the junkard that is not leaking.

[Zeuk in Oz]

These caps are held in by some type of clip. I did some searching and this only happens on VANOS engines. I've read that E36,E46,and E39 all have this issue. Only solution is to either get a new housing or get one from the junkard that is not leaking.
Saw just the oil for you in the car accessory shop yesterday - 40W-70 ! Sure to stop any leaks ! :D

[russiankid]

Saw just the oil for you in the car accessory shop yesterday - 40W-70 ! Sure to stop any leaks ! :D

That would kill my engine. Anyways it got pretty cold here and now whatever seals them out gave up.Car is pissing oil.

I did some research and I found out there are two types of plugs. One is a regular freeze plug, and the other is like mine that is held in by a clip. The ones with the clip have an o-ring that seals them out. I will be pulling the housing out and removing the caps. If I find a fix, I will glady have a how-to on this for the future. I read many cases where people spent money on a new housing.

[russiankid]

Took the housing apart. I have not installed the new o-rings so I cannot confirm if the problem is fixed, however, I don't see why it wouldn't work unless the o-rings are to small.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1109419

[Dave M]

OOOps, saw this too late to help, but I can say that it does happen on non-vanos housings and I have replaced an O-ring with success. I got a little too curious (removed the clips) when cleaning the housing during my block swap and it ended up leaking after re-assembly.

Everything wears out eventually,

Dave

[russiankid]

I never new the non-vanos units had these caps. Either way, I hope this fixes it. The new o-rings are identical to the old ones so I hope it works out well.

Thanks for the input!