Your car might have been designed by a German if....

[Robert K]

It has nearly thirty bolts holding the oil pan on, including an additional five coming through the bellhousing.

I mean, are you kidding me??? For the life of me, I can't even imagine how anything with that many bolts in it could actually leak oil.

I have some German in me and am glad to have that fact-oriented, analytical trait in me. But thirty pan bolts!!!! You gotta be kidding me!!!

Grace and peace,

Herr Robert Kieffer
1991 535i

[winfred]

but then they put that **** cork gasket on it

[Hector]

with a bullet proof engine, then we gotta take a few dumps on you elsewhere because we cannot paint rosy a picture all the time. You gotta do a little work as an exchange.

When I was putting the bolts in the pan and torquing them, my arms were pretty sore from constantly keeping my arm elevated. The location of coolant drain plug is one one example of taking a dump on ya... one of the many pesky idiosyncracies in these cars.

[George M]

thank your lucky stars for that many bolts...the big six is a big long block. Would say the German's knew what they were doing...most of us get about 12 years gasket life and a 150k miles with what Winfred calls a shitty cork gasket that I gladly reinstalled when I did the job. Why all the bolts and the shitty cork gasket you ask? Because of the size but mostly due to a different coeficient of thermal expansion between the block with is iron and the pan which is aluminum to keep weight down and dissipate heat. A cork gasket natively has more compliancy then a thinner paper gasket to compensate for different expansion and contraction rates.
George

[Hector]

recently, and I found out I had to re-torque the bolts after several days from gasket installation... not much though. Someone suggested the paper gasket... but if what you're saying is true, there goes the CTE down the toilet...

[winfred]

but the fibre gasket that bmw installed on the m20 with it's iron block/aluiminum pan hardly ever dies. i think the problem with the stock cork is it's too thin and theres no channel to contain it and limmit how much it's squashed, for the record i reinstalled a cork gasket on my 535, i can use something and still bitch about it


recently, and I found out I had to re-torque the bolts after several days from gasket installation... not much though. Someone suggested the paper gasket... but if what you're saying is true, there goes the CTE down the toilet...

[Jeff N.]

I put in the fiber pan gasket from Beck Arnley. Sourced it via Napa. Sure looked a helluva lot better than that weenie cork thing. Check with me in 200k miles and we'll see how it's doing.

[George M]

yeah either way...agree the cork isn't ideal for the reasons you state Winfred...but hard to argue with the life that most get out of them. With the cork gasket, always best to torque to low side of spec just enough to abate any leak path. Overtightening the cork gasket does tend to make it squish out as noted which is the tendency due to age when most overtorque the pan bolts to stop leakage after the gaskets start to lose their compliancy/sealing capability.
George