# Oil EVERYWHERE



## Daniels999 (Jul 1, 2020)

Ok, so I was driving today. 04 530i 180,000 26deg f out and after about 15min of driving my oil light comes on. No biggie it comes on every couple months but it did come on a little earlier than expected. But anyways about about a min later it goes off for oil pressure and continues going off every 30sec or so until I stop about a mile later. I get out and see oil all over my driver front rim, under the car, a path of it through the parking lot and ALL over the left side of the engine bay. Car was barely ticking when I cut it off, not much more than normal anyways. Any idea what oil hose or whatever could be in that part of the engine bay to look for. As stated it's 26 degrees and I'd rather not spend 6 hours trying to find out what is going on lol Thanks to any replies / ideas


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## M_Bimmer (Dec 14, 2019)

What's your ability to post a picture of the harmonic balancer area from the top of the engine area? Your cellphone should be able to take a decent picture from the left and right, between the engine and radiator pointed down to the harmonic balancer....does oil drip out only while engine is on, or while at rest too?

At first blush, the oil on your wheel and engine bay pictures, looks like oil spatter from the serpentine belt....and if oil soaked, the belt will need to be replaced....

Some culprits:
1. Oil filter canister to engine block gasket - this is not hard to change
2. Oil separator (loose hose? and not sure that this would set off your oil pressure light tho, and only small amount of oil would be seen..)
3. Front main seal (not sure that this would set off your oil pressure light tho)

I don't see an oil cooler in your vehicle, just a P/S and/or transmission oil coolers....so a bit more entailed, but a picture from the front bottom of your engine would also help....but I get it's cold outside (and probably dark now)....


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## Daniels999 (Jul 1, 2020)

Yeah I've already left the car. I'll get it towed tomorrow and dig into it better tomorrow when I'm properly dressed to be able to work on it instead of just a town run. Thanks for the ideas and I'll try checking the front.


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## crazy4trains (Mar 30, 2011)

Oops, disregard. I was looking at the PS fluid reservoir and not the oil filter housing.

Did you just change the oil. I can't tell for sure, but it appears that the O-ring that seals the oil filter housing cap, the piece that the oil filter clicks into, is not seated properly and is bulging outside of the housing. That O-ring should be contained entirely in the oil filter housing. Can you post some close-up pics of the oil filter housing, specifically the cap?


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## Daniels999 (Jul 1, 2020)

Ok so I made it out to check on the car today and I'm still at a complete loss. Put 5qt of oil in it today, started it up expecting to see oil squirting out from somewhere Andddd nothing. Sat there and ran for 20min and not a drop off oil under it. WTF any ideas where all the oil could have came from or why it pumped all the oil out of it within a few min of driving and now nothing.


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## M_Bimmer (Dec 14, 2019)

I'd probably start looking at the backend of your oil filter housing mount interface to the engine block, and have someone slowly increase the RPM's to see if an increase in oil pressure causes oil to start oozing out...if so, it's your oil canister seal to engine block, item 6 in the diagram in the picture.....be careful and don't increase the RPM's too high, or too fast...

Let us know how your results....

(EDIT: Without being there in person, a little hard to provide definitive guidance)


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## crazy4trains (Mar 30, 2011)

Some more info would be beneficial. Any recent service (i.e. oil change etc.) that could have instigated this?

I think the first thing you should do is gently degrease the engine bay to clean up all the oil residue. Then start trying to find the source of your oil loss. It's going to be extremely difficult to find the source now with everything drenched in oil.


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## Daniels999 (Jul 1, 2020)

Ok, finally made it back to be able to work on the car. Just got over/almost over THE WORST SORE THROAT EVER, which of coarse turned out to be a positive covid test. But anyways. Drove down to the car wash, sprayed everything off and still don't see anything leaking so pulled off the oil filter housing. I'm pretty sure that's where it's coming from and probably the qt of oil i been putting in every couple months or so. If it turns out to not be the gasket I'll be back to post what I find out. Thanks for everyone's help.


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## crazy4trains (Mar 30, 2011)

That's typical oil filter housing leak residue. Hopefully this resolves your problem. Tell yourself this needed to be done anyway and keep an eye on oil levels after the repair.


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## M_Bimmer (Dec 14, 2019)

Again hard to tell, but the location pointed in the snippet below, taken from the OP's photos in post #8, is very suspect, as there is evidence of a gasket sealing disruption....and following the edge all the way around, you can see a solid seal except at the location pointed to by the arrow.

A picture of the gasket side at this location would help (but not necessary). Oil exiting this location would support the mess it made on the engine block behind the filter and below, but only speculation.


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## crazy4trains (Mar 30, 2011)

^^^Sounds like a well informed conclusion to me.


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