matthewlfd

Yea no kidding. Are you sure you meant head bolt and not the valve cover bolt/stud?

A head bolt is what holds the cylinder head to the engine block. If this was broken, you would likely blow your headgasket.

Grokker

It is most definitely a head bolt. I did some more research today (bimmerfest: Thanks to streetk14 over there!) and it seems that there are steel and aluminum head bolts on the N52 engine. The bolts surrounding the cylinders are all torque to yield steel (one time use). But, the 4 bolts on the front of the engine that bolt the head to the magnesium timing chain area of the block are all aluminum. This particular bolt seems to be a problem. I have been told that others have had their repairs done under goodwill from BMWNA. No such luck for me. The good news, I guess, is that at worst case the gasket seal is compromised and I might still have a tiny bit of oil seepage from this area. Not ideal but I can live with that. Best case is that I caught it soon enough and the gasket will seal well enough to not be a problem.

The problem isn't common but it isn't rare on the N52 either.

I am constantly amazed at how much great information is out there if you look for it and how many great people give up their valuable time to share it all!

buddy

If you come to Richmond you can try Richmond Bmw west broad street and ask for Tommy Fagen a younger master tech that is the only person that works on my car he may have a suggestion t tand or may do the work for you in his spare time he has worked on my car and my other e34 five lots of times for me at his leasure no promises but worth a try

Grokker

Final Update!

I got the car back a couple of days ago from Eastern Autowerks in Norfolk, VA. They did a great job.

I had the valve cover gasket and the broken head bolt replaced. As you can imagine the cost was significantly less than the dealer! I have been driving the car hard for two days and not a drop of oil has appeared anywhere on the engine from the valve cover or the head gasket. Time will tell but I am confident that this is fixed.

Thanks again for all of the help and input!

buddy

good deal man I hope it holds if you dont mind telling what was the cost and how many miles do you have on your car

Grokker

For the valve cover gasket and head bolt was just over $600. They took care of some other things while the car was there also. My car is just over 91k miles.