epilithic

Today i noticed a subtle leak in my engine bay on my 08 535i. I have no idea what this part/tubing is or what it does so i am curious if anyone could shed some light on this for me. (My dealer cant see me until next Wednesday) If your facing the car this tubing is located towards the right of the engine bay right next to the left front tire fender well. This "leak" has not gotten to the point where it is dripping fluid but as you can tell in the photos there is quite a build of gunk (the gunk has a course sludge like feeling and does not smell like oil, although it could be). My theory is that whatever this fluid is, its semi drying up so quickly due to the heat (low hundreds for the past week). I included some handy dandy arrows in the pictures so there is no confusion as to which part i am referring to. Any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions? (besides taking it in to get checked out - doint that on wednesday)

NOTE: i know the part/tubing appears as though it is connected to the power steering fluid reservoir but it is not, if it is connected to the PS fluid reservoir then it is connected by tubing/pipes further down into the engine bay out of sight

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Persian_535i

Diverter valve, looks like oil. When I took mine apart to instal my stett charge pipe I found some oil in the stock charge pipe but it wasnt leaking through the valves. Could be just regular oil that passes through and gets burnt which an oil catch can would help with, or could be something more serious.

pjinca

I'm not as impressed with the elak as with the fact that you are one of the few members to still have an aFe Hot Air Intake, WOW

epilithic

Pjinca, Exactly how is this helpful? No seriously I am curious how this is helpful, please do tell.

Persian_535i

I'd have the dealer check the charge pipe to see how much oil there is in there and have them clean it when they replace any parts. If there is oil in your charge pipe then there is probably going to be minimal oil inside your intake tubing also. It is just one of those things that only a catch can will remedy, I put one together for my car and it cost a grand total of $30 and if it does the job it will prolong the life of the intercooler and engine. Just gotta wait another 500 miles or so to check to see how well it did and how much oil it actually caught for a $30 catch can vs a $500 catch can some companies try to sell.

epilithic

**UPDATE**

Persian was spot on, only in my situation there was not minimal oil leakage, there was a considerable amount. Dealer has to replace the entire charge pipe assembly and the intake tubing. Not exactlly why they have to replace everything as opposed to that specific piece and clean it up a bit but nonetheless its getting fixed. I asked for the pieces they remove when they replace it next week so i can get a better understanding of exactly where this leak was coming from.