lcc014

Yesterday, I found 2 oil residue area on the engine, passenger side.

This is around the corner bolt on the "engine cover" right after the radiator, passenger side.


This second area is before passenger side firewall.


Any suggestion of where the oil is coming from ?

Thanks,

Ching-Ho Cheng

H F

Time for a new valve cover gasket ..

lcc014

Thank you for the suggestion. Is it difficult to replace the cover gasket ? Any link to video on performing this task ?

Thanks,

Ching-Ho Cheng

Neal Petro

I had a similar issue on the same side turned out the bolt shown in the first pic was actually just sitting there(snapped in half) turned out to be very common. Check the bolt and see if it moves if it does you might save money by using a reverse drill bit and getting other half of the screw out and replacing it with the proper torque and what not. I had this done about around 5k ago and no oil residue no more .
And oh if it is the valve cover gasket its pretty straight forward and easy

lcc014

Thanks for the tip. Do we need any gasket sealant for the gasket replacement ?

Ching-Ho Cheng

Neal Petro

I'm am not 100.00% sure but by logic I wouldn't see why you wouldn't put a Gasket Seal When Replacing Gasket it should help. Now That's just from my knowing.

lcc014

Thank you.

H F

Changing the vale cover on the 6's is really an easy diy project . Compared to the v8's .
Also do not use any sealant on the gasket . Not required on BMW valve cover gaskets .

lcc014

Thank you for the reply. I got mix answer in the use of gasket sealant. Some youtube video mentioned to have small amount of sealant around the "half moon" shapes of the gasket. For my car, 530i (M54 engine), gasket has 4 half moon shapes (2 in front and 2 in rear). Is that really necessary ? If it needs a little sealant around those 4 half moon shape rubbers, do I need to wait for the sealant to dry before starting the car to check for any oil around the valve cover ?

Thanks.

Ching-Ho Cheng

H F

Reckon you can on the sharp edges on the half moons . If you do use some I would let it set over nite before starting the car.. I just recently did both my valve covers 3 months ago, didn't use any sealant and no issues . If you ask any Bmw tech they will tell u they don't use any sealant on the valve cover gaskets. Make sure that those halve moons sit in there perfect , before you tightened and torque the bolts . I used a telescoping mirror to make sure they were in just right and actually checked the whole perimeter . The mirror came in really handy ..