Mystery oil leak
 

I suppose owning one of these cars is a test in patience. My wife noticed oil on the driveway one night after I got home, a nice pool under my car so I have it parked for now and am investigating. I pulled off some panels and I can't pinpoint where it is coming from. Maybe your trained eyes can help me out. Video is as good as I could get considering I am pretty pissed off about it.

Not the best video, but using gravity and wind as a good judge of how viscous liquids can move around, look higher and farther forward of where you see the leaks. If there isn't anything visible, then I'd look internally, like turbo seals.
Are you burning a lot of oil out the back?

I've done a lot of looking, up down all around. I really can't pinpoint it, as I think that axle is flinging it everywhere.

I am not burning oil out the back, just a puff on start up. In looking at the maintenance records of the vehicle the turbos were replaced 5 years ago.

I'm honestly stumped.

Sure it’s not the valve cover?

I did a thorough inspection of the valve cover and there is nothing there, that't what I thought it was initially. It was replaced in 2017, so I hope its not the valve cover again.

I'm taking it to a BMW independent shop next week for inspection and repair. They have worked on this car for a previous owner and are well respected in the area.

In that case, I hope it’s not a head gasket leaking external to the block

If that is the case I'll have a pristine wagon for sale with a bad head gasket real soon.

All of the turbocharger oil lines - feed and drain - are directly above that location. That's a fair bit of oil - if you're lucky - it's just an o-ring on a turbo oil line. Good luck.

I would be okay with that. I dropped it off this morning at the local BMW independent repair shop. They have a good reputation in the area as well. So I am very hopeful.

Well, it is the oil pan gasket that is causing the biggest leak. However the car has more problems than I care to ponder right now.

Anyone want a project car? The body and interior are damn near perfect. Crap!!!! I so wanted this to work out, it looks like I will lose money on this deal too, like its previous owners. I don't see spending $5-6k having the shop do all the work. There are things I can do, but if they do the oil pan gasket they may as well do the axle that needs replacing. There's a couple grand there. I am not sure what to do next.