Porch

*2006 530xi, n52 engine* I just replaced my oil cooler gasket this morning, and torqued the bolts on the oil cooler to 16 newton meters. It is still leaking a very little bit. I have read some differing opinions of torque specs, can anyone here settle it once and for all, for God's sake? I've read things like "the bentley manual says so-and-so, but then I found out the bentley manual is actually wrong"......really? It looks like a toss-up between 16 and 22nm, please tell me someone here actually knows definitively

seanjordan20

Straight from BMW! Looks like both numbers are incorrect

Porch

12 and 3 nm? Naw man. And all 3 bolts are the same on my oil cooler. The 16 and 22nm also came straight from bmw and the bentley repair manual. How there's more than one answer to this is beyond me.

seanjordan20

You don't know how to read a TIS. It's telling you the torque for the type of thread. You should have the M8 so it's 12Nm. If you have the oval-head screws then it would be 3Nm. You doubled the torque more than likely over tightening and the reason for the leak. When I did mine years ago I tightened to 10 ft lb. Never had an issue. I don't see how the numbers you got are from BMW because what I posted is there instructions to mechanics and they don't use anything else.

seanjordan20

Found a TSB and bolts should of been changed to E12 at 22Nm.

Porch

The bolts are e12.

Porch

Here's another tis, says 16nm. So now it's 22? Are you sure? Or are you confusing oil cooler with oil filter housing? Wrong bolts? Like I say, definitive answer is hard to come by.

seanjordan20

I figured out why all the confusion but don't feel like typing it all out. The bottom line is the spec is 16Nm. See below for US E61 specs. It's from the latest ISTA+ out.

donpb

So, next, inspect the gasket and that the mating surfaces are impeccably flush.

Porch

Glad I went with that out of the myriad options, and I think it worked- I think the oil I've been seeing is just seepage from when I put the cooler back on, it's getting less and less as I drive and stop to check and wipe under the cooler with a rag. Next stop, oil filter housing gasket and valve cover gasket, but the cooler was priority due to the location, and it was the worst leak.