Couple of drops of oil on garage floor... 35is

S

step_change

Active member
 Planet Earth
Hi,
I always check the floor when I reverse her out of the garage. This morning I noted an oil mark on the floor where a drop or two of oil had leaked out and clearly it dripped off of the under-tray, roughly just in front where the ashtray would be, under the car.

2013 35is. Immaculate and drives superbly. 60400 miles. No check controls and oil level fine. Don't use the car that much - 5000 a year or so. Car is under extended warranty.

Drove off, all fine, no warnings. Drives a beaut. Get home after 100 mile trip, put her back in garage. I check two hours later and no drips on the floor. But I got on my hands and knees and reaching underneath the car with a stick, a single drop of oil about to drip off of the under-tray. Checked again 8 hours later. No oil on floor and no new drop appearing about to drip off.

I think there is a very slow weep in a gasket somewhere. Or the DCT sump plate problem.

Whaddayarekkon? Again, Car is under BMW's own extended warranty with £100 excess.
 
Could it be water laying inside the under tray and occasionally dripping and soaking up a bit of old oil with it ?
 
Lynchy said:
Could it be water laying inside the under tray and occasionally dripping and soaking up a bit of old oil with it ?
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Don't think so Lynchy, the oil drop was thick (like used oil) and it hasn't been raining these last few days so don't think that is it. Will monitor it.
 
It's a georgeous looking car so perhaps you should sell it to me :wink:
 
Lynchy said:
It's a georgeous looking car so perhaps you should sell it to me :wink:
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& I thought you were a keeper?
 
I lived with a red dripping, and recently noticed a few little black drops as well. Finally put her in the shop and its $3500 USD to fix. Valve cover gasket and a trans gasket somewhere. I didn't ask too many questions cause its covered by the extended warranty.

2009 35is with 50k miles, 1,200 a year for my 2 years.
 
Busterboo said:
It should be easy enough to see if the oil's coming from the DCT sump plate, shouldn't it?
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I can't properly get under the car to look.
No oil on the floor this morning. Hmmmm, will keep checking. Wonder if the weep is so slight that only hot oil can get through and when cold no more comes out. Which would imply the weep could get worse.

Another theory is that I used my windscreen and headlight washers a lot in the bright sun because of insects plastered all over. Wonder if some water (and strong screen wash mixed in) got onto the under tray and washed off a bit of oil and this is the drop I saw? Unlikely but will investigate.
I am on jollies for a week shortly. Will check after then and if still doing it will take it to BMW, that's why I have the extended warranty after all....
 
2009CAZ4 said:
I lived with a red dripping, and recently noticed a few little black drops as well. Finally put her in the shop and its $3500 USD to fix. Valve cover gasket and a trans gasket somewhere. I didn't ask too many questions cause its covered by the extended warranty.

2009 35is with 50k miles, 1,200 a year for my 2 years.
Click to expand...

"red dripping" ???????
Seems there are a lot of these gasket issues with Z4's.
 
step_change said:
Busterboo said:
It should be easy enough to see if the oil's coming from the DCT sump plate, shouldn't it?
Click to expand...
I can't properly get under the car to look.
Click to expand...
Lie on your side, head on the ground, use a torch and you'll see where it is. Then, obviously, just identify if the location of the drips is the same as the DCT plate.

Whatever, a couple of drips ain't going to kill the car and you're going to have to go to a garage, anyway.
 
The valve cover and the DCT sump are two very common leaks.

Valve cover is the easiest to eliminate as this comes from the top of the engine and drips down the rear. If you remove the engine cover you can inspect the entire valve cover for cracks. Do a google image search for "Cracked N54 valve cover" and look at a few pictures to give yourself an indication of what to look for. Oil pooling around where the injectors and coils go into the engine is common.

The only other common leak would be at the turbo air intake. Oil blow-by collects in the intake tract and tends to pool around the lowest point which is the turbo intake. It's not really a big issue and is extremely common on engines where the turbo is mounted so low.
 
If you've got the warranty you might aswell get it booked in. It doesn't sound urgent at least so phone up your dealer and get it booked for the next time they have an interesting courtesy car available :driving: .
 
Oil leaks should be covered under extended warranty right? I would have thought so otherwise what's the point of the warranty.... Never had an oil leak before.
 
step_change said:
2009CAZ4 said:
I lived with a red dripping, and recently noticed a few little black drops as well. Finally put her in the shop and its $3500 USD to fix. Valve cover gasket and a trans gasket somewhere. I didn't ask too many questions cause its covered by the extended warranty.

2009 35is with 50k miles, 1,200 a year for my 2 years.
Click to expand...

"red dripping" ???????
Seems there are a lot of these gasket issues with Z4's.
Click to expand...

Just got her back today. The "side pan" on the transmission was leaking. I guess they removed the transmission to change it. That and the valve cover gasket.

Warranty (by American dealer Carmax) covered $3500, I paid $500 deductible, and $550 for fluid changes.
 
Busterboo said:
step_change said:
Never had an oil leak before.
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This your first car, then, is it? :wink:
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Nope. Old jalopy cars I could not give a damn about leaked for sure. But never had an oil leak before on cars that I *do* care about for years now so goes to show how much cars have improved.

In any event, no more oil this morning either - I have kitchen towel on the floor to check. Makes me think this could maybe be a bit of oil blow-by from the turbos as mentioned earlier with me driving it "enthusiastically" the other day.... I also made a point of not using the headlight/windshield washers to eliminate it being strong solution washer fluid getting down there and "cleaning" a bit of oil off and causing me to think it is a leak. Unlikely, but a possibility.

She drives fantastically and no issues with levels etc so will keep an eye on it.
 
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