Leaking rocket cover gasket?

[T_J_G]

Is this picture symptoms of a leaking valve cover gasket? Hadn’t used Z in about a week, when took out for a short drive today it was smoking from drivers side of engine bay. See oil mark on pic

 

[B21]

Looks that way

 

[T_J_G]

Looks that way

MOT man cursed it by saying it was rare seeing a petrol BMW without a leaking rocker cover gasket :thumbsdown:

 

[B21]

Looks that way

MOT man cursed it by saying it was rare seeing a petrol BMW without a leaking rocker cover gasket :thumbsdown:

Sadly a very common failure as they age..if you are really lucky its a cracked cover instead /as well as..

Relatively easy to fix compared to other issues though..water pump any one?

 

[T_J_G]

Looks that way

MOT man cursed it by saying it was rare seeing a petrol BMW without a leaking rocker cover gasket :thumbsdown:

Sadly a very common failure as they age..if you are really lucky its a cracked cover instead /as well as..

Relatively easy to fix compared to other issues though..water pump any one?

It's just had a water pump :lol: . I think I'm seeing the effects of using what used to be a garaged/rarely used car more often and its no longer garaged. So things that weren't showing now are.

 

[B21]

Well either no use, housed in a garage or used frequently but housed in a garage tend to result in few faults..changing from no use to frequent use and moving from garage to no garage can result in lots of 'niggles'...stay with it!

 

[T_J_G]

Well either no use, housed in a garage or used frequently but housed in a garage tend to result in few faults..changing from no use to frequent use and moving from garage to no garage can result in lots of 'niggles'...stay with it!

Ahh it’s here to stay for sure, just needs some love in the meantime. I have reduced the amount of niggles from when I got it.

 

[colb]

Classic gasket fail on the Z4, leaks onto exhaust shield and exhaust producing burnt oil smoke. Get yourself a replacemnet gasket set that comes with main cover gasket, centre plug well gaskets and 15 round rubber seals for the cover retaining bolts. All will have become hard and brittle from age and repeated heat cycles. Use Hylomar Blue gasket seal only on and around the half moon shapes at the front and rear of the cover where the main gasket changes direction and across the flat at the front by the vanos. I used an Elring replacement set and then sourced the round seals from BMW but you can get complete sets on ebay thaqt include all.
Second point for oil leaks is the oil filter housing where it bolts to the engine block. To replace this the alternator has to be removed to get at the bolts holding the filter housing to the block. The replacement gasket is cheap and easy enough to fit once the alternator is out of the way.

 

[bigwinn]

Classic gasket fail on the Z4, leaks onto exhaust shield and exhaust producing burnt oil smoke. Get yourself a replacemnet gasket set that comes with main cover gasket, centre plug well gaskets and 15 round rubber seals for the cover retaining bolts. All will have become hard and brittle from age and repeated heat cycles. Use Hylomar Blue gasket seal only on and around the half moon shapes at the front and rear of the cover where the main gasket changes direction and across the flat at the front by the vanos. I used an Elring replacement set and then sourced the round seals from BMW but you can get complete sets on ebay thaqt include all.
Second point for oil leaks is the oil filter housing where it bolts to the engine block. To replace this the alternator has to be removed to get at the bolts holding the filter housing to the block. The replacement gasket is cheap and easy enough to fit once the alternator is out of the way.

I did a gasket on the 2003 2.5 oil filter housing this week

It fell apart into about 20 pieces- you could see why it had been leaking badly