New Member Intro - kevink

kevink

New member
My name is Kevin and I have a 2012 Z4 sDrive35i
2012 White Z4 35i.jpg

I am the original owner.

I need help finding a size 8 e-torx replacement bolt that goes on the engine and some parts diagrams for the Z4 and e52. Details of my current situation below...

Started doing some of my own maintenance and repair when I smelled burning oil in the cabin of the car coming from the air vents when set to vent to/from the outside, not while set on recirculate. I did find find evidence of a slow engine oil leak on the exhaust headers. Assumed it was the valve cover gasket as the last time I took it to the local shop, the manager told me I would probably need a new valve cover gasket soon. Given the history of these engines according to information on this forum I decided to replace it myself.

I was able to successfully replace the valve cover gasket last week and to my dismay, the leak did not stop. The gasket was original and was no longer flexible so it needed to be replaced anyway.

Upon further close inspection, it turns out 1 of the 4 e-torx bolts used to hold a polished aluminum bracket that attaches to the engine below the valve cover but above the exhaust manifold was missing. To my surprise the tapped hole for the bolt was open into the valve area and was allowing a small amount of engine oil to come out and drip onto the exhaust manifold. One drop every 10 or so minutes. I removed one of the other e-torx bolts from the bracket, it did not have an opening into the valve area and so I put it in the bracket where the missing bolt was and the leak stopped. Problem solved. No more burning oil smell in the cabin. Also, there was a smell of exhaust in the cabin that also stopped when the bolt was replaced.

Now, I need help finding the replacement size 8 e-torx bolt so I have all 4 bolts to hold the bracket onto the engine. The bracket seems to support some kind of electronic devices that have what looks like vacuum hoses attached.

Can someone help me find a good set of parts diagrams for this car and engine please?

Thank You,
Kevin
 
Realoem.com is your friend;

https://www.realoem.com/

You need the last 7 digits from your VIN and you’re good to go.

You can order single bolts from BMW Cheltenham, if you tell them you’re on the forum you’ll get a discount but I can’t see a single bolt breaking the bank anyway. The site above will give you the part number.

If you need any further help, post 2 more times and send me a PM with the last 7 digits of your VIN and I’ll look it up and send you a screen shot of the diagram/part number :thumbsup:

Happy new year and welcome to the forum.
 
I really appreciate the replies. Very helpful and encouraging... I will take a couple photos and add them to the original post. Maybe they will help other members someday.

Thanks Again,
Kevin
 
3 pictures to help show where the missing vacuum system bracket bolt caused burning oil smell and exhaust smell in the cabin.
In the last picture, you can see that I removed the 3rd bolt (starting at the back of the engine) and put it in the location of the 4th bolt location (where the bolt was missing and oil was coming out).
Engine View 1.jpg
Vacuum System Bracket.jpg
Vacuum System Bracket Bolt Underneath.jpg
 
Odd thing to be missing..and a leak too..wonder how it came to be missing?

You could use off the shelf bolts from a bolt supplier if you have the dims of the oe bolt…

Looks like a lovely Zed….

North American based I assume ?
 
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