Oil Filter Housing Leak

S

SimonUK

Member
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Hi fellow Z4 owners!

I've recently purchased my first Z4 last month. It's a 2006 3.0si coupe and am absolutely loving it!

I've probably done about 800 miles so far and the other day noticed the oil light came on after I turned the engine off. Upon inspection of the engine bay I noticed a small pool of oil around the oil filter housing. :o There are also signs of it splashing onto the underside of the bonnet.

Browsing the forums it looks like it's a common problem for the rubber seals on the oil filter housing to degrade over time and start to leak. I called my local indy who quoted about an hours labor to replace the seals but mentioned that the likely cause of the leak is down to a blocked oil breather?? He then quoted me £500 to replace the breather and stated that if I didn't then the leak would likely come back within a month or so!

Is this likely the case or can I get away with just replacing the seals? I couldn't find much information on the forum about blocked oil breathers.

The leak is fairly small, I've put in half a litre and the oil gauge is still showing 3/4 bars for the last 150 miles. Mileage is 44,000.

Any input or experiences would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Simon :thumbsup:
 
Hi Simon,

I had a issue that sound very similar, all i did was replace the oil filter amd the rubber washer/ring that comes with it as my indy said that id what had caused the issue. 12 months later no more leaks or waring lights ect.

Id replace the oil filter and washer and see how you go.

Parts are less then £10 and a 2 minute job, id do it yourself tbh.

Good Luck
 
Hi and welcome to the Forum - as above with the fix :thumbsup:

AND put something in the Newbies section with some pics and details of you new Zed :)
 
Are you chaps confusing the seal on the oil filter cap, and the gasket that seals the housing to the block??

Leaks from the housing/block area is indeed an hour or so labour (possibly two), and can be down to pressure in the system cause by a blocked breather. It can also be cause by people over-tightening the oil cap, causing the housing to twist ever so slightly and ruining the tight seal to the block.

Leaks from the oil filter cap is just a rubber o ring around the inside of the cap itself, these come with any new oil filter and is a 20 second job.

Can you clarify which one you mean??
 
Thanks for all the responses so far!

I gave the area a good clean to try and pinpoint the origin of the leak. I'm 90% sure it is seeping out between the oil filter housing and the oil cooler. I understand there's a rubber seal here as well as between the filter housing and engine block.

I don't think this seal would be effected by over-tightening the oil filter so I reckon the seal has either deteriorated or blown out due to high pressure.

I called another Indy and they also recommended replacing the breather as a precaution.

Looks like its going to be an expensive month for me! :(
 
OK, but replacing the CCV ("breather") shouldn't be a £500 job. 3 hours labour at most and the parts are around £100.

I'm sure there was a very recent post on where where someone was quoted £340 ??

It's actually a pleasant DIY job if you're that way inclined, it is just a bit time consuming if you've never done it before owing to the way everything connects together.
 
The other Indy quoted £175 labour + £150 for parts. This was to replace housing seals and the CCV. Seems more reasonable. May just go for this option as I'm planning on keeping the car for whilst and will have the piece of mind that its done.

Anyone know if the oil needs to be drained for the job?
 
I have done that job with M54 engine, in that case there was no need to drain oil. I dont think there is any reason to drain oil in 3.0 si engine.
 
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