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oil level sensor O-ring not stocked at BMW

2K views 18 replies 3 participants last post by  62rebel 
#1 ·
discovered a new puddle of oil under Fritz today; seems that the oil level sensor seal has crapped the bed and needs replacement.... we don't stock the Beck-Arnley part, so i called the dealer... he doesn't even stock it. now have another fault code stored, insufficient oil level. great. will need to order one and set aside time for an oil change to replace it. not that the oil in it NEEDS to be changed; it's 4/5th's new right now...
 
#3 ·
it ticked me off that this problem occurred pretty much in the last day or so... i had to see a customer today and drove Fritz over there, coming out to see a fresh oil puddle after only a minute or so sitting... that's a LEAK, not a seep... dagnabbit. and Charleston rush hour traffic is no place to be with a leaky bimmer. it may be that the leak is higher up, maybe from the crank seal and creeping down the block/pan but i haven't the time/opportunity to put Fritz up on a rack to see. 238k miles opens lots of doors for trouble.
 
#4 ·
Yeah, I see where you're coming from. I had to replace that gasket on my previous 525. The hardest part was getting the electrical connector released and re-attached :mad:

I would clean the entire area, including the area above, with brake cleaner and then watch where the leak comes from.

Good luck.
 
#5 ·
that's my plan later today. i cleaned the sensor area as well as possible with shop rags lying on my back in the parking lot at work, and checked the area several times during the afternoon to see if i could see the trail. never saw anything except the drip directly off the sensor housing, but there's accumulated oil encrusting most of the bottom of the engine also... making me think it's coming from higher up. holiday fun..... not.
 
#6 ·
man; either BMW's can run without oil or the dipstick doesn't come near the bottom of the pan.... it came out dry when i got to work this morning. i put 4 quarts in and have another 5 for reserve. i can't see how that much oil could come out of the sensor unless it was clean OUT of the pan! it has to be coming from higher up and under pressure. i'll only be able to eyeball it Sunday... it's already dark out and i have no garage. it doesn't seem to be the rear main,as the rear of the sump is relatively dry, although dirty. i hate the idea of risking catastrophic damage by running low on oil so often, but the circumstances dictate having to drive it regardless of the risks.
 
#8 ·
in preparation for the archeologic expedition tomorrow, what is likely to present a leak on the driver's side of an m50 engine? please don't say everything...
where is the oil pressure sender, and is it a potential leak source?

there's a clearly visible oil trail the entire twelve miles from home to work. don't need GPS.... got BP.

oh, and a huge shout out of holiday thanks to Bank Of America.... you saved me the expense of buying ANY Christmas this year. i would LOVE to be able to access last week's paycheck before Christmas morning, but that's out of the question, isn't it....
 
#9 ·
Wow. If you really are leaving a trail of oil, then you've got to find that leak fast.

For sources of a leak on the driver's side, there is the oil filter housing and where the dipstick goes in the block. There may be somewhere else that I am forgetting about.
 
#10 ·
that's the scary part! well; i know what i'm looking for, but once you SEE it, you know it's there... hopefully it'll be clear if not warmer tomorrow so i can fix this..... it's been leaking for at least three days, from what i can decipher from my driveway. (car doesn't sit in exactly the same spot every time). anyways; i have until Wednesday to get it rectified so i can get back to work. hopefully it's something i can just tighten up..... no funds for parts until Tuesday.....
 
#11 ·
okay; the leak is coming from the plate that the oil pressure sensor threads into. it's NOT coming from the sensor itself (damn, that's only a 3 dollar part) but the mating surface between the plate and the filter housing. so, it's leaking under pressure and can drain the pan dry while the engine's running. the huge puddle isn't from the leak per se, but from the sheer amount of oil that accumulates on the engine and drains off. going to try and see if tightening the capscrews that hold that plate on will work. 25mpg on fuel and 10mpg on oil isn't going to be an optimum situation....
 
#12 ·
#13 ·
yup; the rather ancient rubber gasket perished from age and heat. it was cracked at the bottom and came out as hard as rock. here's where my fabrication skills will be tested to the maximum today; the dealer, of course, is closed; our store doesn't stock this gasket at all, and this vehicle must be operational ASAP.

i actually managed to get the plate off without a complete mental breakdown.... those socket head screws are engineered to be exactly where they are damn near impossible to remove.... let's see how easy they are to put BACK.
 
#14 ·
I'm interested to learn about your fab skills and how you will resolve this without a new gasket.

Oh .. and .. pics would be great :D
 
#15 ·
i took the old gasket out, cleaned the whole cover and the gasket with solvent and dried it; laid a bed of black rtv in the groove and reset the old gasket in it, then put a bead over that and reinstalled it. it has to set an hour or so before i start the engine; i hope it will hold for a couple of days at least until BMW dealer is open again. and, even then, i'm not 100% certain THEY will have a new gasket for it!
 
#16 ·
Gotcha. That sounds like it should hold until you can get a new gasket. I guess the main concern will be to get all of the old rtv out before installing the new gasket.

Thanks for following up. Let us know how your temporary fix works and once you get it done properly.
 
#17 ·
If the dealer does not have the gasket , bring the gasket or the part in any auto parts store and you are going to be able to match it . Any decent auto parts store will have an assortment of rubber o-rings . Just tell them what kind of liquid the o-ring is for so they would have a specific one for it .

Sent from my Desire HD using Bimmer App
 
#18 ·
If the dealer does not have the gasket , bring the gasket or the part in any auto parts store and you are going to be able to match it . Any decent auto parts store will have an assortment of rubber o-rings . Just tell them what kind of liquid the o-ring is for so they would have a specific one for it .

Sent from my Desire HD using Bimmer App
That might work with a simple round o-ring, but the one he needs is not simply round. It has a funny shape that would need to be maintained. Also, not sure if it is a standard round profile (i.e. cross section).
 
#19 · (Edited)
it looked like it was round cross section and flattened from age and heat. it is shaped to fit the housing as are many gaskets of that type on VW's, Audi's, etc (i used to be a VW/Audi counterman). i'm relatively certain that BMW dealer or specialist is the only source for this gasket; our vendors (beck-arnley, felpro, victor) do not list it at all.
the rtv fix seems to holding well; we put a good thirty miles in shopping traffic on it this afternoon and i checked it every time i parked it.

as far as my fabrication skills go, i was considering cutting a gasket out of leather that i had on hand, since i couldn't find the sheet of urethane rubber that i was going to use. if the mating surfaces had actually been FLAT on both parts, i might have gone ahead and used it. since the cover has a retaining groove for the gasket, i decided to try the original piece bedded in rtv instead.

and pics... hell; i couldn't see what i was doing under there! it was all braille to me.
 
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