02 540ItA - common oil leaks?

Developed an oil leak. Leaving a drop of oil when parked. Checked valve covers, they look "sweaty" but not wet or drippy (yet). I see residue down in front of the engine, but not sure where it might actually leaking from.

What is most common area to look first and what should I expense/labor expected for the common leaks? Will be putting up and pulling lower covers next week, but just wanted some direction in what to check first.

Originally Posted by BlackbirdPilot

Developed an oil leak. Leaving a drop of oil when parked. Checked valve covers, they look "sweaty" but not wet or drippy (yet). I see residue down in front of the engine, but not sure where it might actually leaking from.

What is most common area to look first and what should I expense/labor expected for the common leaks? Will be putting up and pulling lower covers next week, but just wanted some direction in what to check first.

If your sure it's not coming from the valve covers look at the seals that go around the vanos solenoids on the front of the engine. The drivers side is pretty easy to see, the pass side will require you to remove the intake tube to get a good look at it. They cost about $12 each.
The other front leak point is the front main seal, it's behind the harmonic balancer (crank pulley assy).
The 3 piece timing cover gaskets could be leaking but the ones I mentioned above are more common.

Might want to check the rear main seal as well.

On my 540I it looked like I had both a rear main seal and crankshaft seal leak after I changed out my valve cover gaskets.

Turned out to be the vanos solenoid gaskets leaking oil down the front of the engine not the front crankshaft seal. (from what I hear these don't go bad very often)

Also, the intake manifold gaskets were bad and the small hose connecting the crankcase vent valve under the intake manifold was split allowing oil to drip down into the valley pan area and running out the weep holes in the back of the engine that looked like the rear main seal was leaking.

About $75 for new intake gaskets, and vanos solenoid gaskets along with about 2 hours of labor, and she is once again oil leak free.