"Rick Clark" > wrote in message
...
> >Scott honked his horn and wrote:
>
> > Well my oil leak on my 1992 525i (150k) turned out to be more serious
> > than I thought. Here is the list of what the BMW dealership says the
> > car needs:
> >
> > Valve Cover gasket
> > Oil filter housing gasket
> > Front timing cover gasket
> > Crank seal gasket
> > Head gasket gasket
> > Oil pan gasket
> >
> > And for only $2,400 they will gladly replace them all. As I
> > understand it, the head gasket is the real expensive chore, requiring
> > lots of man hours. The BMW service rep said a car with this many
> > miles is normal to have the gaskets start to fail. My question should
> > I go with the dealership on the repairs or find a shop that does BMW
> > cars as well. While money is always an issue, it would be silly to
> > save $500 but then have a shop do the work incompetently, especially
> > the head gasket. I was told there was an issue with the upper and
> > lower aluminum covers mating properly when putting it all back
> > together again. Not sure what that means, but it doesn't sound fun.
> >
> > I also asked the service rep if I should consider not going through
> > with the work if other problems could manifest (I purchased the car,
> > 525i touring wagon for $4.5k). He said the engine/trans in these cars
> > are strong and should last 300k and the gasket replacement is normal.
> >
> > Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks!
>
> Can you not tell at all where the oil looks like it is leaking from?
> That list of gaskets sounds a bit extreme. I would assume that the oil
> filter is situated in the same position as my '92 325 coupe so you
> should be easily identified as leaking. You get a new gasket with the
> filter when it is replaced so that should cost about £10 GBP tops to do
> it yourself in 5 mins. If the oil isn't showing leaking down the engine
> block then I can't see how the valve cover gasket and/or head gasket is
> gone. The head gasket may also show as oil in the water or water in the
> oil (thick creamy brown coloured gunge in filler or dip-stick).
> Personally, I would buy a can of engine cleaner and clean any oil off
> of the engine and then see where the fresh stuff seems to come from.


Sounds like a right hosing to me too.

you can get a dye that reacts to black light. clean the engine and add the
dye. you'll need a black light as well.

>
>
> --
> Cheers
>
> Rick
>
> '92 E36 325 Coupe
> http://bmw.aqua-maniac.co.uk