[Kenneykickin]

Alright family. I am going to attempt to do this forsaken job since I’m past due on it like 3 years lol. The leak is getting bad. Maybe a quart every 1.5k miles or so. But underneath is just a huge mess.

140k miles. Never been done.

Question I have. What is the minimium height I can do this job at? I am going to purchase some jack stands that achieve about 18.5” in height. Does the rear need to be jacked up as well or can I get away with just jacking the front?

Only concern is I have a slight incline on my driveway. Maybe 2-3 degree. Seen some videos of where people only jack the front up, but I’m sure they are much more mechanical than myself.

I’ve done valve cover on this vehicle & oil filter housing gasket. Wasn’t too bad at all. But I am kind of concerned about the oil pan gasket with all the stuff that needs removed.
Any tips from the legends that have done it on jacks?


Cheers.

[Kenneykickin]

Main reason wanting to do it is because I have a slight coolant leak I noticed as well. Resovoir is empty after sitting all night. I think I may have a hairline crack in the water pump or t stat but I can’t even see because of how caked it is under there.

Those 2 will be replaced at same time.

Or who know, if I find the coolant leak and it’s not the pump. I may just contuine putting it off in general 😂.

It’s definitely no any of the common issues. Nicky mouse has been done, upper radiation hose, new resovoir. And even the little hose that goes over the fan assembly.

[Kenneykickin]

I currently have stands that go to 16 3/4” but I don’t think that’ll be high enough without saying every cuss world in the English dictionary

[Bims328i]

Best of luck to you. I've been doing a lot of research on this for my specific application prior to doing the job. Might try to tackle it this weekend or next. Not sure.

Mine looks like is going to be a jack stand job. I'm still curious as to members thoughts on loosening the control arm bolts but NOT replacing them. Basically just retighten.

Another member was just saying how they were having trouble with clearance. I've seen that is one major trick (loosening ctrl arm bolts) but as with many fasteners on this car, might need to replace those if you mess with them.

I've seen this job done on vid with just two stands at the front as well. Probably going to put mine up on four stands to be safe.

Prospecting the bet course of action. I read some little details like removing the rear subframe bolts first (ones on angle of subframe) then do the four flat ones.

Also pick up an inch pound wrench and some paint markers if you have not already.

I have four of the harbor freight Dayona stands so 16-7/8 max in but I have never put them that high.

Usually do about 3 teeth but for this job I will probably go higher. The main part from what I can gather is loosening the ctrl arm hardware will help it all drop down the rest of the way.

I did my auto pan gasket and filter / fluid service on about 3 teeth on the stands. Also swapped the pumpkin but could have used more height for that job.

Let us know how it goes!

[mainbearing]

On 328i I had about 14" wood blocks under the front jack pads and the rear tires were resting on about 5" of wood blocks (these were all I had, but I would say the more the merrier). And I lifted the front end up using a Harbor Freight Pittsburgh 3-ton with a max lift of about 18.25".

Lifting the rear end up a bit will help getting to the transmission area for the rear bolts of the oil pan, IMO. It is probably doable without that, just extra cuss words I guess. The above were the same lift stance I used for dropping the valve body to install a Sonnax Zip Kit, otherwise working towards the transmission pan area would be a squeeze.

[mainbearing]

As far as control arm bolts I did not loosen them. The passenger side hydro bushing was already shot, and it would have been a good time for me to replace the arms or just the bushings. That will be for another time.

When the subframe was dropped, the control arms, IIRC, was about level (becuase the steering knuckles already drooped down when lifted), so I don't think there is much stress on them.

I would agree to remove the rear subframe bolts first (the ones going slanted into the chassis). This way there is no downward force on them to mess up the threads when the other 4 are removed. A tap (M18?? or maybe that was the socket size, not sure) can be used to easily clean things up if the damage was minor, as was in my case.

[Cloverdale]

Originally Posted by Kenneykickin

Alright family. I am going to attempt to do this forsaken job since I’m past due on it like 3 years lol. The leak is getting bad. Maybe a quart every 1.5k miles or so. But underneath is just a huge mess.

140k miles. Never been done.

Question I have. What is the minimium height I can do this job at? I am going to purchase some jack stands that achieve about 18.5” in height. Does the rear need to be jacked up as well or can I get away with just jacking the front?

Only concern is I have a slight incline on my driveway. Maybe 2-3 degree. Seen some videos of where people only jack the front up, but I’m sure they are much more mechanical than myself.

I’ve done valve cover on this vehicle & oil filter housing gasket. Wasn’t too bad at all. But I am kind of concerned about the oil pan gasket with all the stuff that needs removed.
Any tips from the legends that have done it on jacks?


Cheers.

I did oil pan gskt on 2007 335 with MT lifting only the front with stands that reach 20" plus. Required disconnecting a steering link on drivers side.

[Kenneykickin]

Originally Posted by Bims328i

Best of luck to you. I've been doing a lot of research on this for my specific application prior to doing the job. Might try to tackle it this weekend or next. Not sure.

Mine looks like is going to be a jack stand job. I'm still curious as to members thoughts on loosening the control arm bolts but NOT replacing them. Basically just retighten.

Another member was just saying how they were having trouble with clearance. I've seen that is one major trick (loosening ctrl arm bolts) but as with many fasteners on this car, might need to replace those if you mess with them.

I've seen this job done on vid with just two stands at the front as well. Probably going to put mine up on four stands to be safe.

Prospecting the bet course of action. I read some little details like removing the rear subframe bolts first (ones on angle of subframe) then do the four flat ones.

Also pick up an inch pound wrench and some paint markers if you have not already.

I have four of the harbor freight Dayona stands so 16-7/8 max in but I have never put them that high.

Usually do about 3 teeth but for this job I will probably go higher. The main part from what I can gather is loosening the ctrl arm hardware will help it all drop down the rest of the way.

I did my auto pan gasket and filter / fluid service on about 3 teeth on the stands. Also swapped the pumpkin but could have used more height for that job.

Let us know how it goes!

Thanks for reply. I will keep you posted how it goes. I am going to start next Friday. Will be using jackstands. Another member said he felt he had more clearence just using 2 jack stands lol. So idk. I was going to try to avoid the control arms but prob will end up having to remove them/loosen. I was going to buy the quick jack specifically for this job but I decided not too.

[Bims328i]

Sure thing! I really would love to have a quick jack. Been using a HB Pittsburgh floor jack and will likely be the lifter for this next job along with stands but I'm pretty sure this time I'll have a concrete slab so that's a plus!

I might be wrenching this good Friday with you haha.

[Kenneykickin]

I never started yet but I’m about too. Just started car after all winter. Leak is bad also got a small leak in water pump/ tstat it’s time tho 150k miles last replacement was at 75k.

[Kenneykickin]

How can I post a video here from my phone

[Kenneykickin]

https://youtu.be/YKIoW4kjbXg?si=4VandeoDxzkOgE8n

Does this shitty video look like my rear main seal
Is leaking as well? Probaly can’t tell but seems real wet over that area right above the plug in on the pan.

[mainbearing]

The oil can drip down the back side of the pan, inside the bell housing, and make it look like a rear main seal leak.

The smoke at that location by the converter makes me wonder if it is more oil pan than rear main.

[Bims328i]

Planning to tackle this along with motor mounts and try to get one if not both of my exhaust manifolds off. Depending on how difficult it is to remove them. The lower flange bolts are just a rusted mass now.

This will be on an 08 328i E90, rather than post a new thread, I'll add my questions here.

I'm curious if it might help to spritz a bit of silicone spray between the control arm joints. If that might help them move so I don't have to loosen them. Strongly considering removing the steering rack rather than the column bolt as I didn't order a replacement. I'm thinking if I can sharpie the perimeter of the rack bolts and properly realign them, then maybe shouldn't need an alignment that bad afterwards?

If you have to loosen the control arm bolts, do you have to preload the hub/suspension before tightening them back down?

Also planning to treat the gasket with ultra black RTV like Efthreeoh stated in another thread.

[mainbearing]

Following the forum DIY, for 07 328i, I did not have to remove exhaust manifolds to change the motor mounts. For the N54 no need for engine mount bracket bolts.

New pan gasket w/RTV and pan bolts already on there:

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showp...&postcount=327

My passenger side hydro bushing was leaking, so I wished I had either new bushings or controls arms while the subframe was dropped. I did not loosen the control arm bolts. I also changed the struts at the same time. If you decide to loosen the control arm bolts, then yes preload the suspension before tightening to spec with new hardware.

I only loosened the rubber stand holding the steering U-hose to the subframe. No need to touch the steering system in any other way.

+1 on Permatex Ultra Black. I did. And once again thanks to the forum DIY on the oil pan gasket replacement. Helped a lot.

The amount I used:

Originally Posted by Bims328i

Planning to tackle this along with motor mounts and try to get one if not both of my exhaust manifolds off. Depending on how difficult it is to remove them. The lower flange bolts are just a rusted mass now.

This will be on an 08 328i E90, rather than post a new thread, I'll add my questions here.

I'm curious if it might help to spritz a bit of silicone spray between the control arm joints. If that might help them move so I don't have to loosen them. Strongly considering removing the steering rack rather than the column bolt as I didn't order a replacement. I'm thinking if I can sharpie the perimeter of the rack bolts and properly realign them, then maybe shouldn't need an alignment that bad afterwards?

If you have to loosen the control arm bolts, do you have to preload the hub/suspension before tightening them back down?

Also planning to treat the gasket with ultra black RTV like Efthreeoh stated in another thread.

[Bims328i]

Oh one of my headers with integrated converter is bad so I really want to replace it.

I'm going to just remove the coolant tank instead of bending it over. Will be draining and reusing coolant.

Nice, yeap I got those four replacement bolts for the brackets and a lot of the other hardware you are supposed to replace. Also picked up a set of deep well bolt extractor sockets. Decent rated amazon set as the Irwin set only came with 5 sizes.

[Kenneykickin]

Originally Posted by mainbearing

The oil can drip down the back side of the pan, inside the bell housing, and make it look like a rear main seal leak.

The smoke at that location by the converter makes me wonder if it is more oil pan than rear main.

You are very knowledgeable and I always appreciate hearing from you. Sorry my lack of video quality. I am just now getting around to tackling everything on this rig I’ve owned it since 2014 and 55k miles now 2024 and 149k. It’s always been stock besides a Cobb stage 1 tune for about 20k miles. Never had down pipes etc. does have a small 5” fmic.

Anyways, was looking around under Neath and it seems to be leaking worst around where the plug in plugs in so I thought maybe the rear main seal is worse off / leaking than the acual pan.

Ugh.

[mainbearing]

Thank you. It is still possible that it is a rear main leak, especially with a PCV failure and crank pressure build up. I guess with the pan dropped maybe there is better access to take a look higher up in the crank area to be sure. See if the seal is pushed out a little.