Rear Main Seal Shot? Massive leak parked on incline

[Earendil]

So here's the deal, I drove the car last night for 2+ hours. Came home, parked it in my driveway that has something line a 30 degree incline. The rear of the car was downhill.
This morning, I let the car roll down to level ground. Immediately it starts dumping oil off the transmission cover/plate thing. At first I thought "Well it is curved, so any slight leak would pool a little bit there, and when level start to really leak. That wasn't (exactly) the case though. It just kept coming out. Probably a solid cup of oil at least. Grabbed a flashlight to take a closer look, and it looked to be coming out of that little slit where the bell housing mates to the engine. Hard to tell though since the car is dropped.

Now, the car has had a leak in the oil pan gasket for some time. Ends up leaving 4-8 drops of oil wherever I park it.

The question is, am I guaranteed to have a Rear Main Seal that is toast, or could the rear of the oil pan (or other gasket?) leak into the bell housing? Is it even possible to put the E30 at a reasonable angle such that oil actually sits against the RMS? Now that the car is level, it has stopped leaking. I'm thinking that wherever the gap is that it's usually above the oil line, but I don't know where the oil line is when the car is turned off. Is it above or below the oil pan gasket?

Additional information: I replaced the clutch in the spring of 2011, and haven't put even 10K on the car since then. I replaced the RMS at that time. What are the chances that the RMS would last that long, and then suddenly fail this bad?

[kamotors]

could be the back of the oil pan leaking. I thought my rear main seal was out but once I got into it, it was just the fact that the gasket at the rear of the pan had disintegrated to nothing.

[Earendil]

could be the back of the oil pan leaking. I thought my rear main seal was out but once I got into it, it was just the fact that the gasket at the rear of the pan had disintegrated to nothing.

If this is true, that's great news. This weekend I'll top the oil off and put the front end on jacks after cleaning everything off and see if I can't get it to start leaking. Is it possible to see the rear of the oil pan with the transmission attached? I don't recall, and I can't find pictures on the internet of the two mated together.

I'm positive my oil pan gasket is on its last leg, so this would not surprise me. The gasket is on my short list of winter projects. I'm just not sure if it's possible for the oil pan to leak into the bell housing, I don't remember what it looks like. How sure are you?

Of note, since i'm sure people will ask, it's certainly engine oil not tranny fluid. I put the tranny fluid in last, and let's just say that when that shit is on your hands you know it.

[efficient]

throw in some dye and hit it with a uv light.

[blocke]

That's likely not the bell housing, it's the cover that mates between the oil pan, block, and tranny. It looks like its the bellhousing, but its not. If the oil pan gasket took a shit where the oil pan meets the rear main seal cover, then that's where the oil will accumulate.

My car did the exact same thing, and I thought rear main too.
Pop that cover off, you will likely be able to see it leaking out. When you replace the oil pan gasket, use something like hylomar in the spot.

[TimKninja]

Try doing the oil pan gasket first. Pretty easy to do if you have the equipment to drop the subframe and hold the engine up.

I recently did a rear main seal thinking that was the cause on a 525i (m20)

Dropped the Trans (which was still holding a quart of oil in) and found chunks of the oil pan gasket Floating around.

Rms don't oftenly go on BMWs. And their always a risky job because if you don't reinstall right they will leak worse then before.

[Ryann]

+3. We just went through this with Charlie's car, oil pan bolts had loosened and the gasket was blown out at the back of the pan.