metal vs paper gaskets

[14''BBS]

I did some good cleaning of the front of the engine after finding and fixing an oil leaks, idle issues and now shes perfect. I thought the oil pan needed work but after cleaning the area for a few days, it looks to be in great condition. However the car has over 330k km and id like the check on the notorious oil pump/sump bolts and toss is some thread locker but the gasket is fine and it actually seems to be metal as opposed to this victor reinz paper one i have.

What should i do? : /
has the internet made me paranoid? Is this issue that common? should i just change it when it leaks and check the bolts while there?

[bmwman91]

You can get a magnetic oil drain plug and see if it grabs a bolt. Obviously it isn't something you want to wait around for, but it's one way to see if a bolt came out without dropping the pan. Put the plug in with the next oil change and check it on the following change.

[14''BBS]

I actually have one laying around! Ill do that thanks, also does anyone have anything against putting seafoam in the crank case , take it for a good run let it sit for a day or 2 than changing the oil? Or bad idea? Motor is suppose to have 330k km. Is it too old to remove all the carbon?

[bmwman91]

I have never used Seafoam, and I am a little hesitant about it since it is basically a mild solvent which thins out the oil. Granted, you are only supposed to run the engine for a short period under light load with it.

For cleaning out old oily gunk, I used a product called Rislone. You substitute it for one quart of oil when you do a change, and then change your oil again in about half the usual number of miles. When I first did it on my gunked-up M42 after I bought the car, the next oil change was one of the dirtiest ones I ever had (changed after ~3000 miles). I repeated that for another 3000 miles and it seemed to help out with lifter tick and whatnot since the mild detergent in it got the varnish out of things.

I highly recommend running a high quality oil in your high mileage M42. Mobil 1 15W-50 synthetic is the only thing that I will use because it has the highest ZDDP content of any non-race oil and some tests that Metric Mechanic did showed it to be the 2nd best performing oil on the market (#1 being Castrol 10W-60 TWS, but it is $20/L and bleeds through paper gaskets like crazy...I tried it once). The M1 oil is particularly important to use if you are swapping 1 quart of oil with something like Rislone since you will need all the ZDDP you can get (the flat tappet lifters don't play nice with cam lobes if you use a cheap oil with little/no ZDDP). The M1 15W-50 synthetic oil is also good for 10000 miles if you change the filter every 5000, assuming you are not adding a detergent.

[14''BBS]

Ok thanks, im hesitant with the seasfoam aswell because im sure some carbon build up is helping with compression. My whole thing for wanting to seafoam is i pulled the pcv hose and found mily white stuff, i was tripping because i thought the headgasket was toast, turned out to be winter condensation and the fact that i idle the shit out of it before i go for some snow drifts, plus the snowdritts them selves adding to condensation/moisture. So i cleaned out the gunk and did some research, since my oil levels dont rise and coolant doesnt fall i should be good on the headgasket. Plus there is no white shit on my dipstick, i changed the oil and it looked great, no milk or shavings blah blah. Soo im probably gonna return the seafoam or just use it in my gas and do some slides for shits (not reallly). Also did the valve cover amd the timing accessories look great, maybe the cam teeth can be a bit rounder but they arent spikes. I use Castrol edge full synthetic 5w-40. Thats my go too oil for euro cars. How would the 50 benefit ? If you dont mind