too many leaks.

[87-325ic]

my poor m20 started leaking oil even more now. i dont see it being burnt.

i park in pine straw so its hard to see leaking. but my motor is always gunked in oil.
is it best to take it somewhere and let them look it over really well?


I also have some sort of vacuum leak somewhere. could i remove the manifold fpr hose and pull a vacuum on the motor to find it possibly?


where can i get one of those smoke tests done?

end rant.

[McGyver]

how much oil is it leaking? since its a 23 year old car it is going to leak a bit and have a thick layer of gunk.

[xwill112x]

put a rubber hose up to your ear and use the other end to fish around in the engine bay, that will make it 10x easier to hear where its comming from. sounds stupid, but it works trust me.

[87-325ic]

on long trips about a quart for 1000 miles.

otherwise, a quart a month

[Huff]

Give it a REALLY good cleaning (get rid of all gunk and down to bare metal everywhere). That way you can spot where it might be coming from. It will help finding a vacum leak too.

[Dolmangar]

Once you get it cleaned up see if your oil control valve is leaking. It's built into the oil filter housing. It controls a thermostat for the bypass to the oil cooler. Mine was leaking A LOT when I got the car. Once I cleaned it up it was obvious where it all was coming from.

There is a $10 fix from BMW with a new O ring, cover and Clip. It's easy to fix, but a little tedious to do. They changed to a new setup in '89 or '90 apparently and this is a retro fit because the all of the old ones leak.

Here is the link I used to get the info:

http://e30.bmwdiy.info/oil-leak/index.html

[87-325ic]

that seems likely, i figured it was just the o-ring. it leaks a good amount from there.
ill look into it.

Whats a good way to clean the motor really well. without a box of towels and a gallon of cleaner?

[scottinAZ]

pressure washer, just stay away from the electrical bits, and you will be fine

[Dolmangar]

Get the car up on jack stands or ramps and get the foaming engine degreaser (Like four cans of the stuff).

Remove any of the plastic shields that are under the engine so you can get to the bottom.

Spray the first batch of cleaner on before you spray any water. That way the foam can get right to the gunk. Let it sit for a while and spray it off... Do it again, and again. Sooner or later you'll want to get under the car with a brush and start working on the really stuck on stuff.

I picked up a cheap bathroom brush with a long handle so that I could reach in there. The bathroom brush won't scratch anything up (not that it really matters I guess). But I wouldn't use a wire brush.

Once you get the bottom started you can spray more cleaner down from the top as well, but the more water and spray you've got in there the less likely you'll want to be under the car brushing things. Prepare to get nasty and wear some goggles to avoid getting cleaner in your eyes.

It's going to take a few times to clean it off. So figure on doing it again later when the car is dry again. The cleaner usually works best on a dry surface.

Mine didn't take that long. Although I could use another round. Since the oil tends to fly back it also covers the transmission housing and back. With one cleaning I was able to tell exactly where the oil was coming from and now that appears to be fixed I hope to find any other minor leaks that weren't noticable before.

Good Luck

that seems likely, i figured it was just the o-ring. it leaks a good amount from there.
ill look into it.

Whats a good way to clean the motor really well. without a box of towels and a gallon of cleaner?

[87-325ic]

so i just went out with a bunch of old t-shirts and started scrubbing, i used some engine cleaner sparingly.
it looks pretty damn good.

the leaks seem to come from the front timing cover, both top and bottom, although i replaced all seals and plugs at the top. i couldnt get the crank bolt off though, so the bottom cover gaskets were never replaced.

Also, it looks like a good seepage comes from between the block and head, just below the 3rd and 4th exhaust ports..

the oil cooler stuff was dirty too, so ill keep and eye on that area.

what do you guys think is the best route for me?
-keep adding oil for another year..
-take it somewhere and shell out some cash
-buy a spare m20 and rebuild myself, which still requires giving out cash.

[slo325i]

I would buy a spare m20 and rebuild it. I can't imagine replacing the crank seal and the rear main with the motor still in the car. It's so easy pulling the m20 why not just build a 2nd motor?

[Huff]

Sounds like your front crank seal. You can get to it when you do the timing belt and water pump. I would just replace them all

[Dolmangar]

I would buy a spare m20 and rebuild it. I can't imagine replacing the crank seal and the rear main with the motor still in the car. It's so easy pulling the m20 why not just build a 2nd motor?

The upside of buying and building a second motor is that you don't loose the use of the car while you're doing it (up until the big event).

Plus you could probably just sell off your old one when you're done as is. Or rebuild it and sell it and probably make back all your cash for the first build.

Of course all of this assumes that you have the knowledge, tools, space and cash to build an engine. I don't think I'm up to the task, although I think I would enjoy the attempt.

A little OT, but is there a supply of engine builders that do M20's if I decided that I wanted to get a fresh one in the future? I assume a crate motor would be a few grand.