How hard to change oil pan?

[Brian 89 325i]

How hard is it to change the oil pan? Whats the easiest and quickest method? How long should this take?

Brian

[mikeedler]

unbolt the motor monts from the bottom, use a cherry picker or equiv. to lift the front of the motor up a few inches. go underneath and unbolt the pan and the trans housing/flywheel insp. plate. pull it out. oh, and I would also suggest unbolting the exhaust from the manifolds as to not put to much stress on them and possibly crack the pipes somewhere. It shouldnt take more than a hour or so if everything is there. good luck- it is really one of the easier things to do on the motor

[Spaz]

search, i posted a link for a guy a little while ago.

[theberglar]

http://www.bmwe30.net/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=articles&report=Print&ID=00172

[modifiede30]

I recently had to do this and the most difficult part is getting the oil pump shaft back in place by feel. Its the only way to do this job without taking the engine out. I didn't have to remove any of the steering to get the pan out, as mentioned in that link, although I did lift the engine an inch or two for extra clearance. I also had to loosen the front sway bar to get to specific bolts that hold the tranny bell housing cover in place. Aside from the steering work that was mentioned, everything looked pretty thorough. Its not fun to do though. Again, getting the shaft to the oil pump back took some time, as you have to hold both the pump and the shaft at the same time. If you're alone like I was, that makes it a bit difficult to bolt the pump in place. Good luck.