Oil pan gasket repair

[325YOY]

I'm going to have a shop do it for me. What should it cost to have this done on my '89 325i?
TIA

[91greg325i]

I just did mine two days ago, it took about 3 hours all said and done with a friend (so technically 6 man hours). I'm no mechanic, so I'm guessing it would be less than that. Somewhere in the 2-300 dollar range??? Total ballpark guess. Sorry if I'm way off... Anyone else know with more certainty than me?

[Alkasquawlik]

It's not hard to do, it's just a total bitch.
The gasket isn't that expensive at all, so the majority of what you will be paying will be coming from the labor. I would venture a guess at around $300 to start off with.

[mcr_driver]

Yea the part itself isn't that much it's the labor that kills think it takes about 3-4 hours so depending on what your shop charges per hour

[lennon]

someone i know with an e36 325i just had it done by midas and it came out to over 400. do it yourself fool!

[Court M3]

I just did mine two days ago, it took about 3 hours all said and done with a friend (so technically 6 man hours). I'm no mechanic, so I'm guessing it would be less than that. Somewhere in the 2-300 dollar range??? Total ballpark guess. Sorry if I'm way off... Anyone else know with more certainty than me?

Did mine about 6 months ago and no I'm not a mechanic and it took me and a friend hours. Easy though after all said and done.

[e30frosh]

DIY. Let your wallet but the gasket, beer, and snacks.

[nickpdx]

DIY. Let your wallet but the gasket, beer, and snacks.

Indeed. Just did mine a couple of weeks ago - it's messy and a pain in the ass, but it's really not too bad. As long as you have basic tools and a floor jack you can easily do it in a day for only the price of the gasket (just a few bucks).

[mcr_driver]

question regarding this as i've heard there are two methods to removing the oil pan gasket...the method i know is to disconnect the tranny and lift the engine slightly but supposed there is a method that avoids this...is that true? or was i told the wrong method to begin with?

[Alkasquawlik]

I helped my friend do it, and iirc, we just jacked the car up and went to work.

[Dougy Fresh]

question regarding this as i've heard there are two methods to removing the oil pan gasket...the method i know is to disconnect the tranny and lift the engine slightly but supposed there is a method that avoids this...is that true? or was i told the wrong method to begin with?

If you have an engine lift you unbolt the motor mounts and unbolt the trans mounts and carefully lift the motor just enough to slide the oil pan out.

If you dont have an engine lift you unbolt the motor mounts and place a jack underneath the oil pan with a peice of soft wood between as a buffer and lift it carefully and just enough as needed. You do not need to unbolt the trans mounts when using this method, although doing so will allow for more clearance.

Typical shop rates are about 100/hr that would be on the expensive side, such as a dealership. A good mechanic can do this under 2 hrs. Whether they bill you for the actual time is another story all together. Thats why I do shit myself.

[nickpdx]

question regarding this as i've heard there are two methods to removing the oil pan gasket...the method i know is to disconnect the tranny and lift the engine slightly but supposed there is a method that avoids this...is that true? or was i told the wrong method to begin with?

The way I did it was to loosen the motor mount nuts as much as possible and place a jack with a block of wood under the A/C bracket (if you have A/C on your car), then jack up the motor enough to drop the pan. Other than that addition, I followed the Bentley instructions exactly...unbolted steering rack from subframe and slid it out of the way. The only part of the job that really had me pissed off was getting the oil pump driveshaft back into place when re-installing the pan.

[Dougy Fresh]

The way I did it was to loosen the motor mount nuts as much as possible and place a jack with a block of wood under the A/C bracket (if you have A/C on your car), then jack up the motor enough to drop the pan. Other than that addition, I followed the Bentley instructions exactly...unbolted steering rack from subframe and slid it out of the way. The only part of the job that really had me pissed off was getting the oil pump driveshaft back into place when re-installing the pan.

Thats what I meant to say when doing the job with a floor jack, the ac bracket is strong enough to lift the motor and that is the part to place the jack not the oil pan like my dumbass said.