drivers side oil leak

[roundel]

hey guys, i'm having some trouble figureing out what the problem is. i know where the oil is coming from but i cant figure out what it is or how to get to it. it is the pipe under the intake manifold. has anybody had this problem? it had been leaking,but now it is just gushing out.

i figure it ;is the oil return pipe. does anybody have any experiance with this

[Jordan]

there is an oring at the top and bottom.

[TwoJ's]

The one that goes from the intake manifold down to the pan? That's a crank case breather, and it shouldn't be gushing out oil. Did you overfill the oil? There are o-rings, but I wouldn't think there should be much oil in the tube.

[Jordan]

Um.. its a breather tube, but oil also drains from the head down to the sump through it. I suspect that oil is his problem.

[roundel]

not gushing like a hose but leaking in fact i didn't know it was leaking till my oil light went on, parked in a lot and saw a puddle of oil under the car

[nando]

if the o-rings are shot or missing, it creates a vacuum leak which will suck oil into the intake. I don't know how or why, but that's what happens.

[roundel]

i just cant find it on alldata or in the haynes manual and i dont want to start taking shit apart without a plan.

[AlarmedBread]

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=1113&mospid=47309&btnr=11_0119&hg=11&fg=10

[roundel]

alright im gonna get to it thanks everybody

[TwoJ's]

Um.. its a breather tube, but oil also drains from the head down to the sump through it. I suspect that oil is his problem.

Okay, I stand corrected and realize that oil drains down it, but it should not be under enough pressure to spew out. Like stated, if the O-rings were bad you would think that vacuum would suck air in, not let the oil out. Crank case should not be under pressure, right?

And have fun with that thing, it's kind of a bitch the first time you do it. I found it helpful to compress the spring at the top of it and zip tie it to keep it compressed. Then get it in and cut the zip tie to release the spring.

[mudflaps]

i believe at r3v we call it the spring loaded tube of death.

im sorry for your luck.

[nando]

i believe at r3v we call it the spring loaded tube of death.

im sorry for your luck.

it's not that big of a deal

and the spring is on the bottom, not the top :p

[TwoJ's]

Yeah, it's been a couple years since I've done it. My memory is fading at a young age. It's not too bad if you've done it once, but it can take a minute to figure out.

[roundel]

you know i typed in "tube of death" and i got more search responces than when i typed in oil return pipe. I see that most people were taking off their intake manifold and had a problem with the tube of death. So the intake manifold has to be removed first. I just wanted to check if there was any kind of "easy button" to take the tube out.

[Jordan]

You can change the top oring (the one I'm sure is leaking) without removing the intake manifold.

The bottom requires you remove the intake manifold.