Small oil leak from front head gasket area.

[Qazimo]

Car:
1992 325i Convertible
96000 Miles
Timing belt/water pump just replaced by shop. They did not replace cam or crank seals saying they were fine.

Problem:
I noticed a very small motor oil leak from the Front right (exhaust) side of the Motor. Its where you can see the little piece of head gasket sticking out at the very front.
It appears to be from the head gasket.
I cleaned the motor about a week ago and now I see it wet in that area and below.
I don't have any driveablity issues.
No signs of head gasket failure including coolant loss, oil in coolant or coolant in water what so ever, no white smoke etc.

Question:
Is this something common on e30? or something to be concerned about?
or early signs of head gasket failure?
Should I just ignore?

[spdracrm3]

yup pretty common for headgasket to leak oil ,one thing to check is if updated stretch headbolts have been installed they have a torx head instead of standard hex head (i think 92 should have ,not sure). My 89 IX seeps a little @207k and had original bolts installed new bolts and the leak reduced but didnt go away completely.not an issue just messy unfortunately .only fix is new headgasket


another thing that can leak in that area is the valve cover end plugs (plugging the rockershaft cutouts) they can leak behind t-cover and run down the front right corner making you thinks it a leaking headgasket

[F34R]

yup pretty common for headgasket to leak oil ,one thing to check is if updated stretch headbolts have been installed they have a torx head instead of standard hex head (i think 92 should have ,not sure). My 89 IX seeps a little @207k and had original bolts installed new bolts and the leak reduced but didnt go away completely.not an issue just messy unfortunately .only fix is new headgasket


another thing that can leak in that area is the valve cover end plugs (plugging the rockershaft cutouts) they can leak behind t-cover and run down the front right corner making you thinks it a leaking headgasket

1+ on all of this. And the torx stretch bolts were around 89 or so. My brother's 89 vert had them and so did my 89 parts motor.

So at OP, buy new HG/bolts and do the timing belt and water pump.

[Qazimo]

Thanks a lot for for your input

Makes me feel better that it's not uncommon and not really an issue. The messy part I can deal with.
Timing belt just done a week ago. I guess if not an issue I will just keep cleaning every couple of weeks.

[mrsleeve]

its not a big deal at all as mentioned I cant recall seeing an M20 that didnt seep a little out right there.

[Qazimo]

Thanks for your expertise. Appreciate it.

As long it it does not become an issue or leave me stranded somewhere it should be fine.