Intercooler / Turbo Outlet Hose - Oil Leak

[GTBrandon]

So I was chasing down a oil leak on the front passenger side of the car, and it seems the likely culprit is the red turbo outlet hose running into the intercooler. My question for everyone here is, for those who have had this problem what was your solution?

For reference, it’s a 2012 X5d with 134k miles.

I see three options ranging in price:

#1 replace the factory o-rings on the pipe and call it a day (#2 and 3 in the parts diagram). Question is I’ve seen some recommend replacing the metal clips as well, but can’t find any part numbers. I found one for the bottom at the intercooler connection (#15 in the other diagram), but can’t determine if the top connection at the turbo outlet has the same clip (17517802664).

#2 replace the hose entirely with the ATM option. My question is does replacing the entire hose really provide that much better of a connection for the extra $200 cost?

#3 all new intercooler and hoses since the plastic connections on an OEM intercooler don’t seem to fair well with time, vibration, heat, etc. This seems a little overkill to me and not likely to happen, but wanted to list it as an option since I’ve seen people mention it’s the true culprit of this lose fitting and subsequent oil leak.

Appreciate any insight you all might have on this issue, and before you ask yes oil does leak from the intercooler piping. It’s been occurring since these cars were new based on threads I see back in 2009, and is just a little quirk of the cars.

[wcs531]

I just went with new o-rings myself and its been good for a year or so (~10k miles). Make sure you get everything seated and clipped properly, my first attempt didnt take on the intercooler side clip. I reused the old clips maybe pressing them together a little bit to make them tighter, but forget if they are the same part or not.

With that said I'd be surprised if you're getting enough oil to drip on the ground out of the loose hose, although yours does look pretty bad. I went through a similar process and my leak ended up being the turbo oil feed lines which are fairly common failures. Realoem link below - #2 or #3 are usually the issue, I got by without replacing #1 thankfully as its apparently a nightmare. I also replaced #5, #12 , and maybe #7 (I forget) on the drain side just in case, but I wanted to take the small turbo off to check the seal on that anyway.

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=11_4264

[GTBrandon]

Originally Posted by wcs531

I just went with new o-rings myself and its been good for a year or so (~10k miles). Make sure you get everything seated and clipped properly, my first attempt didnt take on the intercooler side clip. I reused the old clips maybe pressing them together a little bit to make them tighter, but forget if they are the same part or not.

With that said I'd be surprised if you're getting enough oil to drip on the ground out of the loose hose, although yours does look pretty bad. I went through a similar process and my leak ended up being the turbo oil feed lines which are fairly common failures. Realoem link below - #2 or #3 are usually the issue, I got by without replacing #1 thankfully as its apparently a nightmare. I also replaced #5, #12 , and maybe #7 (I forget) on the drain side just in case, but I wanted to take the small turbo off to check the seal on that anyway.

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=11_4264

Yeah I'm sure those lines are weeping as well, but I'm not sure what the culprit for this leak is. Figure I'll start with this air hose before dealing with all the turbo feed lines. Appreciate the insight on which lines you replaced though!

Pics below are what caused me to start looking for this, just cleaned it all off so we'll see how long until this comes back but definitely wasn't there 5k miles ago.

[robinasu]

Sorry do not have time to read all of posts; yes the intercooler hose is common leak point and is "normal." Other common leak points are the crimps on the small turbo oil lines, same on big turbo oil lines. You can twist some wire on the hose end crimps and see if that helps if you have that problem.

[wcs531]

Yeah mine looked the same. Hate to say it but I bet your valve cover gasket is toast also. That's a bigger job than the other stuff though. Now that I think about it I believe I did the turbo oil lines when I did the VCG so I dont actually know which one it was for sure.

BMW rubber definitely does not stand the test of time.

[GTBrandon]

Just to update the thread (updated on FB as well as that page seems to be more active than these forums for the diesel cars).

Leak ended up actually being the intercooler (where it goes from plastic end tanks to metal portion) rather than the hoses going to it. Replaced with Mahle IC from FCP, and did the O-rings of hot/cold side pipes while I was in there as well. Wasn't too bad of a job, but I'll say connect the hot side hose back onto the IC before putting it back into the car, makes connecting and getting a secure fit way easier.

[jbash87]

Originally Posted by GTBrandon

Wasn't too bad of a job, but I'll say connect the hot side hose back onto the IC before putting it back into the car, makes connecting and getting a secure fit way easier.

Truth!