Oil Return Leak?!

[chris604]

Hi All, Got it back from the dealer for the air suspension compressor, covered under warranty, yaay! Makes a big difference, drives much smoother, less rough, as when the compressor was dying I guess it didn't pump up the back enough. Anyways, noticed a leak now, coming from somewhere on passenger side, and dealer noted on invoice 'oil Return leak'. So, looking at this video here:

Its a gasket like right on top of the engine, that was leaking, and it is where the oil returns to Oil pan or?? Not sure, The vid is for a 50i, but looks somewhat similar to my X5M. So, if it's just gaskets that are leaking, that's good news for me. Any thoughts on what it may be for sure? When I drive it hard, it really has a bad smell of burning oil, and smoke coming from passenger side of motor, and lots of oil coming out down across the header, and near the oil filter, as it comes out the bottom of the truck. The harder I drive it the worse it is. I can take pics if anyone wants more details.

Thanks!

[eDubz]

I recently had mine done, here's the invoice with what they replaced.

[Sophisticated Redneck]

Originally Posted by chris604

Hi All, Got it back from the dealer for the air suspension compressor, covered under warranty, yaay! Makes a big difference, drives much smoother, less rough, as when the compressor was dying I guess it didn't pump up the back enough. Anyways, noticed a leak now, coming from somewhere on passenger side, and dealer noted on invoice 'oil Return leak'. So, looking at this video here:

Its a gasket like right on top of the engine, that was leaking, and it is where the oil returns to Oil pan or?? Not sure, The vid is for a 50i, but looks somewhat similar to my X5M. So, if it's just gaskets that are leaking, that's good news for me. Any thoughts on what it may be for sure? When I drive it hard, it really has a bad smell of burning oil, and smoke coming from passenger side of motor, and lots of oil coming out down across the header, and near the oil filter, as it comes out the bottom of the truck. The harder I drive it the worse it is. I can take pics if anyone wants more details. Thanks!

Most likely your oil return cover, very common on the 50i and M. Another possible is coked up oil return lines, best to replace the cover and turbo oil retun lines at same time. You should replace the cylinder head to cylinder head coolant line while you are at it as it will take only 5 minutes to replace once you have the turbos off and is another common failure point Looking at around 400 dollars in parts if you do it yourself and shop around for the best prices on parts. It's not a bad job, just time consuming, will take around 8 hours to do. If you take to a dealer, expect around 2200-2500ish like the other member posted. Take some more pics and post them here just so me and the other members that have worked on these engines can make sure it's what you need.

[chris604]

Originally Posted by eDubz

I recently had mine done, here's the invoice with what they replaced.

Whoaa. Ok, thanks man for that! I didn't even tell them about the leak when I took it to the dealer last month, they just said specifically it was an oil return leak, so that looks about right. Will be getting a quote from them shortly. And, have a video of my X5M to post shortly for more details.

[chris604]

Originally Posted by Sophisticated Redneck

Most likely your oil return cover, very common on the 50i and M. Another possible is coked up oil return lines, best to replace the cover and turbo oil retun lines at same time. You should replace the cylinder head to cylinder head coolant line while you are at it as it will take only 5 minutes to replace once you have the turbos off and is another common failure point Looking at around 400 dollars in parts if you do it yourself and shop around for the best prices on parts. It's not a bad job, just time consuming, will take around 8 hours to do. If you take to a dealer, expect around 2200-2500ish like the other member posted. Take some more pics and post them here just so me and the other members that have worked on these engines can make sure it's what you need.

OK, thanks! Yes, I will take some more pics. I was assuming it was like a valve cover gasket, but dealer said specifically that it was oil return, but I doubt they actually took anything apart to verify it, but I saw they left a few bolts loose on the metal cover on the bottom of the engine by the oil filter.

[Sophisticated Redneck]

Originally Posted by chris604

OK, thanks! Yes, I will take some more pics. I was assuming it was like a valve cover gasket, but dealer said specifically that it was oil return, but I doubt they actually took anything apart to verify it, but I saw they left a few bolts loose on the metal cover on the bottom of the engine by the oil filter.

Another possibility is the oil return from the oil cooler (cooler is located passenger lower front grill). Those are the only two oil reruns on the engine, the pics you take will really with diagnosing it

[chris604]

Heres the pics. Hard to see, but in passenger side looks like dripping on the exhaust, near axle, and of course underneath, leaking everywhere. No oil on the front of the engine anywhere that I can see.

[Sophisticated Redneck]

Originally Posted by chris604

Heres the pics. Hard to see, but in passenger side looks like dripping on the exhaust, near axle, and of course underneath, leaking everywhere. No oil on the front of the engine anywhere that I can see.

Hard to tell with those pics. The problem is if it's the turbo oil return housing leak, oil builds up In the valley of engine and eventually works its way out a weep hole at back of engine and then runs down back and all over like in your pics BUT so can the oil cooler return lines which are routed on the passenger side of the engine.

I would jack it up and pull the passenger side tire, from there you can follow the oil cooler lines from the passenger side oil cooler back to the engine, see if there is any cracks or leaks on it. If not then you know it's your turbo oil return housing.

One last thing to consider is leaky oil filter housing cover or oil pressure switch, all located on passenger side. I doubt it since the dealer should have caught that right away but best double check it.

[chris604]

Originally Posted by Sophisticated Redneck

Hard to tell with those pics. The problem is if it's the turbo oil return housing leak, oil builds up In the valley of engine and eventually works its way out a weep hole at back of engine and then runs down back and all over like in your pics BUT so can the oil cooler return lines which are routed on the passenger side of the engine.

I would jack it up and pull the passenger side tire, from there you can follow the oil cooler lines from the passenger side oil cooler back to the engine, see if there is any cracks or leaks on it. If not then you know it's your turbo oil return housing.

One last thing to consider is leaky oil filter housing cover or oil pressure switch, all located on passenger side. I doubt it since the dealer should have caught that right away but best double check it.

Thanks for that. I will do that. But, also the dealer said specifically it was an oil return leak, and I did notice that some bolts were loose near the oil filter on the bottom of the truck. So, I guess they were digging around in there to do a quick check on it, I'm assuming

[m5james]

Originally Posted by Sophisticated Redneck

Hard to tell with those pics. The problem is if it's the turbo oil return housing leak, oil builds up In the valley of engine and eventually works its way out a weep hole at back of engine and then runs down back and all over like in your pics BUT so can the oil cooler return lines which are routed on the passenger side of the engine.

I would jack it up and pull the passenger side tire, from there you can follow the oil cooler lines from the passenger side oil cooler back to the engine, see if there is any cracks or leaks on it. If not then you know it's your turbo oil return housing.

One last thing to consider is leaky oil filter housing cover or oil pressure switch, all located on passenger side. I doubt it since the dealer should have caught that right away but best double check it.

LMK if you ever make it to Seattle...I'd love help replacing my manifold and turbos from someone who's dug into things I haven't done yet

[chris604]

Originally Posted by Sophisticated Redneck

Hard to tell with those pics. The problem is if it's the turbo oil return housing leak, oil builds up In the valley of engine and eventually works its way out a weep hole at back of engine and then runs down back and all over like in your pics BUT so can the oil cooler return lines which are routed on the passenger side of the engine.

I would jack it up and pull the passenger side tire, from there you can follow the oil cooler lines from the passenger side oil cooler back to the engine, see if there is any cracks or leaks on it. If not then you know it's your turbo oil return housing.

One last thing to consider is leaky oil filter housing cover or oil pressure switch, all located on passenger side. I doubt it since the dealer should have caught that right away but best double check it.

I did that. Didn't see any return lines, or anything up there, I guess you would have to take off some more covers on the side? But anyways, its at the dealer now. They said yes it's the oil return, but also the valve cover gasket, and some coolant leak. Lots of issues, LOL. last time they said it was the coolant overflow tank, so I replaced it and it was leaking again almost right away, but not as bad though?!. But it was an Ebay part, so I guess it could be the same tank leaking again, or maybe a bad hose? They haven't finished everything up so just waiting to hear back from them on the details of everything. But, they also said the coolant had dirt in it. Not sure, if that's because it was just dripping down with dirt from the engine bay somewhere, or if it's something more serious...