Oil leak and no coolant

[isosunrise]

Hi there! Haven't been on these forums since I called my e92 about 6 years ago.

Anyway- I picked up a new to me x5 (35i) 2011 with about 98k on it. So far so good until today. Was going to change the oil on my own and noticed some oil from what a appears to be a jack point in the front of the car underneath.

Opened the hood and see that there's a small pool of oil near the filter housing. I then check coolant and see that there's little to no coolant and what appears to be something brown, I assume oil.

From what I read it looks like this is a classic problem known as a failed oil filter gasket seal. How true is this? Any input? I notice that there's caked on oil or some sort of residue way below the top of the engine near the belt as well- some looks fresh some looks old.

Completely worried here. Called an Indy near me and they said it really does sound like the gasket issue.

Can anyone chime in? Thanks in advance!

[Lviv777]

Yup seems like the oil filter housing gasket

[randrews15]

That's a common issue as the gasket breaks down over time from the heat. I suspect the oil cooler gasket and valve cover gasket aren't too far behind if not already leaking. It's actually all an easy fix if you have the right tools and the time to do it. There's plenty of you tube videos out there that can show you how to do it. Always do an oil change afterwards as cross contamination is likely when changing the parts. Of course, new coolant will be needed as you'd be opening the system.

[isosunrise]

Originally Posted by Lviv777

Yup seems like the oil filter housing gasket

Originally Posted by randrews15

That's a common issue as the gasket breaks down over time from the heat. I suspect the oil cooler gasket and valve cover gasket aren't too far behind if not already leaking. It's actually all an easy fix if you have the right tools and the time to do it. There's plenty of you tube videos out there that can show you how to do it. Always do an oil change afterwards as cross contamination is likely when changing the parts. Of course, new coolant will be needed as you'd be opening the system.

Dropped the car off at a local Indy. They verbally confirmed its most likely the oil filter housing gasket. Suggested I replace that and oil cooler gasket as well.

[isosunrise]

Ended up changing the ofhg, ochg, belt, thermostat, water pump, coolant tank, coolant house, coolant flush and an oil change. Needless to say I'm broke!

[dominator]

Why did you change thermostat, water pump, and the coolant tank? As a preemptive measure? Are you sure those were original and not changed already? My water pump quit at 72k. My coolant tank went at 122k. Anyway, I got cross contamination when I was changing OFHG and OCHG. An oil change fixed coolant in oil problem, but getting oil out of coolant lines was not easy. I had to use special radiator cleaner and flush the system and block like 3 times - it took me like 4 hours.

[isosunrise]

Originally Posted by dominator

Why did you change thermostat, water pump, and the coolant tank? As a preemptive measure? Are you sure those were original and not changed already? My water pump quit at 72k. My coolant tank went at 122k. Anyway, I got cross contamination when I was changing OFHG and OCHG. An oil change fixed coolant in oil problem, but getting oil out of coolant lines was not easy. I had to use special radiator cleaner and flush the system and block like 3 times - it took me like 4 hours.

There were shadow codes for the water pump, previous owner before me had the car for a decent amount of time and did no maintenance so I know it was original. Shop did mention that oil running through all the lines probably didn't help as I had a huge amount of contamination.

They only charged for 1 collar flush but it was more like 5 flushes to get it all out. While they were replacing water pump it only made sense to change the thermostat.

The float in the coolant tank had something to do with the car throwing a low coolant code. I could have driven that way no problem but eventually would have been annoyed and had it changed anyway.