Oil Pan Drop after 110k (pics)

[JHZR2]

Here is the oil pan from my 91 BMW 318i with about 110k.  I dropped it to check those upper pan bolts that tend to fall out.  I had to do an OC, so figured Id pull the pan while I was at it, remove the bolts, thread seal and re-torque them.  I re-torqued to 93 in-lbs, and used permatex hi-temperature thread sealant.  I didnt want to use threadlocker or locktite, because the yield strengths for the stuff that was good for hydrocarbon environments and high temperatures were so much higher than the torque specs for the bolts - I worried that if I ever had to take them out, there might be a major issue... thread sealant is designed for 450F, an designed to prevent threaded items from vibrating loose.

None had fallen out... two were completely loose (the two the furthest out to the sides), one was easy to turn with just a finger (the hard to get to one right between the pickup and return ( or dipstick?) tubes, and the rest were OK.

Here is my oil pan and pics looking inside the engine from underneath:















The last two really arent that color.  The metal is clean as can bee silver, the oil was amber, and I shot with flash and high iso settings on a P&S, and got this yellow tinge to the metal.  Everything is VERY clean.

I did run Auto-RX just before this change, look at how the gunk in the pan is loose and mobile...

JMH

[Jak318]

I found that it was easiest to get the bolt under the pick-up tube by just taking it out. You're lucky though. I pulled my pan and had 2 bolts in there plus 3 more were only finger tight.

[strad]

Hey.  That looks a bit like mine at 200k  

A couple of my bolts were loose as well, though not by much.