Engine failure due to pan gasket shift/bolt loss (e30 only)

[M42Technik]

I'm rather shocked as I took off my pan two days ago, and found that ALL the screws were on tight. Perhaps the PO caught this before I did? Who knows.

Regardless I always tell M42 owners now about this problem!

[ironpaws]

Thank you,everyone.
I found this site,read up,like a good Libra.
Sure as poop,I pulled the pan this afternoon.
91 318i,140K,bone stock,run hard,serviced very
well,as I am a mechanic by trade.
One bolt in the pan.
THREE of remaining five are finger loose,or tight,
depending on your attitude.
Two center ones,tight as a drum.
The one dropped bolt was trying very hard to
chew thru the soft steel cone of the scavange pipe.
Good thing it was stuck under it.
Pick up bolts were undertorqued,so I did em all.
11NM with a tiny bit more twisted into the wrench.
I felt the tight ones,they were at that level of tight.
So,I duplicated it as well as I could.
So relieved.  I really did not want to look into it,for
I knew the possiblility existed of parts and chunks
laying there,as well.
Spotless,otherwise.
CIA analyst owned it from new,so I was lucky a
persnickity type had it serviced very well.
Thank you ,everyone.
Steve Wilson
Kuztown,Pennsyltucky

P.S.  I used the old gasket. I know everyone frowns on this,
but the surfaces were perfect and the gasket was clean.
I used the VW waterpump sealant. I have found this stuff,
dealer sourced,works superbly on everything I have used it on.
Put the thinnest coat possible,perfect seal.
Man,what a relief.

[mr.vang]

does this apply to e36 m42?

edit: NVM found it on page 6. no this does not apply to e36 m42 if anybody else is looking for an answer. this should be added with the sticky.

[DesktopDave]

Ironpaws...great first post!  The pan bolts can kill a motor in no time.  Good thing you got them done.

Vang...do you know when the two part pan was replaced by the one-piece?  Are all of the e36 M4x motors the later design?

[mr.vang]

Ironpaws...great first post!  The pan bolts can kill a motor in no time.  Good thing you got them done.

Vang...do you know when the two part pan was replaced by the one-piece?  Are all of the e36 M4x motors the later design?

i have a 1995 e36 m42 myself and the oil pan is 1 piece. i'm pretty sure all e36 are 1 piece.

[DesktopDave]

RealOEM agrees, even the earliest production e36 has the one piece pan.  Thread name changed to reflect the facts.  Thanks MrVang!

[bbarnumboy]

yes i have a first run 1993 E36 and it is a 1 piece

[cidM42]

Thanks for this thread!

169K on mine and 5 bolts had come lose and had dropped on the lower oil pan! Only one one bolt was still up and it was only finger tight!

I have a small oil leak between the upper oil pan and the engine block. I think that with these screws back in place the leak will stop!

 Score!

[LoneWolf]

I had to do a thermostat this weekend and figured why not get everything going. So I embarked on this check too, replaced the thermostat, waterpump, and started the mess under the intake stuff.

Boy am I glad I did this. I had an oil leak that I really couldn't figure out from the top of the motor. But I am thinking it was because I had on bolt in the pan, and the rest finger tight.

The ones I could reach with my fingers I could spin with one finger, the ones I couldn't spun easily by hand with an extension.

I went ahead and took them all out, locktighted them, and retorqued.

I hope this solves my oil dripping issue, my driveway would appreciate it


Oh and on a side note, watch when you torque your oil pan bolts. I wasn't thinking when I was using a small cordless impact gun to quickly get all 100 of those bolt started in. I had a chatterbox neighbor talking my ear off from above, and left it on a second to long and stripped one. I will dripp and tap it next weekend, no big. Just annoying.


Thanks big time for this thread!

[Gabs]

A wise man once taught me to always start bolts by hand if possible. Then again I worked with many transmissions pans, so soft aluminum was a major issue. Either way I've always found it good practice. Just my 2 cents. Though I will agree, that pan has quite a few bolts, I remember 20-26 give or take.

[tfrain]

I did this this weekend when changing the oil.  No bolts in the pan and all were tight.  i snugged em but my torque wrench starts at 10 lbs and I don't trust it that low.  There was some sludge and a little grit in the pan, but no chain bits or bolts or timing rail plastics in there.  Cleaned pan, reused old gasket (pan came off easy - was not RTV'd on or anything), refilled with 10w40 Mobil1 High Mileage synthetic and was on my way!  Was glad nothing was in the pan, but i still need to do the timing rebuild.

there was quite a bit of gunk stuck on the side of the case up the sides above the oil pan, but I chose not to scrape it off and potentially let some loose bits off in the oil.

[1988montecarloss]

i just bought a 91 318is and it leaks oil pretty bad out of the pan, im not sure if its the upper or lower gasket but hopefully it is the lower one so i dont have to pull the motor, if it is just the lower gasket should i be able to pull the lower pan off without lifting the motor up any? and once i have the lower pan off will i be able to tighten up the upper pan bolts in case any are loose?

[Geoff]

yeah,  the lower pan comes off after the bolts around it are removed,  and the bolts attaching the upper pan to the engine will be able to be accessed.
         Clean the threads, use loctite, and dont overtorque "just in case"
       you dont want to break any off..
                                                           Geoff

[ironpaws]

GREAT thread. I came on board here about a yr ago,read about this deal,went directly to the garage to my 150K 91 318i,found two bolts doing their very best to recreate the womb in the oil pickup.  Two more were finger tight and came out easily by hand. The two left were weak,but snug. I did the 20 percent tighter deal,loctite,very careful and deliberate with the torque,felt fine. SO GLAD I read this. Man,what a scare. I also cleaned and loctited the oil pickup tube bolts,two of em.  What a design. Looks so very pretty on paper. Anyway,Im going to drop that pan next summer and check it all,agian.
DO NOT be afraid to do this. Its simple,takes no time at all,really. You cant foul it up if you just follow the instructions,herein. So important to do. Well done,everyone.

[ironpaws]

Ive read through the seven pages and its so clear to me that this is a major
design foul up. Its so simply attended to that it needs saying,If you have an M42 with the split pan,you MUST check the bolts. Its far less trouble than it
sounds. When I first read this,I literally ran down to my garage and turned on the radio and just settled in for a grime filled afternoon.
It wasnt close to a hassle.
Its easy,takes little time and it gives you peace of mind you cant buy.
The awful part is that probably ten percent of owners even know about it.
I was like most folks,I discovered it by accident while looking for something else,entirely. What a relief....
I did  NOT remove the pickup tube,just gently removed,cleaned and loctited the two bolts,plus a bit. They let you know what they need.
NO need to buy new bolts,these are super good quality fasteners.
I even swabbed out the threads in the block,to make sure the loctite was
going to work well.
And,guilty,I did NOT buy a new gasket for the pan. VW waterpump RTV.