545i oil leak. 2 pictures.

[MxExTxAxL]

Well I've had a small oil leak for awhile now and just yesterday it escalated quickly to a steady dripping. Probably have nearly a quart of oil on the ground in my garage and growing.
Now I don't know of this other thing is related but it happened exactly the same time I started profusely losing oil. My car, while driving, felt like it wanted to fall on its face sometimes. Like a huge jerk. Then at the same cruising speed the rpms would just skyrocket to 4,500 or so for no reason and stay that way for a few seconds and drop back down. It's not throwing any different codes than it has been when driving normally. I have a vacuum leak driver side code and of course the secondary air clog codes. Even then though it would drive smooth.

Couple of pictures to show where it's leaking from and where the hose attaches to. I wanted to say oil cooler but saw the 545i in most areas was not fitted with one?

Leak, under the car, splash guard removed. Driver side.


Attached to what the flash light is pointed on from top driver side. Not the pool of oil on the ground lol.


Have an appointment to get it checked out when I get paid but that's 1 1/2 weeks away. Just want some insight and peace of mind in knowing what is going on exactly.
Thanks.

Looking into it further it looks like it's a transmission oil cooler. Can anyone confirm? That would definitely explain the symptoms my car has. It's missing transmission fluid, not engine oil. Can't tell what kind of fluid I guess because it's never been changed before so it's pretty dark. Does kind of have a "charged" or "burnt" smell to the oil and I just got an oil change maybe 1k miles ago.

[schpenxel]

That connection is NOT supposed to be there. BMW doesn't use hose clamps that look like that. I just rebuild the engine on mine and can tell you the transmission oil lines do not have any connections like that from the factory. The pipes are one continuous piece (they have small sections of rubber hose but they are crimped on to metal sections) x 2 and connect to the heat exchanger. Heat exchanger also connects to the radiator and, well, exchanges heat

That silver "box" is a heat exchanger for the transmission fluid. So, if it's connected to that, it's transmission fluid. It will do all sorts of weird things when it doesn't have the proper amount of fluid in it. And of course there's no easy way to add fluid. The transmission has a fill plug on the side of the transmission, but no dip stick or easy way to add or check the fluid levels

The lines are pretty tough to change with the engine in so it looks like someone rigged something up. That is certainly not the right way to do it.

[MxExTxAxL]

It's definitely connected to that. I figured if it was transmission fluid I would have to have that part fixed and then a transmission fluid change. Definitely explains the surging rpms and crazy bucking it was doing.

[schpenxel]

It's definitely connected to that. I figured if it was transmission fluid I would have to have that part fixed and then a transmission fluid change. Definitely explains the surging rpms and crazy bucking it was doing.

Not necessarily a fluid change, but def. needs to be fixed and preferably done right (and filled back up properly). Unfortunately I'm not sure if it can be done with the front subframe in place. The hoses are metal most of the way back and snake under the engine/oil pan into some tight spaces

One thing I'd say is make sure they use the right fluid. ZF lifeguard6 is the right stuff. If they put something red in there, it's not the right stuff. The ZF stuff is pretty close to clear/slightly yellow when new

thectsc.com has a good price on it

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...85&hg=17&fg=05

[MxExTxAxL]

I might just be able to stop the leak myself but then have them flush the transmission. With the way it looks it probably needs a flush. It's a pretty dark brown. Don't have the time to take on something like that myself nor the money to do something that might not be completely necessary. Probably just clamp off both ends of the hose and examine that piece to see if it's either cracked or maybe I can change it out with a piece that's maybe slightly larger in diameter with a lip on both ends to clamp at. At least until I have extra money to fix it to spec. Which I probably won't considering I bought a "needy" BMW.

Makes sense that it starts out yellowish and I mistook it for engine oil because of its age it darkened up. Just when I think about it the smell is off and it's maybe not quite as thick.

Thanks for the info and the link. It's something I can keep on hand and mull over.

Thinking about it I can imagine either something happened with the hose and someone rigged it or maybe a shop he took it to screwed something up and they cut the hose and pieces it together. If they took a longer section off the hose it would be constantly pulling from the plastic piece and would probably pop out enough to leak. Maybe a longer piece to give it some slack and some better clamps.

[schpenxel]

I might just be able to stop the leak myself but then have them flush the transmission. With the way it looks it probably needs a flush. It's a pretty dark brown. Don't have the time to take on something like that myself nor the money to do something that might not be completely necessary. Probably just clamp off both ends of the hose and examine that piece to see if it's either cracked or maybe I can change it out with a piece that's maybe slightly larger in diameter with a lip on both ends to clamp at. At least until I have extra money to fix it to spec. Which I probably won't considering I bought a "needy" BMW.

Makes sense that it starts out yellowish and I mistook it for engine oil because of its age it darkened up. Just when I think about it the smell is off and it's maybe not quite as thick.

Thanks for the info and the link. It's something I can keep on hand and mull over.

Thinking about it I can imagine either something happened with the hose and someone rigged it or maybe a shop he took it to screwed something up and they cut the hose and pieces it together. If they took a longer section off the hose it would be constantly pulling from the plastic piece and would probably pop out enough to leak. Maybe a longer piece to give it some slack and some better clamps.

Looking at your picture a little more closely, it looks like someone used a plastic pipe connector. I bet that piece is cracked. If you change it out with a brass one and put some decent hose clamps on it it may stop the leaking at least. Still obviously not ideal, but is what it is

I would not flush one of these transmissions, personally. Change the fluid, yes. Flush, no.

It's best to reset transmission adaptations after changing it also. Mine did some crazy things after changing the fluid until I reset them

Also, here's a picture from my rebuild where you can see how the lines run right up against the engine (the two black'ish lines running along the oil pan)

[MxExTxAxL]

Yeah that looks like it'd be quite a few hours of labor to do. Probably dropping the k member to get to it all right?
I'm going to attempt the fix myself and just tow it to the Indy shop to do a fluid change. Because it's not this coming Monday but the Monday after that I'll be able to take it in. I'm sure most of the fluid would be out by then.

I'll definitely buy a more sturdy piece than plastic. That way I don't have to be afraid cranking down the clamps without cracking the piece.
Thanks for all of your insight.