M42 Oil Filter Housing Gasket repair

[lottathought]

I have a 95 318is with 200k+ miles on it.
I had looked all over and was unable to find a write-up of this type of repair.
I also looked all over the Bentley manual. I could never find anything. Therefore I am going to explain this process to the next guy who needs it.

I did not take pictures. My hands were too oily to hold a camera.

My problem is the one you always hear about.
I was leaking a few drops of oil on the driveway every day and I was losing a qt per 1000 miles.
This leak seemed to start after I had changed over to synthetic so I was concerned that the problem was going to get worse.
The main source of the oil seemed to be coming from the oil filter housing area so I supposed this was the problem.

I got the gasket and then set out to replace it.

First...disconnect the negative lead from the battery.

2nd...remove the belts from the car. This is also a good time to inspect the belts.

3rd you have to remove the air filter box. There are only 2 screws holding it to the body and it is fairly easy to remove.
There are also a couple of cables, as well as the air vent connected. These can be disconnected without any tools.

4th.. Now is time to remove the alternator. Unbolt the 2 bolts holding it in first so that you can turn it over...and then remove the 2 wires connected to it in the back. (So much easier.) The wires are different sizes and idiot proof.

Next..there are 5 bolts holding a plate-like mount that the alternator and the power steering pump use to connect to the engine block.
4 of the bolts are facing side-to-side and are easy to see. They are in a square like pattern. The 5th bolt is at the bottom and faces from front to back. It is also easy to see when you know it is there. If you are standing in front of the radiator, it is in front of you on the bottom left corner of the mount.

Then all you have to do it pull the plate, with the power steering pump still attached, over to the side. You do not have to disconnect the pump.
One other thing...you will notice that the last bolt is longer than the other 4. This is something that you will have to pay attention to when putting it back together.

At this point, you should be able to see the entire oil filter housing..(unless it is totally covered in oil.)
Push in the spring-loaded wire on the clip, holding the clip to the oil pressure sending unit...then pull the clip off the sending unit.

Next, here are 6 bolts holding the oil filter housing to the block.
The bottom 4 are shorter and the top 2 are longer.
Once these are out, the entire oil filter housing can be taken out.

***Important****
At this point, it will greatly benefit you to look at the gasket as it is coming out. If it is clean all the way around, it is likely this was not the source of the leak. You still will have to replace the gasket at this time, but it will help isolate the leak.

On the oil filter housing, above the hole that the gasket fits on, there is a short cylinder that fits into the block. I saw that there was a flat, plastic looking seal that went on this. It is about the size of a quarter. I had not planned on this and went to the dealership to get a new one. (Figured that I had it out...might as well replace all.)

When I got to the dealership, he handed me a rubber O-Ring.
Luckily I had taken the housing to the dealer. We double checked.....keep in mind, I had a plastic, flat ring...so I thought.
Well it turns out that the dealer was correct. What I thought was as plastic, flat ring was an O-Ring so badly worn that it was now flat and hard like plastic.

THIS was the obvious source of my leak...(now you know why I wanted you to check the gasket as it is coming out, before oil runs out of the housing onto it.)

Putting everything together is the reverse of taking it out.
I changed my oil and filter at this point. It might be a good idea, if you plan to change your oil, to have the car lifted, so you can do this without having to start the car again.

Hope this helps the next person changing this. From what I saw, the O-Ring is NOT going to last you more than 200K.

[thundercat]

WOW man
Amazing write up
I really needed that, because my car leaks too, and ppl said it was my Oil filter gasket and the o ring.
Thanks a lot buddy!
do u happen to have some pics under ur car when it was leaking?

one more Q: did u drain the oil 1st? then take off the housing?
Again awesome write up, i really needed this one!

[thundercat]

this is what mine looks like currently

im thinking if im gonna be changing the gasket, might as well change the coolant, belts and the p/s fluid

[lottathought]

My underside looked a lot like yours Thundercat.
Actually, you are going to see the real evidence that the housing area is leaking when you take that plate-like mount off.
My engine was clean but under that, it was covered.

The fact that the gasket was so clean and that the area was so covered in oil is what me me think it might be a good idea to change out the O-Ring...just to be sure.

And no..I did not drain the oil first.
The only oil in the housing is residue from when it runs.
You can drain the oil but you do not have to.
Course if you drain the oil first, you REALLY need to have it in the air before you change the gaskets.


BTW....I did not think about this earlier..but I do not have a fan on my waterpump. Therefore, I also do not have a fan guard.
If you do, it will probably be easier to get to the gasket if you remove these also.

[red97tj]

nice write up!!! exactly what i need to track down the oil leak in the area...
what material is the oil gasket made of?...if it's paper, then i would prob. make my own since i like that better than paying for a piece of paper anyway. and i also put the gasket shellac on it so it seals better than a dry gasket.

[lottathought]

I suppose you can cut your own red97tj.

It is not just an outline of the bottom half of the housing unit though.
You are not going to build your own O-Ring however. I doubt that the gasket will run all that much no matter where you get it.

The part number at pelican Auto is 11-42-1-709-800-M17.

They only want 1.25 for it. Yes, there is shipping but you are going to have shipping anyways with the O-Ring.

[TIMSGT]

Any chance you have an M42 valve cover gasket write up?

The Pelican Parts DIY is only for 6cyl, I can prolly figure it out but I really don't want to mess up and take the guess work out of it.

[red97tj]

I suppose you can cut your own red97tj.

It is not just an outline of the bottom half of the housing unit though.
You are not going to build your own O-Ring however. I doubt that the gasket will run all that much no matter where you get it.

The part number at pelican Auto is 11-42-1-709-800-M17.

They only want 1.25 for it. Yes, there is shipping but you are going to have shipping anyways with the O-Ring.

no, i'm not going to make my own o-ring. i'll either buy it at the stealership if the local autoparts store doesn't carry it...but i always prefer making my own simple paper gaskets. i've had times before when i bought the paper gasket, not all the bolt holes line up & that pisses me off since it takes a lot longer to put the car back together. when i make it, it should be good or else i can only blame myself!!! thanks for the info...

[kosta]

my car had leaked as well
i'm going to take a look at this and see if this is the cause

[red97tj]

here are the part nos. for my 95 m42 from pelican parts:

11-42-1-709-800-M17 $1.25 1 $1.25
Gasket, Oil Filter Housing to Block, E30 318i M42, 318iC; E36 318i/is/iC/ti; Z3 1.9


11-42-1-709-513-M9 $5.00 1 $5.00
O-RING

got them from pelican parts since local stealership doesn't have them in stock & it'll cost about the same to have them overnight the parts. i paid for 2 days shipping & total costs is $20.50 since parts are cheaper from pelican. hopefully she'll stop bleeding oil after this weekend!!!

[kosta]

my whole timing case was covered in oil and the tranny too

i though maybe i didn't tighten the oil lid enough and it leak but it seems unlikely

i just put in a thermostat/waterpump/valve cover, so since the engine is apart, i'll do this just in case this is the culprit

[kosta]

do you put permatex on the gasket or leave as is?

[bmw318is1994]

Any chance you have an M42 valve cover gasket write up?

The Pelican Parts DIY is only for 6cyl, I can prolly figure it out but I really don't want to mess up and take the guess work out of it.

remove valve cover, take old gasket out, put new one in? lol

[Giocatore]

remove valve cover, take old gasket out, put new one in? lol

it really is just as easy as this guy describes it. only thing that can be tricky is to get the gasket to stick properly when you try to put it back on. - some gasket sealer will help you with that. It can also be kinda tricky to get the cover off and on, because the engine is pushed quite a bit into the firewall and it doesn’t leave mush room to twist the cover off. but its pretty much straight forward

[kosta]

do you put gasket sealer on the cover and then put the rubber gasket on and then install it? or do you put the gasket to the engine and then put the cover on?

[lottathought]

Kosta..
I did not use any sealer.
I simply put the new O-Ring and gasket in.

You will see when you pop the oil filter housing off that the gasket BMW put on did not have sealer.

[Giocatore]

do you put gasket sealer on the cover and then put the rubber gasket on and then install it? or do you put the gasket to the engine and then put the cover on?

The valve cover has a small embrasure which the gasket will fit into. but it can happen that the rubber gasket is very elastic and will fall out once you turn the valve cover over. So you put on some gasket sealer, fit the rubbergasket and wait a few minuts until the gasket sticks to the cover. The way the engine is angled made it impossible for me to place the gasket on the engine and align it with the holes before it I placed the valve cover on top. The gasket would slide away from the holes as soon as I let go of if.

I did this on a 318i M40 engine so I don't know if it’s any different on an M42 but I wouldn't think so. The only thing is think is different is that you’re lucky that you won’t have to work around the distributor cover as shown on this picture. http://koti.mbnet.fi/kapi_79/bmw_m40.jpg That made it a real pita having to work the valve cover into place by angling it and pushing back into the firewall and down under the upper part of the intake manifold, while making sure that the gasket stayed on.

But it’s really straight forward. Just make sure not to tighten the bolts to much, because they shred the inside of the holes easily and you really don’t want that.

[red97tj]

do you put gasket sealer on the cover and then put the rubber gasket on and then install it? or do you put the gasket to the engine and then put the cover on?

i put permatex gasket shellac (sold in a small bottle w/ a cotton swab applicator which is part of bottle cap) on the gasket itself. this really helps w/ holding the gasket onto the housing & i try to install the housing back onto the block. also the shellac is good for additional sealing...

[kosta]

what is the correct torque value for the 6 bolts?
10nm?

[kosta]

anyone? please

[thundercat]

did this today, and wow, what a bitch
the worst part was taking out the alternator

otherwise, thanks for the help

[xisco44]

help !! i have to o rings instead of 1 since pelicanparts recommend it i know where to put 1 but the other one i dont know what do with it