Scary oil leak

afsar wrote: Only mistake I did afterwards is to report turbolag problem to sh*tty BMW dealership (HR Owen holland park) and I remember they said it was due to a bad hose and it has been replaced.

If a BMW dealer has replaced that hose, or the seals (as they sometimes do, but it does not sort the issue fully) in the last 2 years then surely it is covered by the 2 years BMW parts and labour warranty.

You will be losing a little boost from this hose leaking also, which would also explain your 'lag' issue.


Edited by Sporty1

Can you please suggest one in London (west) or nearby
locality. Don't want to learn how good the garage is by
experiment just a tried and tested one will help.

Btw. is there a way to test turbos for normal operation? I
believe you drive 535d, don't you? do you see this kind of
surge in power past 2k revs?

Andrew Rolland wrote: You are probably better off going to an Independant BMW specialist.  A local workshop may not have any experience with the twin turbo set up in a 535d.

Hey Sport1, I liked the thread you mentioned above. Good
to know it is nothing so serious as of now but prevention
is better than cure. Thanks to a bit of sunshine today I
managed to see in that dark gap it is the red hose which
is leaking a lot, it has a lot of dirt stuck to it so not
sure if this is causing blockage etc.

I bought this car because of twin turbo and as they say
complete lack of turbo lag due to inline setup. Believe
me I always felt appx. 1 second lag. Today I experimented
a bit and found that idling is around 600-650 rpm and
then then if I floor it she pushes hard but then cross 2k
rpm and it just flies off, there is big surge at 2k+ rpm.
Should this power comes in stages since beginning? Why
all of sudden? I reported this many times to bloody
steelership(s) and they never did anythig, it is hard to
verify and prove, only I know it is a problem but then I
somehow convinced myself to accept this as this is
diesel. I haven't ever had a go in another 535d so can't
compare and this is my first high powered car. Is this
normal for a 535d? You say yes and break my trust
completely from BMW machine (dealership trust is gone
long ago); you say no and it might be a gone small turbo
and I see a big bill coming thru.

I will email the dealership if he accepts he will fix it
under warranty or some sort of goodwill then fine
otherwise will get it done from a local garage.

Not sure if you can follow link here, give it a try:

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii91/afsarimam/DSC_023
4.jpg

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii91/afsarimam/DSC_023
1-1.jpg

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii91/afsarimam/DSC_022
8-1.jpg

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii91/afsarimam/DSC_022
7-1.jpg

Having googled a bit I cam to this clear engine picture:

http://www.worldcarfans.com/204071812802/bmw-6-cylinder-
engine---in-depth/photos#61

In the above picture if you look at the pipe which is
going from turbo assembly to the intercooler thats the
pipe I think is leaking.

Stressing on my memory a bit I realized that once I had
my car's under cover stripped off for checking wear and
caster problem and I am certain there was no leak then.
Only mistake I did afterwards is to report turbolag
problem to sh*tty BMW dealership (HR Owen holland park)
and I remember they said it was due to a bad hose and it
has been replaced. Looks like it is botched job from
dealership like all other jobs they did to car in past.
Total waste of time and money. It was done under
warranty, not sure I should ask them to fix it for free
as this is a bad job. I am really scared to go to them
even if they say they will however it is very less likely
as this was done last year and my mistake I didn't opened
hood since then; bloody winter.

A few days ago I realized that my engine floor isn't as bone dry as it use to be before (as far as my memory goes).

Upon close inspection found that the the pipe which is just below AC pipe is having some traces of oil on this (this is e60 535d). This pipe is on the front left hand side if you have opened the bonnet and looking at the engine from front bumper.

I it quite difficult to even reach the pipes by hand due to the very narrow spece left between front end of the engine and the radiator fan. Don't know what the pipe is for or if this leak has been happening all the time as I never opened the hood to check engine before. As far my memory goes when I bought this car it was dry but again this was years ago so don't remember 100%. Few pics attached here to give you some idea what pipe I am taking about:

 

Also as you can see in this picture there is a leak on the power steering resorvior. Not sure if this could be due to pressure buildup because of constant steering (slight) correction I have to make to keep car straight.

One obvious thing I can think immediately that my car is always parked downhill (5% ish) on my driveway earlier I use to park it outside on the street (one side wheel on the kerb) but then got my driveway clear and have been parking there since long time nowand only drive during the weekend (mostly). First obvious thing to do is to wipe all the oils I can and start parking outside again for a week or so and see if leak disappears; bad luck if it doesn't. Also it will be very difficult to wife the engine pipe, its not reachable, even SLR digital camera had difficulty taking picture from right angle.

How serious is this, anyone experiened it before, specially the pipe leak below AC hose, what exactly is that pipe for? Please advise.