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Oil Leak on the M3

Doc

Active Member
I'm sure you can guess from the title that I've finally found the problem with the engine using so much oil now, however this little story is going to shock you more than you'd expect.

Firstly a little background for those not in the know. I bought the car about 2 months ago from a trade seller who is quite local to me and within a day i had to put 4 litres of oil in the car as the warning lights had come on. I got in contact with the dealer who were apologetic and believed that it was due to the Pre Delivery inspection not being done properly. They paid me the money for the oil and stated categorically that it was not a problem with the engine! I then had to take the car in for a driving issue but during this time i had to top up the engine with oil again. The trade seller had the car with their garage for 16 days total and when I got it back I was told that there was no oil leak and it was common for the car to use the amount of oil I was experiencing.
Within 2000 miles I had to top up 2 Litres of oil again and the driving issue (now corrected) was still no better. I had the trade seller authorise a local BMW indy to carry out an inspection of the vehicle and they came back with the same conclusion that there was no oil leak but the tyres were rubbish and replacing them would sort out the driving issue (which it did)

Anyway, the other day having changed the crank case breather on the car I had the oil light come on again but I had only driven 500 miles since it was with the Indy! I went back to the indy and the bloke on the front desk happened to be the guy who inspected the car. I told him about my concern and asked him to explain what they did and where they looked for this suspected leak. He answered straight away and told me that he had indeed found a leek around the vanos or head gasket area! He printed off the invoice and showed me what had been found but as the guy who told both me and the trade seller that there was no leak was on holiday he couldn't say what had happened.

I spoke to the original seller who was surprised at my findings and agreed that this needs to be resolved, i had him authorise the garage to book the car in to investigate the issue further and go back to him with the cost and details of the repair.

the only problem i have with this whole thing is when speaking to the seller he wouldn't admit that this leak had been there since before i bought the car, I know why he is saying that but looking at the history of what has happened since I’ve had the car and the fact I took it back the next day because of a suspected oil leak I find his position hard to justify.

I'm hoping that this will be resolved quickly when it is in the garage but something in the back of my mind makes me think I'm going to have to pay a bill and claim it back through small claims......... (I hope I'm wrong about this)
 
seems to be one of them cars that sounds like you'll forever have a problem with.

see if they'll take back the car (how long have you had it for now?) and go to citizens advice for more legal info if i was you Doc
 
seems to be one of them cars that sounds like you'll forever have a problem with.

see if they'll take back the car (how long have you had it for now?) and go to citizens advice for more legal info if i was you Doc

I've done the CAB thing mate, they said I'll have to go through Small claims if i want to go down that route as they will refuse to take it back. I have had this conversation with the guy before and he wasn't having any of it as he felt he was doing all he could to resolve the issues.

tbh the last time it was in the garage he said if it needs fixing he'll pay but now it seems like he's getting cold feet now he knows there could be serious money involved.... I'm more pissed off with the BMW indy as they have seriously messed up and could potentially cause me problems in getting payment from the trade seller. I wonder what my legal stance is there?
 
shit doc, and here was me bein told that beemers are bullet proof, pffffffffft, sorry to hear about this m8, could go either way for you, a cheap gasket or well i dread to think.

hope you get it sorted m8
 
Ash, an evo would have cost more in the long run. lol


yes barry, I've just seen the posts. sounds good but i think they may think this is a new car not a 2002. but to answer the question on there it cost me about £13k which is over priced but it looked to be a good example......(it just has a leak)
 
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its a 46 mate.

yes it's dripping oil mate but the plastics under the car stop it from ever hitting the driveway so you cant tell untill the light comes on and you have a proper look for one.

from the looks of it the leak is right at the front of the negine but the nature of how the engine is positioned and the plastics in the way means the front end has to come off to see exactly where it's coming from.
 
yeah i know worked on one or two but only servicing tho, ive done 2 e36 leaks in the same place behind the exhaust manifolds theres a little valve that traps oil in the head to make sure it doesnt rattle its tits of from first start and they start leaking from there.
ive changed an e39 m5 oil separters because it was using oil but others i dont know mate, i take it your a member of an e46 forum??? maybe they know common probs. problem is tho that engine is sitting pretty much on the slam panel lol
 
yeah I've had a few theorys on it mat but I'll leave it for the garage to tell me what's wrong as the inspection definatly won't cost me any money.

from what they said on the last inspection though it appears to be more likely to be coming from the vanos / head gasket area.
 
Doc that sounds like a right shit mate. I would defienately push for getting payment form the seller. Have you documented with time/date all your communications?

Jot everything down from the date/time you bought it - any phone calls made/received who you spoke to, ehat they said. etc etc. I would have thought most main delaers phones would be recorded so you can get any transcripts of conversations form them by written request.

Build up a good catalogue of the issue and if it does not get you the money back straight away. It will help in event of a claim
 
it's not a main dealer mate, it was an indipendent second hand car specialist who only deal in sports cars and the like.

I've got cpies of all the emails though but all of the oils leak related stuff was done on the phone. I do have the offer of a free extended warranty stating how on delivery the PDI hadn't included an oil inspection though so i can show from day one they were aware of an oil issue although the word leak is not in the email.
 
vanos isn't to bad to do.

Might get lucky and its the oil filter housing, done a load of these throughout the beemer range.

should have got the diesel
 
yeah but the diesel wouldn't have been half as much fun. lol

If I get issues with the garage fixing the car do you fance a road trip?
 
only problem with that is I am doing my law and business thing during the day and baby sitting at night as shes gone back to the casino on night shift.
 
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