Sump Gasket

[caldeirap]

I just bought an E30 325i from local salvage yard, always liked them pukka looking car. Anyways needed new quarter glass and got no key so out came the bootlock and down to the locksmith, found a local bm breaker and picked a few bits up to complete. Had a good look under the bonnet and noticed a bit of oil around the top cover and around no.1 plug and really thought nothing of it cos most cars with 130k will be loosing a bit in that area , but one day i got the car really warm and later noticed a puddle which looked like it was coming from the inspection cover between gearbox and engine. Sump gasket gone? well you never know your luck sump or crankshaft main seal usually and after removing the inspection cover I could tell it was the sump as i could turn the bolts very easily with a screwdriver with a socket on. Now i read up on this operation before attempting it and i can tell you from experience it aint as easy as they say. I managed to get the sump off ok with the engine jacked up off the mountings (jack under the bellhousing) but needed to drop the cross member to get the sump back on again. I dont like to lift engines off their mountings as i work alone with limited tools in my back yard, so i just undo the nuts at both ends off the engine mountings but leave them on a couple of threads and lift as far as you can then undo the cross member bolts but also leave them in a couple of threads. On mine i had to get a crowbar and pull the cross member down, this should give you enough clearance to get the sump in a out without too much wiggling and scraping which is only going to knacker up that new sump gasket you just bought. Im not trying to make it sound any easier its a swine of a job when you have the car on 4 axle stands and are having to wriggle yourself around the floor to get in different postions but if you persevere you will save a fair few quid.

[stonesie]

I know mate i changed mine the other week, made me miss the old VW which had nothing under the sump at all, it was literally a 15 min job on that

[Templ8e30]

I've got this pig of a job to do in the next few weeks, the oil pressure releif valve is leaking giving low oil pressure and the gasket has split

Not looking forward to it

Cheers,

Iain T

[gareth]

i used my leaky sump gasket and then later cracked sump as just the excuse i needed for a M30 conversion!

a bit more work (!!!!!!) but worth it!

[liam012]

working under 4 axle stands sucks balls allright - i usually do the odd bit aone with limited tools aswell and the last thing i did was change a diff, not nice..... fair play for sorting her out