I have recently purchased a bmw 52 plate 316 ti and have had it into my local garage numerous times for an oil leak it is not burning oil but when parked on my drive there is drips the size of a tennis ball underneath it the garage has jet washed the engine and replaced the rocker cover gasket but this has not solved the problem could you please advice me has other than this the car is running well.

SOURCE: 97 BMW 316 Auto, using alot of engine coolant, no signs of leaks

Check exhaust, sounds like a small head gasket leak.

Marvin

• 85242 Answers
• Posted on Apr 07, 2009

SOURCE: My BMW seems to be leaking oil from the rear underside

the leak is most likely coming from either the differential cover gasket or the input flange that the drive shaft attaches to, this is called the pinion seal.

Johnny Brown

• 5763 Answers
• Posted on Oct 15, 2009

SOURCE: BMW 316 leaking oil, about 1 litre every 2 weeks

your going to have to clean it down good with some engine cleaner, then run engine, try to pin down leak. may have a bad oil preasure switch thats leaking, or oil filter, or a gasket; hope this helps good luck.

Testimonial: "Great, thanks"

SOURCE: 316 bmw compact,runs rough some times,engine sign

check for a wet ecu may be corroded...

the ecu compartment is under the windshield on the passenger side on E36

you gain acess to it under the hood....
this compartment gets wet, the ecu lays on a flat surface in that
compartment.

the bottom side of the circuit board gets wet and starts corrosion.

remove the ecu, take the bottom plate off, clean the bottom of the circuit
board with alcohol and a soft tooth brush.

you should be able to see the signs of corrosion or conductive build up.

this gunk bridges solder points doing all sort s of wierd things to your
car, including false sensor readings from asc/abs controllers and other
sensors....

all the way to engine failure and worst case burnt and shorted wiring
harness.

I'm on my 3rd ecu, took me and the repair boys a few years to figure this
one out.

BTW: i would get that ecu mounted above that flat surface, use some sort
of standoff to raise it so that it is not laying in the wet.

SOURCE: smell oil but no oil leak

this sounds like a "crankcase vent valve"issue this part typically fails in colder whether as condensed water in the oil freezes and causes the engine to seep oil from the crankcase itself valve cover oil filter housing at block,the main part is located behing throttle valve but you can see the plastic hose that attatched to the valve cover,if you were to have removed the oil cap you can notice a cream like substance which is a mixture of oil and water,this is conformation of this problem also this would cause excessive oil to be consumed.google this part to get a better idea of what it looks like and what it does as it is basically a pcv system,this should be changed as it can cause engine failure