2012 E92 M3 oil leak

[GUOM1118]

Bought the car two months ago,and bad things happened after my 1200 miles service got done by dealership .
After parking the car for couple days in my garage,I found oil on the floor where engine located above,then opened the hood and found oil sprayed all over place near the oil cap(even the hood).;
I am really pissed. This is the third new BMW I have bought. No one is problem free.
Dealer has schedule the flatbed truck tomorrow, will wait for their answer.

It seems like the bad oil cap gasket is the issue and also a common issue for M3 after did some research. I am just confused what action should I take. I do not know how much damage the sprayed oil can bring to the other parts of car . Can dealer completely clean it up?

[SamS]

Sorry to hear about that. I had the same problem. I had the dealer clean the underside of the car for me, no charge. I cleaned the engine bay myself with some P21S Total Auto Wash and a boar hair brush.

You can bet I'll be checking the cap every time I leave the dealer, from now on. My loose cap was actually courtesy of the VPC, who did my 1200 mile service.

[cmk227]

Originally Posted by GUOM1118

Bought the car two months ago,and bad things happened after my 1200 miles service got done by dealership .
After parking the car for couple days in my garage,I found oil on the floor where engine located above,then opened the hood and found oil sprayed all over place near the oil cap(even the hood).;
I am really pissed. This is the third new BMW I have bought. No one is problem free.
Dealer has schedule the flatbed truck tomorrow, will wait for their answer.

It seems like the bad oil cap gasket is the issue and also a common issue for M3 after did some research. I am just confused what action should I take. I do not know how much damage the sprayed oil can bring to the other parts of car . Can dealer completely clean it up?

OP. Don't take it out on the car it was the idiot that did the service on your car.

I taken my car every 5k-6k miles for oil change. On my 4th oil change, I found oil on the floor of the garage open the hood and it was all dirty. Looked at the oil cap and it was not properly secured. Added oil sealed it and took it in to the dealer. They tried and blamed it on a faulty oil cap but the truth was it was never tighten properly.

They offered to cleaned it but did a shitty job so I ended up spending $10 at a local carwash bay and got it all out.

The car should be fine once cleaned.

[GUOM1118]

Was the leaking really bad in your case?
Why not let the dealer clean the engine bay for you?
Do they replace a new oil cap for you?

[GUOM1118]

Really thanks for the response from people!
I will probably clean the car by myself to avoid more hassle .

since the dealer is 100miles from me, it appearently will cost them quite a bit to tow it .
Hope the who did my service can learn from this.

[prubin]

The dealer changed the oil on my 2011 M3 a week ago, and yesterday I found a puddle of oil beneath the engine compartment on the passenger side. Looking inside the hood I could see the spray of oil around the oil cap, so I took it to the dealer. They said that the oil cap was cracked and replaced it. They also took it up on the lift, took off the covers from below, hand wiped and carefully sprayed cleaner on the oil splashed areas, and rinsed after some soaking. Then they took it down off the lift and cleaned the engine compartment from above. Over all, a fine job, and they were done in about an hour.

[kmarei]

Bad oil cap gasket = dumb ass technician
Cap wasn't tightened
That sprays oil all over hood
Dont ask me how I know

[BLACK OPS]

This shouldn't happen to any new car but it always seems to happen to 70K cars....
Ask to speak to the manager and get something in return.

[positiveions]

man, reading shit like this makes me mad. Dealers are hiring second class technicians to perform work on these cars. What a shame.
Gone are the days when Master technicians used to be called "doctors" at BMW.

[TTSam]

Originally Posted by kmarei

Bad oil cap gasket = dumb ass technician
Cap wasn't tightened
That sprays oil all over hood
Dont ask me how I know

+1

The oil cap was not tightened without a doubt.

The cap design frankly leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion - 2 slots and one turn to secure.

It really should be a screw in cap - as anyone could misread the slots in the cap and secure the cap incorrectly.

Next time before you leave the dealer check and make sure the cap is secure.

[IFX]

Originally Posted by eatrach73

man, reading shit like this makes me mad. Dealers are hiring second class technicians to perform work on these cars. What a shame.
Gone are the days when Master technicians used to be called "doctors" at BMW.

That's why I always say, the words "certified BMW tech" are over-rated..

Sure there are some great ones out there, and many know of them.. But for the most part their just reading what the computer tells them to do. That doesn't mean they know HOW to execute.

[jimbethesda]

Can you post a pic of your oil cap? I thought they redesigned the cap in 2012. Perhaps you have the old kind.

My 2008 leaked from the cap several times. After asking my dealer several times, and also calling BMWNA, I was told that they didn't redesign the cap.

Well, about a month ago, I was at the dealer and they had a new e93 M3 on the showroom floor. Sure enough, the oil cap looked a lot different. I showed my service adviser, and said, order one of those for me.

Now that you have the same issue on a MY12 is disappointing.

Please post a pic if you can.

[PhillyNate]

I thought the cap was redesigned sometime in 2010 or 2011 but I could be mistaken. I know I have the second gen cap.

[kmarei]

Originally Posted by PhillyNate

I thought the cap was redesigned sometime in 2010 or 2011 but I could be mistaken. I know I have the second gen cap.

Oil cap was definitely redesigned
Old one looked good (08)
New one (12) looks like shit
Not sure about how well they seal
I assumed it was a cost saving measure

[///M Rakete]

Oil cap changed in 2010, with MY 2011 I believe. So did the gas cap. My MY 2010, built Nov 2009 has the old versions of both.

[tibra1]

Originally Posted by kmarei

Bad oil cap gasket = dumb ass technician
Cap wasn't tightened
That sprays oil all over hood
Dont ask me how I know

That is why I really stay on top of the tech when Im in for service..and checking everything in the parking lot is a must before you leave

[elm3]

Originally Posted by tibra1

That is why I really stay on top of the tech when Im in for service..and checking everything in the parking lot is a must before you leave

This +1,000,000,000

I always check the car and the cap, before I leave the dealership. When you go home and you find something is wrong with your car, it would be really hard to prove to them that it is their fault.

[RTCm3]

Does anyone have pics of this issue. I just went to the dealer a week ago to top off the oil and have found oil all over the right side of the engine bay. I checked the oil cap and it felt loose although looks to be on correctly.

[PhillyNate]

Bad cap design plus a inattentive tech can be a mess with this issue. When I got home from my 1200 mile service there was very slight leakage down the valve cover only. When I checked the cap it was tightened but the rubber gasket was not seated properly and fell out upon cap removal. I would bet in alot of these instances the rubber gasket is totally missing from your cars. Just my 2 cents.

[chmura]

Originally Posted by PhillyNate

Bad cap design plus a inattentive tech can be a mess with this issue. When I got home from my 1200 mile service there was very slight leakage down the valve cover only. When I checked the cap it was tightened but the rubber gasket was not seated properly and fell out upon cap removal. I would bet in alot of these instances the rubber gasket is totally missing from your cars. Just my 2 cents.

I think this is true. Many people out there probably do not even have the rubber gasket in their oil cap.

Last year at the OC Auto Show there was a new M3 coupe on the floor with engine hood open. Reading a whole lot of oil cap issues on this forum I decided to unscrew the oil cap of the M3. Immediately when I unscrewed the oil cap the gasket fell off!

When I got my M3 I made sure the rubber gasket was properly installed after my 1200 mile oil change.

I would advise people to check their gasket is seated properly or if its even missing.

[767IJP]

So here's a couple questions. Interesting post.

1) the redesigned cap. Is it better? Will it prevent this type of thing occurring easily? Or was it just a cost saving and still dysfunctional?

2) how much of an absolute pain in the ass was cleaning off all the sprayed oil? What do you use? How long it take?

[PhillyNate]

Originally Posted by 767IJP

So here's a couple questions. Interesting post.

1) the redesigned cap. Is it better? Will it prevent this type of thing occurring easily? Or was it just a cost saving and still dysfunctional?

2) how much of an absolute pain in the ass was cleaning off all the sprayed oil? What do you use? How long it take?

I have the new design and it sucks, just not as bad as the old design. The cap needs to have better gasket stability and needs to be screwed/tightened with more revolutions. I believe this is a half turn cap. No good. It needs to be at least one full turn. IMO