[Tech Note] - Is your V8 leaking coolant out of the weep hole in the lower timing cover?

Late model V8's with the 4.4 liter Valvetronic Motor, N62, with coolant leaking from the valley and flowing out of the weep hole in the lower timing cover. We are starting to see this problem quite often. The problem is a seal on a pipe that is routed from the lower timing cover, behind the water pump, to the rear wall of the engine in the center valley is leaking. The fix is not that simple! It requires the removal of the engine and basically stripping the motor down to the short block to be able to replace the pipe with new seals. The estimates that we have seen have been close to a whopping $11,000.00 to fix it as per the BMW manual. There is another alternative that is available to us! I doubt that the BMW dealer would repair the car this way because it involves a part that is not manufactured by BMW.

An aftermarket company in California has developed a very high quality pipe machined from aluminum and it spreads out to close the gap in the valley of the motor without removal of the motor, heads and many parts. We have used this part and found the repair to be top notch! The machining of the pipe and seals were nothing less than outstanding and we stand behind the repair. We think that this pipe will outlast any factory pipe and seal combo made! The cost to repair the car makes this a very good alternative. How about $3150.00 total and usually can be done in a day and half. That is less than 1/2 the cost of estimates that we have seen!

If you think that you have a problem from this pipe leaking, bring the car by the shop and we will inspect it and tell you for sure! We can show you exactly what is done and what the pipe looks like. We would not have a problem with using the pipe on any one of our personal cars if we had the N62 V8. This motor was used the X5, 545i, 645i, and the 745i.