PD in PHX

Help! I finally had a chance to poke around underneath the hood of my 'new' '95 C36 last nite and found an oil leak on the engine's right side. Originally, I thought the leak might be from the oil pan gasket, but I just read a post that these cars are prone to head gasket leaks.

The leak appears slow and of minimal effect to the engine oil level. Given either of these scenarios, what would I risk by foregoing repairs for a short time (while monitoring it with vigilance)?

mleskovar

Oil leaks are common on the inline 6 engines....are you sure it's not from the valve cover? That would be the easiest to fix. Clean the oil leak path and find where it's really coming from and how much. Generally leaking oil is only bad aesthetically, not mechanically, unless it reduces oil pressure. And I doubt a slow leak is hurting pressure. I wouldn't worry.

Driller

I ain't no mechanic, but my experience with head gaskets leaks are when coolant makes its way into the cylinders resulting in copious amounts of white smoke (actually steam).

vinceC

The M104 engines have had some problems with oil leakage at the front and rear, right sides corners of the head gasket. It is not generally a detriment to the life of the engine, just messy. The M104, and its predecessor, the M103, can also leak oil from the seal between the lower and upper timing case. Again, not a serious issue. Periodic cleaning can control the mess. I generally clean them up good and watch them. When it gets too messy to tolerate, which can be quite a long time, I fix the leak. I doubt you will ever notice a change in oil level from these leaks.