Where is the oil pan on a 1990 BMW 735i?

Answer 1

The oil pan is located at the bottomof the engine. It is held on by alot of bolts that all the way around it. It seams to go up on the engine and is a lot deaper than other oil pans I have seen. -A little more info: Hello. I just replaced the oil pan gasket on a 1991 735i. The oil pan is a front sump cast aluminum piece (as opposed to stamped steal as with most American cars.) This is probably where your confusion came in. The pan is held on by 32 bolts the majority of which are 10mm. they extend the full peremiter and are commplimented by 4 female torks running length wise joining where the bell housing and oil pan meet. To remove the oil pan all bolts must be removed. Then the engine must be lifted off of it's motor mounts. (to do this I jacked the engine and then placed a brace across 4X4 blocks placed on the fenders. to this the jacked up engine was chained. Your local BMW dealer has a cool tool to do this.) This alone won't give you enough room, so either the suspension cross member must be dropped (6 bolts total) or the oil pump removed (7bolts) I chose the latter. Overall your looking at about 4-8hrs. depending on your experience level and tools avalable. Also note that any BMW with the 3.5ltr inline 6cyl is prone to oil pan gasket failure, this is due mostly to the fact that the engine is tilted to the passenger side for hood clearance causing oil to sit on the passenger oil pan "seam" espically under load. Good Luck!