Oil leak - Is it engine's or tranny

[Criminal]

Hi,

I have a 318i ,96 with an M43 non-OBD engine. It's like M42. But there is an oil leak from a seal or a gasket between the engine and the gear. It's exactly at the joint between them. So Which oil is it? And is there any DIY for this?

Thanks

[///M Power]

Is it the Rear crank seal?

[Furious]

Originally Posted by ///M Power

Is it the Rear crank seal?

yeah it could be the rear mainseal, there is no gasket on the bell housing to the engine so it would leak pretty obviously. the rear main is important to change because if not than your current clutch (if your manual) will start to fail and you will need to replace it.

if you can get a mechanic to verify that its the rear main seal and not something more extensive than id take the time to maybe consider changing the clutch and remachining the fly as it will be worth it since your basically going to be doing a "re-&-re" on the existing clutch, again get your trusted mechanic to verify and advise you on the proper course of action.

[Criminal]

Maybe it's the rear crank seal, but the car is Auto, and it's not leaking much oil, So is it important to change it.

Thanks

[fastshivy]

If you your transmission is not losing fluid(check the level) then it is probably a rear main seal. You really won't hurt anything as long as you keep the fluids topped off, it is just messy. If you are adding oil or transmission fluid every 200 miles or so, then yeah I would fix it.

[Criminal]

Thanks to all of you. I figured that this is the engine oil leaking and it's not much, so I won't bother fixing it.