Upper Oil Pan Solenoid Valve Function - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

BMWBIZ · 10th March 2009, 01:30

Hey All,

The beast has been slowly seeping oil on the bottom of the oil pan. At first I thougt it might be the oil pan seal or valve covers leaking down. They both are fine. The leak turned out to be coming from the solenoid valve located on the side of the upper oil pan. The valve housing is made of a metal cylinder sleeve with a plastic end cap. The oil is seeping from the area where the plastic is pressed into the metal cylinder.

Question is: what exactly does this valve do? Realoem.com and getbmwparts.com both describe the part as just "solenoid valve". Anyone ever replace these.

RealOEM.com BMW E39 M5 Oil pan upper part and connecting lines
Part No# 1

Thanks

TMcNasty · 10th March 2009, 02:07

Can you get the o-rings separately? 2, 3, 4, and possibly 5? Those are probably degraded. I'd think if that solenoid valve was defective it'd throw a code. If you're only battling a minor leak I'd say just get the o-rings.

bimmernut1 · 10th March 2009, 04:14

If I were to guess, I'd say it's one of the two solenoid valves used to switch to the scavenging pumps during high G turns.

described below:

The two additional pumps only supply the oil
sump with the scavenged oil.
Each additional oil pump incorporates a solenoid
changeover valve that is connected to two
scavenging tubes routed to the rear section of
the oil pan and the outer edge of the cylinder
head.
The scavenging tubes in the oil pan crossover
so that the right side pump draws from the rear
left side of the pan and the left pump from the
right side of the pan.
The solenoid changeover valves must be
removed before attempting to remove the oil
pan. The valves insert directly into the scavenge
pump housing through the oil pan.

BMWBIZ · 11th March 2009, 23:49

Thanks Bimmernut1, I suspected those solenoid valves had something to do with the oil pump features. I remember reading a post explaining how the whole oil pump system works.

Going to see if I can get away with just replacing the oring seals. It's just that last time I looked at the solenoids, they seemed to be seeping oil from the solenoid valve body endcap. Keeping my fingers crossed. Few bucks spent is alot better than several hundred.

Thanks
BMWBiz