Probably 4-6 hours of labor. Parts (gasket) itself is minimal compared to labor. While you're doing this, you should consider replacing the motor mounts as you need to lift/suspend the engine so replacing the mounts is literally a 2 bolts job. Can't help you with a mechanic as I don't live in Florida.

 

a shop charged me roughly 800 to do the job.. i opted for that as i didnt want to spend time lifting the subframe... undoing motor mounts etc...

i also changed my motor mounts at this time - it came out to a cool 1000 bajangos

 

About a grand in CA. More if Xi

 

They usually don’t leak too bad, mostly weep and make a mess everywhere.

If you’re gonna be paying 1k+ consider if it’s worth doing. Is it leaving oil stains on the ground?

 

Is it leaving oil stains on the ground?

Lost about 1 quart while stored from mid May to late October.

 

Just got an estimate of $3275 from BMW dealer to replace oil pan gasket. I paid $4500 for this car with 92k miles.
Is there a way to the seal pan using rtv or similar?
Love the car, runs great except for the leak and door handle issue.

 

I don’t know where you’re at but find yourself a European auto shop. I believe the cost would be cheaper. 4500 is a rip off. Dealers of course.

 

Try an independent BMW shop and not dealer.

 

It honestly makes me sick seeing what it costs people who can't do work themselves.

 

Go easy - some folks don't have the means, space available, tools etc to tackle big jobs.

I hate taking my car to any shop, dealer or otherwise and try to DIY as much as I can. I did my oil pan gasket last year and if you live in an apartment where your car is going to laid up for more than a day, sometimes a big DIY job is not possible (it's one of the reasons I bought my first house so I could work on my car).

 

I think @VpointVick was saying that it’s sickening seeing how much non-DIYers have to spend on car repairs. Of course not everyone can do everything themselves. Some people don’t want to know how to fix their cars and that’s okay!

What’s sickening is sticker shock at how much car repairs cost. Example: I had a CV joint on my E83 go bad. $80 and 1 hour later for a new axle, I was back in business. My best friend’s GF had a CV joint go bad on her Hyundai Santa Fe. She didn’t ask me for help and took it to the dealer, then asked me after paying for the work if $1,300 was reasonable. I almost fainted.

 

Exactly, I wasn't bashing anyone, I was genuinely commiserating.

I know that there are many reasons why one might not be able to DIY - I've lived in the city, I get that sometimes the space to do the work isn't available even if you have the skills. (I had considered getting an old warehouse or mill building and equipping it with bays that people could come and rent for their projects, but there wouldn't have been the demand here in Charlotte until recently and I wouldn't have been able to float it monetarily until now. Now, the property is too expensive since it's all getting bought up to put apartments and condos in)

 

Yup, I'd be driving a 2 year old electric if I didn't like cars.

Far lower short- term cost of ownership. And then just replace it when the batteries die.

It'd probably cost less than I spend on cars now. But I wouldn't have (ahem) more than
several, and I wouldn't get to work on them. Which I enjoy far more than
biking, canoeing, hiking, yard work, stamp collecting or (shudder) golf.

t

 

Oil pan gasket is pretty easy to change of you have a jack, jackstands, and basic sockets and wrenches. A few e-torx bolts too I think. Torque wrench is highly recommended too.

I went from below. You'll have to jack up the car, unbolt the bottom of the engine mounts, then remove the reinforcement plate. From here you should put an engine support brace from above the vehicle and raise it an inch or 2, then you can place a jack under the subframe and remove the four bolts holding the subframe to the chassis. You might have to remove sway bar, sway bar links, and lower control arm bushings as well, it's been a while since I did it.

The most difficult part about the gasket swap was honestly lining everything back up when reattaching the subframe. The actual head gasket swap was the easy part.

If you have the means, definitely diy it.

 

Wow. An interesting array of responses as I read this tonight.
I own two 2002 330Ci convertibles, one up North and one here in Naples, the latter just recently acquired on BringaRrailer.com. While the selling dealer did a major refurbishment of the cooling system, I ran into a couple vacuum line leak issues after getting the car home. I just started working with a small, non-descript shop here in Naples, Import Performance Tuning on Kirkwood Ave in Naples. There are bigger shops around, but these guys impress me with their knowledge and love of BMWs, particularly the e46. As a fellow officionado, I’d love to connect with you here in Naples, but not sure how that is done. I hope this is helpful to you.
As noted, the oil pan gasket is a relatively inexpensive item to source, but installation is no mean feat.

 

Agreed. I'd get another quote from local, reputable independent shop. My estimate is based of off simple math. I have near zero experience since I haven't paid a shop for anything except tires and alignments for last 20+ years.

Last quote I got was from the local dealership was to replace a bent, rear lower control arm they identified when prepping for an alignment. I politely declined. It was about $500 bc they were charging over $300 for the arm plus labor.

 

here are oil pan gasket thread/replacement directions if you decide to do it yourself: https://www.e46fanatics.com/threads/diy-oil-pan-gasket-ofhg-engine-mounts.1280480/#post-18818203

 

Your PDF was very helpful when it came to getting mine done

I wrote a few tips from my experience doing it. Job was not as bad as I thought, but auto trans cooler lines were annoying to work around