VCG leaks from bolt grommets

[ATB88]

Any updates on this? I'm about to do this job, leaked for a while, but has taken a turn for the worse. Ordered the OE replacement kit from ECS to get everything I need.

So, my VCG itself is perfect, no issues, it's the OW BMW of course. Never had any leak from there.

The OE BMW bolt grommets, however, are still very lightly weeping from the top center bolt holes. 3-4 of them. I check every few drives and wipe with a microfiber to avoid them leaking onto the valve cover itself. I'm considering just repeatedly replacing them with new ones from FCP to see if it's just a probability thing and some of them just don't seal as well because of the washer being wonky or something. If that doesn't help, I'll probably end up using a little bit of JB weld between the bolt head and washer.. I bet that'd do it. Really annoying that I'm still getting small leaks with new OE hardware though. I can't trust them enough to put the beauty cover back on the engine :/

As for the spark plug tube seals, because new ones are so insanely expensive now, I stuck with my older OE BMW ones that I installed in 2020. Since my recent service, I have not had any oil leaking into cyl 2 spark plug well, and I've been checking often. So, I think that my problem there was either that my valve cover was not properly evenly torqued before, or that the bolt grommet leaks around cyl 2 were so bad that oil was just finding its way into the cyl 2 well and not the others. I really hope that the OE non-BMW elring seals are just as good, though, because $42 a piece for BMW is dog****.

[oceansize]

So, my VCG itself is perfect, no issues, it's the OW BMW of course. Never had any leak from there.

The OE BMW bolt grommets, however, are still very lightly weeping from the top center bolt holes. 3-4 of them. I check every few drives and wipe with a microfiber to avoid them leaking onto the valve cover itself. I'm considering just repeatedly replacing them with new ones from FCP to see if it's just a probability thing and some of them just don't seal as well because of the washer being wonky or something. If that doesn't help, I'll probably end up using a little bit of JB weld between the bolt head and washer.. I bet that'd do it. Really annoying that I'm still getting small leaks with new OE hardware though.

As for the spark plug tube seals, because new ones are so insanely expensive now, I stuck with my older OE BMW ones that I installed in 2020. Since my recent service, I have not had any oil leaking into cyl 2 spark plug well, and I've been checking often. So, I think that my problem there was either that my valve cover was not properly evenly torqued before, or that the bolt grommet leaks around cyl 2 were so bad that oil was just finding its way into the cyl 2 well and not the others. I really hope that the OE non-BMW elring seals are just as good, though, because $42 a piece for BMW is dog****.

Thanks for the update ATB. Yeah, I just got the OE stuff in hopes I only have to do once, I'll see what happens and I'll let you know how mine goes as a data point. ECS says the kit won't ship till second week or so of January. I'm at a 105k miles now.

[ATB88]

Thanks for the update ATB. Yeah, I just got the OE stuff in hopes I only have to do once, I'll see what happens and I'll let you know how mine goes as a data point. ECS says the kit won't ship till second week or so of January. I'm at a 105k miles now.

Nice, also hit 105k this month Yeah it'll be interesting to see how you fare. I definitely recommend keeping the beauty cover off for the first month so you can easily inspect after random drives without any overhead. Part of me wonders if a lot of people's leak like this but nobody notices because they just throw the beauty cover back on right after service, and the leaks are so small/slow that it could take quite a while to notice.

[Halftim3]

I had a small amount of oil seeping through 2 grommets on the center bolts of the valve cover. One from the top side left of the oil cap and the one to the right (standing/looking from the passenger side). I purchased x13 Elring grommets from ebay for cheap and tightened those bolts to the stopping point. Maybe 2k miles now with no oil leak/seep at all.
When it did leak, i would wipe it with a shop towel and after a short 30 minute drive i would see the oil on that bolt/washer.

[sapote]

The OE BMW bolt grommets, however, are still very lightly weeping from the top center bolt holes..

Did you lube the rubber grommets ID and OD with grease to avoid scratch/wear when turning the threaded caps? Also the cap OD must be cleaned to smooth surface and lubed with grease.