[KennyP]

Originally Posted by eli371

99% That's spillage from oil change.
Stick a rag in there and drive it between oil changes and check it again, they'll prob be clean.

Oil loss is likely from something else. Do you have a catch can?

Dont be so sure. i have seen videos of 335i with n54 having pools of oil in these places because of failed gaskets.


For example:
https://youtu.be/c3YUZ_a6n2I?t=908

It may not be totally bad yet and is slowly developing. My cover was oily on the inner side (next to injectors) and near the pcv valve system compartments that are built into the cover. A bit further back from the oil filler cap. Almost where the crack was in the video i just added... Maybe a bit more to the back. Same general area.

Of course we all would wish it is just a spillage from previous oil change. i hope and wish for the best for Alanrorr1 too. Its just reality that these things fail often. Just do a search for N54 valve cover on youtube and you will have tons of videos pop up. Every e90 335i or 135i channel has a valve cover video.

On oil loss of 1 quart in 4000miles. I have had to add 1 liter of oil to mine almost every year... mainly when im getting close to yearly oil change. I add my 1 little bottle of oil to the engine and a month or two later i do a yearly oil change. i do around 7000km/ 4350miles in a year, maybe a bit more (8000km). So i add oil at 4000miles too and have done so 3 out of 4 years i have owned the car. That one year i didnt add any oil i did considerably less miles due to back surgery that took half a year to recover from. So maybe such oil loss is actually normal? Depends on how you drive, maybe?