BMW car with oil leak

[figbat]

Anybody got any insights or experience with the BMW B38 engine as fitted to the 2016 118i? My daughter’s newly-acquired car has a leak which I’m struggling to locate. It seems to be high up on the offside of the engine. This would appear to rule out the common oil filter/cooler housing which is lower down. Turbo feed and return lines seem OK. This leaves the valve cover or head gaskets as prime suspects. Oil and coolant appear to be clear and it runs and drives OK.

My poor daughter is gutted as it’s her first car. The seller claimed that the oil leak mentioned in the MOT history had been rectified. She is going to get back to them (used car sales) anyway but in the mean time I’m trying to understand what is what.

 

[Drago]

Pics?

 

[wafter]

Can't offer any specific insight but (as you're probably aware) the later engines with placcy cam covers are renowned for leaking from this area.

I was looking at costs associated with the N53 engine recently - cam cover bolts are single-use aluminium and something like £17ea - meaning a cam cover leak's going to cost north of £300 in parts before you've even looked at a gasket or the cover itself