oil leak on a e36

[inlinejoe]

well i am lookin at getting a e36 from a friend, its a 92 auto sadly but it has like 117xxx miles on it and i noticed the other day from sitting it had a small spot little larger then a quarter of oil sitting under the car after we parked it from just driving it around for a bit to get a feel for it.

reason i am asking is im curious what a common oil leak would come from a e36?

thank you

[Zic]

It would help to know what kind of engine it is.
common leaking spots are gasket between the oil filter housing and engine block, if its a 6cyl its a rubber gasket that becomes fragile over time and starts leaking, if its a 4cyl its a paper gasket that will also leak after some time.
valve cover gasket is also a spot were it could leak a little bit.
oil drain plug (human error)
rear main seal on the engine block. (not common, but should be checked, if its leaking you need to take a lot of parts off to get into it.)

take a picture, or take a look and then report back to see were its sweating.

[inlinejoe]

Thank you, its a 325is so its the inline 6 motor.
i would have never thought of looking around where the oil filer canister
but also i believe possiblly to be the vaulve cover. you can see oil along the edge on the side of the
coil packs.

[NateVincent]

Run your hand around the valve cover joint on the exhaust side and around the back of the engine. If it's not leaking there check around upper timing cover and oil filter housing. The first place that typical leaks is the valve cover.

[tanktank208]

also check your power steering lines. very common spot for leaks.