BMW cars require special oil with the LONG LIFE designation only! This means MOBIL ONE 0W-40, RAVENOL, TOTAL Energy oil from France, LIQUI MOLY and a few others! BAD OIL will clog up lifters, hydraulic tensioners and may even make LEAKS from the oil filter housings. IF VALVOLINE was ever used you will need a serious de-sludging done! You can tell if bad oil was used by flipping over the OIL FILL Cap. If you see brownish waxy wavy or crusty deposits you need work done! BMW makes a special updated OIL SEPARATOR VALVE for colder climates that prevents sludge from forming. It is about a $300 kit! READ AGAIN! You CANNOT USE VALVOLINE or other oils that do NOT have the LONG LIFE words on the label! You have VANOS in there that can self destruct from improper oil use! You also have a ZF TRANS that needs ZF trans fluid ONLY! At 100k mile intervals ALL BMW fluids require changing!!! EVEN BRAKE FLUID!<> to showroom clean! ANY FLUID leaks will show up easily now! Usual leaks are caused by those BAD OIL CHOICES! EURO ars will never leak as long as they get REAL EUROPAN GRADE FULL SYNTHETIC OIL IN THEM! Typically WAX BASED OILS that are NOT able to be used in a BMW or other Euro car, will leave tarry and coked up deposits in seal springs! EUROPEAN GAS and OIL are different from ours here in the USA! But NOW we also have LOW SULFUR fuels! After three decades! In MICHIGAN we have wheel repair places that straighten out wheels! <>> if engine makes noises at cold start-up you also have a few clogs going on here! ANY OIL CHANGE place should be able to spot your LEAK! May even be loose oil filter unless it is a cartridge type! READ AGAIN CAREFULLY! You CANNOT use VALVOLINE and other wa base4d junk oil sin ANY euro car! They are MASTERS of chemical engineering and their oils last for up to TWO FULL YEARS between changes! "LONG LIFE" words must be on oil label!! I have rebuilt and tuned many BMW and other EURO engines! It is ALWAYS the oil choices that ruin them! Unlike COUNTRY BOY that knows mostly about GM cars, the BMW requires a full engine treatment if sludge is present! ALSO replace your OIL SEPARATOR VALVE located under the INTAKE MANIFOLD! It is NOT a push rod BUICK or CHEVY here and has special needs! IF sludge bakes into the engine, it can force leaks as it forms TAR and COKE! This is why SPECIAL OILS are required!

The wheel bending could suggest a collision, which could cause leeks. The easiest way ti check this would be to check to see if the panels in the area are damaged, if not make sure all the colour matches up. If there has been a collision, then the previous owner may just have put some new panels on, so the paint my be different.

The leek could be very important though. I believe (I may be wrong though) that your car has an aluminium engine. This is a big issue, because aluminium warps under heat, so if the car has had a coolant leak, the engine block may have warped, which would cause serious issues, which would lead to the failure of the engine. You can find if this is the case by seeing if there is excessive white smoke coming out of the exhaust after the engine has been on for 5 minutes.



This isn't as much of an issue on normal cars, as they have iron based engines, that don't warp so much. Because of this i would focus on the leak over the wheel, although the wheel is also an important issue that you should get fixed too.

No. Automatic transmission fluid, crankcase engine oil and power steering fluid, cooling system fluids are all very different and would nave nothing to do with a bent wheel. The dealer of the car will know from where each of these three fluids could be leaking.

If you carefully look at the wheel that is supposed to be bent there will be a very large mark on the wheel itself.

Not front drive, so probably not related. Check and fill ALL fluids. Pressure wash or use engine de-greaser and clean all engine/transmission surfaces. Run up to temp., while looking for leaks, drips or sprays. Shouldn't be too hard to find. Repair leak. Go to wrecking yard or used tire place, get another wheel and have installed,

I just bought a 2004 BMW 325xi. It has 116k miles on it and has an automatic transmission. This morning I went to get the oil changed. When I got the car back the shop told me there was a fluid leak and there was so much that they couldn't determine the source or what it was. They also said my front left wheel is bent. Is it possible these two things are related?

Which issue is the bigger priority that I should have fixed first? How do I even go about fixing the leak? Can I find the source somehow?