My car leaks oil which seems to come from the top of the engine. What could be the cause of this oil leak as initially the Indie told me its coming from the sump gasket but now tells me that its the cylinder (top) head gasket.

Your advice is appreciated

There is a rubber seal that runs seals the magnesium head covers ... Trouble is that the wrinkle finish that develops on the magnesium also occurs in the grooves where the rubber seal sits and then pushes the rubber away and allows oil to seep through.

There are quite a lot of reports of it on the BMW forums and it's a relatively straight forward part to replace. V8 or else ...

Hi there,
Check the breather pipes at the back if they are perished they may be leaking and tracing down the head. Ideally I would take the pollen filter housing out and get in there yourself and see if you can see anything.
Thanks
Brian

guys thanks for the replies

where can one buy the parts other than at dealers - ive tried duckworths and famousfour but they did not respond to my request for quotations. im looking for:

- PCV
- PCV hoses
- rocker cover gaskets
- cam cover gaskets

I am in the middle of replacing the pcv hoses-got them from BritCar.

Fraser