Cylinder head cover gasket leak?

[khernik]

I went to the BMW dealer today to have them check a few things and they noticed a small oil leak from the valve cover (not sure if this is how it's called to be honest), I took a picture and posted it here. They basically said the replacement would be 170£ but I can still ride as the leak is really small. It sounds a bit steep to be honest for just a gasket change. The bike has just 17,xxx miles on it as well and did a 1,000 miles since the last oil change. Do you think it needs to be changed asap, or is it fine to keep riding it for a while? Can the leak like that get worse?

Thanks a lot!

(it's a 1-gen)

[SimonUK]

seems to me that you are close to the 18k major service(valve check, etc) where they should be replacing the gaskets, etc after doing the valve inspection.

[RyanGTXR]

Gasket will be peanuts but labour will be most of the charge. 2 hours at dealer prices is good going for all the stuff which needs to be removed to get to it.
Any leak "can" get worse, but as long as you keep an eye on oil level and the leak itself isn't going to cause any issues (don't want oil on tyres or brakes) then I'd say ok to wait a bit

[khernik]

In Thailand the labour is very cheap (well ok maybe not at the dealer), but the parts are crazy expensive because of the import taxes :( If it can wait around 1,000 miles more until the 18k service, it would be perfect, Im just worried that the oil will get on the tires at some point.

[AdzventureXR]

Try to add some grey silicone until you get your service. For 1000km, best just to do service. Likely all will be in spec. Has the cover been off? These areas are supposed to have some silicone from factory.

[RyanGTXR]

Originally Posted by khernik

In Thailand the labour is very cheap (well ok maybe not at the dealer), but the parts are crazy expensive because of the import taxes :( If it can wait around 1,000 miles more until the 18k service, it would be perfect, Im just worried that the oil will get on the tires at some point.

Just get the service done a bit early, won't hurt anything