[Rival]

I have an 08, gave to my bro cuz the wife cannot drive stick and i literally felt bad for the car as she was learning.......most get better, she didnt.

I have an 06, but the 08 just had the oil filter housing gasket go, valve cover, belt tensioner and a battery. Still needs the front main seal and ive searched top to bottom and cant find anything. I do not want to goto the import shop he went to for 75% of this.

I do know the issue was fixed on the 09's +, but i still need an DIY for my buddy whose a mechanic @ ford, he ll be able to do it fine, just needs a guide to follow.

When the housing leaks/valve cover it drips oil onto the belt, rubber & oil dont go well together so soon or later the belt shreds and breaks.......worst case is some pieces of the belt go into the motor.

This didnt happen here, but i dont have months of time to get this done....more like a week, 8-10 days. I've looked on e90, bimmer fest, etc and still cannot find anything on how to fix the issue.

Anyone with a 06-08 whose done this..??

[hassmaschine]

is the seal leaking? I thought it was an issue with the belt/tensioner, not necessarily the seal.

you'll have to remove the hub, I think you can get the seal out without removing the crank bolt. The rear seal requires a special sealant/primer, not sure about the front. I'm going to replace mine on the stand, I'll try to document it but that could be a while.

[Rival]

Yes, there is a air leak which messes up the idle. all the oil leaks were valve cover, oil housing gasket related..........both fixed now.

the rear is fine, all front here. The shop wants 775 to do it and i just need some info to follow so i can go out and buy 3 12pk's of a winter ale/IPA and have my buddy n i do it.

[Rival]

ne body...??

[mlifxs]

FWIW I've seen a DIY for a 528i front seal on the pelican parts forum. Found a link to it on Amazon, under a review for the tool that removes the seal.

EDIT: guy also talked about the sealant issue, claims the suggested sealant requires some form of curing tool, but he managed to find a cheaper and more conventional substitute.

EDIT: found the link: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/bmw-5...placement.html

hope it helps or gives you some clues

[mlifxs]

Originally Posted by Rival

I have an 08, gave to my bro cuz the wife cannot drive stick and i literally felt bad for the car as she was learning.......most get better, she didnt.

I have an 06, but the 08 just had the oil filter housing gasket go, valve cover, belt tensioner and a battery. Still needs the front main seal and ive searched top to bottom and cant find anything. I do not want to goto the import shop he went to for 75% of this.

I do know the issue was fixed on the 09's +, but i still need an DIY for my buddy whose a mechanic @ ford, he ll be able to do it fine, just needs a guide to follow.

When the housing leaks/valve cover it drips oil onto the belt, rubber & oil dont go well together so soon or later the belt shreds and breaks.......worst case is some pieces of the belt go into the motor.

This didnt happen here, but i dont have months of time to get this done....more like a week, 8-10 days. I've looked on e90, bimmer fest, etc and still cannot find anything on how to fix the issue.

Anyone with a 06-08 whose done this..??

OP see the link above for something related

[hassmaschine]

Want to split the cost on the tool? Im going to need it for my build, but 120 is a lot for a one use tool.

[mlifxs]

note i found the pelican link from the diy'ers review of the tool on amazon. other reviewers disliked it and one makes reference to a better tool version that supercedes

[hassmaschine]

I wasn't sure a tool is really needed. But i looked in my boxes of N52 seals and the crank seals are really long - like 3-4x longer than any crank seal I've seen before. Would be hard to push that in straight by hand.

I believe the reason for the sealant is for the differential expansion of metals - the core of a crank seal is typically steel, which expands a lot slower than magnesium.

Does anyone know of a similar tool for the rear?

[Rival]

Originally Posted by hassmaschine

I wasn't sure a tool is really needed. But i looked in my boxes of N52 seals and the crank seals are really long - like 3-4x longer than any crank seal I've seen before. Would be hard to push that in straight by hand.

I believe the reason for the sealant is for the differential expansion of metals - the core of a crank seal is typically steel, which expands a lot slower than magnesium.

Does anyone know of a similar tool for the rear?

you think you can get by without the tool...??

[hassmaschine]

no I don't think so - a regular seal is about 1/4" deep, the N52 seals are like 1" deep. it would be tough to push it in without the tool.

[Rival]

Originally Posted by hassmaschine

no I don't think so - a regular seal is about 1/4" deep, the N52 seals are like 1" deep. it would be tough to push it in without the tool.

you in chicago too...???

[hassmaschine]

nope, west coast..

[Rival]

i found a shop that will do it for 205.

you really need to talk em down n talk about the job........then they wont quote you a pie in the sky sh!t price.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by hassmaschine

I wasn't sure a tool is really needed. But i looked in my boxes of N52 seals and the crank seals are really long - like 3-4x longer than any crank seal I've seen before. Would be hard to push that in straight by hand.

I believe the reason for the sealant is for the differential expansion of metals - the core of a crank seal is typically steel, which expands a lot slower than magnesium.

Does anyone know of a similar tool for the rear?

When I did my clutch a few weeks ago, I was going to replace the rear seal thinking it was leaking (ended up it wasn't), so I searched on line for the BMW special tools that the Bentley says are required to do the rear seal. I couldn't find them anywhere. Realoem shows the front seal as 20MM deep, which I agree is pretty dang deep; all most an inch. The rear seal is only 12MM.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Rival

i found a shop that will do it for 205.

you really need to talk em down n talk about the job........then they wont quote you a pie in the sky sh!t price.

It shouldn't take much labor with special tools. Pull the radiator fan, pull the belt, pull the balancer, and the seal is right there easy to get to.

[Rival]

shops in the shytown area where anywhere from 400-725. But i found a small guy, who started his own biz for 375.

Half the labor is leaving it on the lift to let the locktite dry after its been put on. It needs 4hrs. Then 75% of shops i called didnt have the tool so they would have to borrow which made it more of a pain the in a$$.

if anyone in the shytown area needs this done, PM me.....ill give you contact info of a good guy and hes a BMW tech

but man, this was a b!tch

[hardr85]

I just wanted to add some info on this. The DIY reffed to earlier is a good one.

I had to change mine 3X's due to leak. When I bought the car it was leaking, found pieces of belt stuck in it.

Changed it still leaked. Ordered the tool, changed it again, still leaked. The first two times I used the Loctite from the DIY, thought that might be the issue so I bought the BMW sealant, changed again, still leaked.

Talked to my indie, BMW master mechanic. He said he doesn't use sealant, check and see if I can tell where it's leaking.

Changed again, when I pulled it, the only place oil had made it past was the two notches in the seal. I thought about it, remembered there were two previous part numbers, found one, it was half the depth on current part, but did not have notches.

My block/head, does not have a split, my motor is one solid cast. I ordered the seal, put it in, no more leak. I did coat the outer edge of the entire seal with BMW sealant because my first attempt to change seal, I used screw driver to remove and put some good scratches in hole.

This was the last time I wanted to change the seal, so I put the BMW sealant around d seal, put it in, no more leak! Driven at least 10K, no leak.

If you have solid block/head, and can't stop the leak, use previous seal from oem parts catalog.

[hardr85]

BTW, I have the seal removal/install tool, will sell for $80 shipped. I don't think/hope I will ever need it again.

[Dan Bilzerian]

Originally Posted by hardr85

BTW, I have the seal removal/install tool, will sell for $80 shipped. I don't think/hope I will ever need it again.

I'd LOL if happened the next day after you shipped it out

[hardr85]

That is why I have held on to it this long, it scares the sh@$ out of me to sell it. The fact that every other time I changed it, it leaked the next day makes me feel confident it won't, but my luck says it will start the day I ship it😄