[JPuehl]

Over the weekend I was going to replace the front crank seal on my wife's '13 335i w/N55, only to find out it was the oil filter housing gasket leaking, and is now fixed, and noticed the crank seal is set back ~.280" from the front of the block. I remember when I replaced the crank seal on my '12 135i w/N55 it was also set back that far. I have the BMW removal and install tools but the install tool only sets the seal in ~.5mm; does anyone know if this is correct? Did BMW revise the position of the seal? Both our cars use the thin oil seal. I have the seal for my wife's car and want to replace it just because I have it and the tools but want to make sure I have the correct tool.

After doing more searching, the blue adapter ring on this part looks like it could push the seal in the correct depth, but I haven't seen anyone reference something other than the tool I already have:

https://www.eeuroparts.com/Parts/160...119220PLXRENT/

[Chris1337]

just had mine replaced and it was put flat against the block. N55's are weird because there is space to push it back but I have had no problems and the seal is flush with the block

[JPuehl]

Originally Posted by Chris1337

just had mine replaced and it was put flat against the block. N55's are weird because there is space to push it back but I have had no problems and the seal is flush with the block

Hmm, I replaced mine at the beginning of the year using the BMW tool and the seal was flush as yours is and all was fine for about 6 months and started leaking again. I just replaced mine again and all is well again but it seems there's a reason the factory had it set inside so far. I can see why the tool would work on the N54 because the seal is much wider and doesn't need to be installed as far. I might get an accurate measurement of the depth of the seal in my wife's car and have my tool modified to match it.