[mweisdorfer]

Well, the only seal / gasket I have not changed on my n54 finally blew ! 152,800 miles in.

All parts ordered. I even bought a seal remover & install kit made by Assenmacher. I don't know if I will keep it, or just sell it after maybe a year. It will be my luck that I will need it some day and don't have it. So, I'll probably keep it. Who knows?

Sucks. No car for a week. Holiday week coming up is bound to slow up UPS and the like.

I got lucky. I caught it before it got sucked into the engine. I noticed a pool of oil on the ground under the car. So, I investigated this afternoon. Some of my belt was gnarled up behind the main crank, but I don't think any of it made it into the engine.

[rgfinn76]

Did your serp belt cause this? Or the seal just blew on its own?

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by rgfinn76

Did your serp belt cause this? Or the seal just blew on its own?

Both. Seal blew, I lost about 25% of the serpentine belt. Oil got on Serpentine Belt and then it wrapped around the crank. It didn't penetrate the seal thank god.

[rgfinn76]

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

Both. Seal blew, I lost about 25% of the serpentine belt. Oil got on Serpentine Belt and then it wrapped around the crank. It didn't penetrate the seal thank god.

Thats sucks man!! Glad you got it before that shit got into the engine. I was watching videos this morning on the DIY to replace the seal. If you have the right tools shouldn't be that hard of a job. But the downtime during the holiday blows!

[marv85]

It seems you are sure enough that none got sucked into the engine to risk it. Otherwise you really want to drop the oil pan, and also check the head for any fragments that might have made their way in.

[marv85]

Here’s what if found in mine

Luckily the car was fine...

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by marv85

Here’s what if found in mine

Luckily the car was fine...

Ya, I'll know when I take the old seal out, if any of the belt got in the engine. From what I can see with the old seal still in, the old seal is not destroyed by any means. It's just a little ground on the surface where the belt wrapped around the crank.

If you zoom into pic below, the seal looks to be 90-95% intact.

[marv85]

That’s great. You lucked out.

[Bimmer_Engineer]

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

I got lucky. I caught it before it got sucked into the engine. I noticed a pool of oil on the ground under the car. So, I investigated this afternoon. Some of my belt was gnarled up behind the main crank, but I don't think any of it made it into the engine.

Can you explain this a little bit more? The car was parked and not running and you noticed the oil under the front of the engine? So you looked and you saw the seal had started leaking and the belt was beginning to get chewed up?

In other words...if you hadn’t noticed the oil or the damage to the belt you likely could have driven the car a little while?

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by Bimmer_Engineer

Can you explain this a little bit more? The car was parked and not running and you noticed the oil under the front of the engine? So you looked and you saw the seal had started leaking and the belt was beginning to get chewed up?

In other words...if you hadn't noticed the oil or the damage to the belt you likely could have driven the car a little while?

Correct.

It's likely on my way home from work that the seal blew and the belt started to get chewed up the night before.

Before that, no oil on the floor.

[marv85]

Originally Posted by Bimmer_Engineer

Can you explain this a little bit more? The car was parked and not running and you noticed the oil under the front of the engine? So you looked and you saw the seal had started leaking and the belt was beginning to get chewed up?

In other words...if you hadn’t noticed the oil or the damage to the belt you likely could have driven the car a little while?

Check this out

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1305990

[Bimmer_Engineer]

Any updates on the replacement of this? How’d it go???

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by Bimmer_Engineer

Any updates on the replacement of this? How’d it go???

I have parts on order. They will be here Tuesday. The root cause is the recently installed 034 engine mounts. They failed. It's funny. I had oem engine mounts for 152,000 miles and the power steering pulley never once hit the subframe. I put in 034 engine mounts and the power steering pulley hit the subframe, chipped a piece off the plastic pulley & started to shred my belt, which of course ruined a perfectly good front crank seal. DONT BUY 034 ENGINE MOUNTS THEY ARE JUNK.

I bought the turner motor sports poly 60a motor mounts, aluminum power steering wheel & rogue engineering transmission mounts.

I have struggled with this DIY mostly because not all the info wasn't out there and the Bentley Repair Manual was outdated. I ordered the primer and the wrong sealant at first. I figured out which sealant to get. The problem was that I installed the seal and had the wrong sealant. So, that ruined brand new seal number one.

I ordered a new seal and the right sealant but the sealant didn't come with a needle. I mean you pay $50.00 freaking dollars for 6ml of sealant and no needle. So, it's basically useless. I decided to try and use Ultra Black on the seal and let it cure for 24 hours. No dice. It leaked after 6 minutes. Seal no 2 ruined...

I ordered another seal and 14g needles I found on Amazon the needles were to big and wouldn't inject between the block & seal. So, seal no 3 is a waste.

Now I have seal 4 on order, more primer & I finally found the actual BMW needle. Now, I Have a bigger problem. I can't get seal no 3 out !!!!!! OMG....

The cylinder tool that screws in, basically screws in all the way and just free spins. I got about 1/16 to an 1/8 of an inch of the seal out.

The thing is, this is not a hard DIY. I just can't believe the horrible luck I have had with this.

[mweisdorfer]

In order to do this job correctly, you need 5 items.

1) Seal puller & installer tool - $199 - 250.00 or rent it from eEuroparts
2) Primer - 83197515583($15.00)
3) Sealant - 83190439030 ($50.00)
4) Seal - 11117547842 ($35.00)
5) Metering Needle - 83192345991 ($5.00)

Two other items -
1) Follow the DIY correctly in the Bentley Repair Manual and or the BMW Workshop Manual

2) Determine the cause of the Front Main Seal's demise

A) old age - oil leaking on the belt
B) OFHG leaking on the belt
C) engine mounts failed & the power steering pulley hit the subframe & chipped or cracked, which lead to the bent shredding and wrapping around the crank. This pulley is plastic. Note: there is about a finger width length between the power steering pulley & the subframe. So, hitting a hard bump with failed engine mounts would easily make the above happen.
1) you will need to determine if the belt made it past the seal and into the engine. If so, you will need to drop the subframe & pull the oil pan to get the belt out; you might even have to take the VC off too.

If your answer is "c", you need to replace your engine mounts with something better than OEM & you might as well change out the trans mounts while you are at it. You will also need to change out the pulley. Consider an Aluminum one vs another OEM plastic one.

I put this out there in one neat & concise post because I wish I had this info before I started this SAGA.

Side notes -

You need a 15/16 wrench, 1 1/16 wrench, 19mm socket and a no 6 Allen wrench to use the removal and install tool correctly.

You should also get CRC gasket remover & some brake cleaner.

[Jklad]

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

In order to do this job correctly, you need 5 items.

1) Seal puller & installer tool - $199 - 250.00 or rent it from eEuroparts
2) Primer - 83197515583($15.00)
3) Sealant - 83190439030 ($50.00)
4) Seal - 11117547842 ($35.00)
5) Metering Needle - 83192345991 ($5.00)

Two other items -
1) Follow the DIY correctly in the Bentley Repair Manual and or the BMW Workshop Manual

2) Determine the cause of the Front Main Seal's demise

A) old age - oil leaking on the belt
B) OFHG leaking on the belt
C) engine mounts failed & the power steering pulley hit the subframe & chipped or cracked, which lead to the bent shredding and wrapping around the crank. This pulley is plastic. Note: there is about a finger width length between the power steering pulley & the subframe. So, hitting a hard bump with failed engine mounts would easily make the above happen.
1) you will need to determine if the belt made it past the seal and into the engine. If so, you will need to drop the subframe & pull the oil pan to get the belt out; you might even have to take the VC off too.

If your answer is "c", you need to replace your engine mounts with something better than OEM & you might as well change out the trans mounts while you are at it. You will also need to change out the pulley. Consider an Aluminum one vs another OEM plastic one.

I put this out there in one neat & concise post because I wish I had this info before I started this SAGA.

Great post, terrible luck and sucks that this happened to you but appreciate the feedback on the 034's.

Shouldn't the 335is mounts also work fine? I replaced just the one side with an is mount, and the other with a new non-is mount and this seems to be sufficient. Back in the day, folks would do this and grind out a small notch in the subframe near the pulley to prevent this issue.

Ideally, I should have replaced both with IS mounts but wasn't aware you could do that at the time.

Also, when Bmw came out with the IS mount, I believe they also redesigned the front subframe a bit to better account for the pulley, but they did not change the part number.

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by Jklad

Great post, terrible luck and sucks that this happened to you but appreciate the feedback on the 034's.

Shouldn't the 335is mounts also work fine? I replaced just the one side with an is mount, and the other with a new non-is mount and this seems to be sufficient. Back in the day, folks would do this and grind out a small notch in the subframe near the pulley to prevent this issue.

Ideally, I should have replaced both with IS mounts but wasn't aware you could do that at the time.

Also, when Bmw came out with the IS mount, I believe they also redesigned the front subframe a bit to better account for the pulley, but they did not change the part number.

The 335is mount is absolutely a great upgrade to OEM mounts. Two IS mounts I have read about with success, on this forum. However, I am not keen on spending $600.00 for one mount and another $50-75.00 for the other. If the IS mount were say $200-300, maybe.

Turner Motor Sports has a good track record so to speak. I had thought about these when I considered the 034 mounts. Hind site 20/20, I should have spent the extra $200.00. I got the TMS poly 60a.

https://www.turnermotorsport.com/e/p...ne-mounts-60a/

Also, I didn't find one bad review on rogue engineering trans mounts.

I did get the 3rd seal out today. I used a paint scraper tool and aligned it with the lip of the seal and the block, as I was able to pull about 1/16-1/18 of an inch of the seal out, and tap on it with a hammer. I went all the way around and was able to bend the lip away from the block. I then put the cylinder shaped tool and screwed it in; the seal lodged itself to the tool this time. I slowly (very slowly) used my 19mm socket and turned the bolt. It came out!!! I think the key was relieving pressure from the seal to the block and bringing the seal closer to the tool. Prior to this effort, I could screw the tool all the way in and it freely spun all the way around.

[Jklad]

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

The 335is mount is absolutely a great upgrade to OEM mounts. Two IS mounts I have read about with success, on this forum. However, I am not keen on spending $600.00 for one mount and another $50-75.00 for the other. If the IS mount were say $200-300, maybe.

Turner Motor Sports has a good track record so to speak. I had thought about these when I considered the 034 mounts. Hind site 20/20, I should have spent the extra $200.00. I got the TMS poly 60a.

https://www.turnermotorsport.com/e/p...ne-mounts-60a/

Also, I didn't find one bad review on rogue engineering trans mounts.

I did get the 3rd seal out today. I used a paint scraper tool and aligned it with the lip of the seal and the block, as I was able to pull about 1/16-1/18 of an inch of the seal out, and tap on it with a hammer. I went all the way around and was able to bend the lip away from the block. I then put the cylinder shaped tool and screwed it in; the seal lodged itself to the tool this time. I slowly (very slowly) used my 19mm socket and turned the bolt. It came out!!! I think the key was relieving pressure from the seal to the block and bringing the seal closer to the tool. Prior to this effort, I could screw the tool all the way in and it freely spun all the way around.

Holy shit, how the hell is bmw selling an engine mount for $600? I thought you were kidding, that is insane. I paid around $80 two years ago for the same exact part.

Then again, they jacked up prices for their turbos from 850 to 2100 each last year without making any improvements, wtf

RE trans mounts are great, have had them for 30k Miles.

Interested in hearing your thoughts on the Turner mounts OP...thank you for sharing the above information on your journey thus far as well

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by Jklad

Holy shit, how the hell is bmw selling an engine mount for $600? I thought you were kidding, that is insane. I paid around $80 two years ago for the same exact part.

Then again, they jacked up prices for their turbos from 850 to 2100 each last year without making any improvements, wtf

RE trans mounts are great, have had them for 30k Miles.

No way, I'd ever pay $1500 to $2100 for oem turbos. My next set of turbos will be RB 1's. I'll upgrade the wastegate because I do live in the "rust belt" part of the county (Mid-West).

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by FCobra94

Interested in hearing your thoughts on the Turner mounts OP...thank you for sharing the above information on your journey thus far as well

Yep. I'll put 2-3,000 miles on them before I post to get them broken in.

I'll absolutely let you know.