N55 front crank seal leaking again, after only about 1/2 year.

[JPuehl]

Over the Winter I replaced my front seal seal with a new BMW front crank seal and used the correct N55 BMW seal removal and installation tool and it appears to be leaking already. It leaks a little under normal driving but leaks a lot during tracks days, which I just started doing this year, and hard accelerating & braking.

Over the weekend I pulled all 3 lower plastic covers off the bottom, cleaned as much oil off the bottom of the motor that I could reach, warmed up the car and drove it hard (hard accelerating and braking), lifted it back up and looked for the source of the oil leak and it appears to be coming from the crank seal, again. Most of the oil runs from the front and down the passenger side of the engine along the oil pan gasket. I don't believe it's blowby pushing oil past the seal as a couple weeks ago I did a boost leak test and once I tightened up a couple hose clamps to get rid of the leaks, the only air "leaking" was thru the PVC hose that connects to the turbo inlet pipe, I didn't hear any leaking from the bottom of the engine.

Could the seal be leaking again? It's easy to change and I might do it again this weekend just to see if it stops. The pan gasket would be my next guess as the oil doesn't appear to be coming from the top side and is not coming from the turbo.

[dtla1]

Check your Oil Filter Housing Gasket. A handful of people have said that a leak from there can look like a possible Oil Pan Gasket leak and that it tends to travel down to the passenger side. Also, If you do happen to have to check your front crank seal again, I would look into that piece of hardware that effectively blocks shredded belts (or other crap I guess) from getting to your seal.

https://www.oxwerkzperformance.com/p...ion-plate.html

And finally, pictures might help a bit here if possible.

[JPuehl]

Originally Posted by dtla1

Check your Oil Filter Housing Gasket. A handful of people have said that a leak from there can look like a possible Oil Pan Gasket leak and that it tends to travel down to the passenger side. Also, If you do happen to have to check your front crank seal again, I would look into that piece of hardware that effectively blocks shredded belts (or other crap I guess) from getting to your seal.

https://www.oxwerkzperformance.com/p...ion-plate.html

And finally, pictures might help a bit here if possible.

Thanks. I did change that and the oil cooling line housing gasket before the crank seal, as the ofhg was leaking. The top side has been dry ever since.

And I'll get pix while I'm changjng the crank seal, lol.