Rear Crankshaft Seal replacement
 

Hi all,
I own an '04 X5/E53/3.0i(Nov 03 prod date)
Wondering if anyone out there has attempted to tackle this on their own?? Just curious what is involved in procedure. Also curious about front Crankshaft replacement. Any input would be appreciated.

An additional, unrelated question.........anyone know why I get an error message when trying to do a search of either this particular forum(E53) or an entire forum search?? I didn't used to have the issue.

Thanks

Steve

I sometimes get the search error. Just wait a while and try again (or the next day).

No help on the seal but I'm guessing the front timing cover has to come off? That doesn't sound fun.

If you don't want to tackle it, take it to Sin City BMW (in the old fire station by Terminal 3 at McCarren). Those guys will get it done. Patrick is the best wrench there, but he only works the late hours I think (he's a full time Mercedes master tech as well as a BMW master tech, co-owner of the shop).

I've seen a few DIY videos for rear crankshaft (main) seal replacement and the transmission has to be dropped to gain access. Would be quite the chore but you'd save mucho money.

to start off trans needs to come off then fly wheel the rear seal is one piece
here is pic

Front seal can be done without removing the front cover. Still requires removing the "Jesus bolt" on the damper from what I recall. As posted by others, the rear main seal does require dropping the tranny. Probably worth getting the Bentley manual if you're going to tackle either.

Try some ATP 205 before replacing the seal. What do you have to lose?

As Upallnight suggested ATP 205 is worth a try. Several years ago I tried some AC sealer on my daughter's high mileage Xterra and to this day the AC still blows cold; saved her a $700 mech bill.

Another vote for atp-205. I would run that with the correct ratio for 2 or 3 oil changes before doing the seal. I am using it for the infamous alternator gasket leak on my 04 n62 545i and it has slowed the leak quite a bit. The way it is going, it should soften the gasket to the point where it only sweats.