Crank pulley

[nevi525]

Gentleman,

let me start by saying it has been forever since I have posted on here. Anywho I have a newly acquired 328is. The day I put it on the road a pulley had seized and snapped the belt which I purchased and replaced.
Jump to day two and my fan blew up. Which was new. Took out some hoses no biggie all replaced. On to driving it for about 3 more days when it started knocking from the pulley area. Come to find out the crank pulley had 5 out of 6 bolts in it! Unreal. So today I took out the remaining last bolt. Went to lowes and matched it up. Along with the corresponding washers. And red loctite. Replaced all 6 of them and now my crank seal is leaking.

the documentation I have for this car is unbelieavable. All service records since new with a 3 ring binder and a photo of the car new on the front. Everything works perfect except for my unbelievable luck.
Full cooling system was done 6 months ago with all documentation.

My question is what in the hell would cause these bolts to come out??

Also to confirm they are all the same size because my crank seal wasn't leaking before I installed the bolts.

Thanks in advance for any help fellas

[Eric93se]

They have nothing to do with one another. Do some reading about pulling the main crank bolt, it's not easy. But some have found that cutting the head of the bolt is much easier, some have been able to do so without cutting into that thick spacker/washer, personally I would just buy another along with the bolt. Tightening it is another problem.

[jc43089]

If you want to replace the front main seal, you just need an impact wrench and the bolt will come out easily. The tightening torque spec is around 300 ft/lbs, I generally estimate that and have not had a problem and have done several. Use math to estimate the torque required, 100lbs force on a 3 foot handle is 300 ft/lbs, or 50 lbs on a 6 foot handle is also 300 ft/lbs for example.

[Eric93se]

I think the trouble is FITTING the impact gun in there. I've also done it before but not on this car. Have you done it on an E36 with the engine in the car?

[jc43089]

I have not done it on an engine in the car. There might be room with the radiator removed. Depends on the size of your impact too. Although if you can't get the impact in there you probably won't have room to pound the new seal in anyway. As a cheap seal press I use PVC pipe fittings. I think for the front main seal it is a 65mm OD which is a 2" PVC pipe. Just cut a little piece about 1-2" long and then use a block of wood on top so you can hammer it in straight.