Smoke test results…. Weird

[JerEazy]

Decided to run a smoke test just to confirm I had fixed all the air/vac leaks in my daughters 91 325i

I have done timing belt, crank seal, oil pump seal, cam seal, valve cover gaskets, new elbow and hoses.

hooked up the machine and found a small leak in the valve cover pcv hose from a loose clamp. Tightened it up and let the machine keep going. Nothing. Felt really good. Let it keep going a bit while I crawled under. Nothing there either. I thought to myself, “turn the motor over by hand, just to make sure smoke is getting everywhere.”slightest turn - smoke started billowing out from behind the crank.

Did the little bit of pressure from the smoke machine, then me turning it over blow the damn crank seal? Or maybe leaking from somewhere else behind the lower cover and presenting at the crank? Really don’t want to have to tear the front of the motor apart again.

[digger]

did you change the rear main seal?

[JerEazy]

No. But the smoke is coming from the front.

[JerEazy]

Was able to put the video of the leak on the Reddit post

https://www.reddit.com/r/E30/s/G4Nf6YN4gH

[MrBurgundy]

I would run the car first and see how it runs.

What PSI was the test done at?? Sometimes if you crank a smoke machine around 10-15 psi and it "falls" out like it is in your vid, the leak is not large enough to throw the mix off enough to make the car run like shit.

[digger]

may have torn the seal on install or it wasn't pressed in properly or the lip riding on a worn spot on the journal

[JerEazy]

To finish this up: the smoke machine was at 1-2PSI - it’s a contained unit.

the crank seal was blown. Replaced it and re-did smoke test and the only place smoke came out of was the exhaust. Waiting for new crank bolt and will button her back up.