help with rear main seal replacement
10-13-2006, 07:20 PM
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help with rear main seal replacement i am replacing the rear main seal. does anyone have any tricks how to get it off. i am having a lot of trouble with it. any help would be appreciated.
10-14-2006, 10:03 PM
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Originally Posted by michaelsvt03
i am replacing the rear main seal. does anyone have any tricks how to get it off. i am having a lot of trouble with it. any help would be appreciated.
It's a bi-directional seal...one lip faces the crankcase, and the other faces the tranny. In between the two seal lips, is a steel ring that seats on the rear cover seal bore. I hate to tell this on myself, but if it helps someone else....
I removed/replaced the front cover seal with no trouble. When I tried to remove the rear cover seal, I actually distorted the rear cover. I ordered a new rear cover from the Pontiac dealer near my house. The parts counter guy said it came with the seal installed (PN 12561243, I believe...the invoices aren't too detailed, and GM's favorite trick is superseding part numbers every 5 minutes), so I ordered it. I thought it was going to cost big bucks, but was surprised to find that the cover and seal came to $60.00!
I would go to a Pontiac dealership, and talk to a tech to see how they remove the rear cover seal without distorting the cover. I know they have to be pressed back in, but you can buy the tool from GM, and Wheel To Wheel Performance. I'm sure others, like Snap-On, make a similar tool, too. The W2W & GM tool double as a rear cover alignment reinstallation tool, too.
When you find out how to properly remove the damn thing, could you post up the information?
