Engine coming out, what to do while it's there?
 

Newbie Alert!

Hi guys, I have an '01 SS M6 that I recently bought. I was told by a dealership that I have a rear main leak and an oil pan leak. I spoke to a performance shop in my area who recommends pulling the engine to fix both leaks (does this make sense?)

He also said that while it's out, now would be the time to do any motor mods I have in mind. I told him that I'm not looking to go wild with the car and that I want to maintain reliability and driveability, to which he recommended an LS6 cam for a modest performance increase at low cost.

Since I'm new to these cars, I would just like feedback from the experts on how all of this sounds (pulling the motor for the repairs, LS6 cam, etc.) I did do a search on the LS6 cam and found reports ranging from a waste of money to being worthwhile.

whats your budget look like and what kind of drivability are you looking for?

You can change a cam in the car, sounds like the guy is trying to make some extra cash.

I don't see why the motor would have to come out for any of that. If the seal is bad on the oil pan you can drop it enough to slide in a new one. The rear main seal can be replaced with the engine still in the car as well.

Yeah, on an M6 car especially, it's easy to get the trans out to fix the rear main and like someone already said you can drop the oil pan enough in the car to replace the gasket.

Hmm, this is interesting. He told me that the tranny has to come out for the rear main, but that either the K Member? has to come out for the oil pan, or it's easier to just yank the whole motor to do both and any other routine maintenance at the same time.

This is a well respected local shop, but maybe I should look elsewhere. Here is what I have been quoted so far:

Chevy dealer 1:
-rear main seal $1100
-oil pan seal $500

Chevy dealer 2:
-rear main seal $700
-oil pan seal $550

Performance shop 1 (discussed above)
-rear main $550
-both $1500 (pull motor)

Performance shop 2:
both $1500

Performance shop 3:
both $966

They're all just going by 'book' time I'm sure. How bad is it leaking anyway? For $1000+ it would have to be leaking like a bastard for me to pay that.

It's a few drops a night on the garage floor, so not too serious I don't think. I asked around a bit, and the consensus was that the rear main leak shouldn't be ignored (may cause clutch problems???) Anyway, I'm certainly willing to live with some oil drips for a while if it's not going to cause me any problems down the road.

I agree. I wouldn't let them charge me that much to do something like that.

I just dropped the pan on mine this past weekend for my H/C install. Yes some of the bolts are a *$&% to get to and yes it takes some time, but it can be done. The front of the pan will rest on the crossmember and the back can be supported with something else.

And I see no reason why the rear main can't be done with the motor in the car.

I'd seriously think it over before I forked over that kind of cash.

Good luck.

They were going to do the rear main in the car, but said for rear main and oil pan it was easiest to pull the motor. At any rate, I'm willing to live with some oil drips for a while if it's not going to cause any other problems. I'm not the most mechanically inclined, nor do I have much spare time, so I don't think I could do this myself (maybe the oil pan???)

Rear main seal
 

I have a 99 WS6 M6 and have just over 100k miles on it and the rear main seal is also leaking. I know that I can replace the rear main with just a jack, floor stands and some tools and time. However I have yet to find a good brand or type of rear main seal I should look at getting to replace this one. Should I be looking into the Teflon or stay rubber? Any opinions or good links to check out?

Thanks, Nick

God forbid a shop try to drum up some business for themselves. :eyes: The shop is right, while the motor is out it would be a great time to think about things like putting a cam in it, changing the clutch, or pretty much anything else. I'm sure they would cut you a deal on the labor being the motor is already out.

For a shop that has proper tools and equipment it would be 10x easier to just drop the whole k-member with the engine and trans still attached vs. lowering the k-member to do one job then dropping the trans to do another.