Second Hand L98 (Australian gen IV)
11-01-2019, 11:34 PM
#1
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Second Hand L98 (Australian gen IV) Hello All,
I have been reading this forum with lots of interesting information. Im just looking for a few opinions for my project. I recently bought an L98 from a wreckers to put into a boat. After getting it home and onto a stand I could see it needed a sump gasket and rocker gaskets but looked ok so I did those, then I took the exhaust manifolds of and could see that a valve stem seal had failed. I took it back to the wreckers and they sourced another engine for me as they didnt have another in the yard. I took it home and put it on the stand pulled the fly wheel and balancer to find the front main seal leaking. Now I could fix this and move forward but as it is going into a boat I dont really want an engine that is already having problems, I don't know enough about the LS to know if this is a normal issue for a 107,000 km engine or if I have a potential dud. This was not cheap either. I could buy a crate engine for another $4000 and be done with it. Are seal problems a run of the mill issue with LS engines? Are they caused by any other issues such as overheating? Or is it likely that if I fix the seals (and new sump gasket) that the engine will otherwise run fine for the forseable future. I am most concerned as this boat has 1 engine which needs to be reliable to take us home from offshore, and adding all the auxilleries and getting it into the boat is a major time effort and hence having to pull it for ongoing issues is very undesirable. I am tempted just to buy a crate engine to ease the anxiety but I may be overreacting. Any opinions on this?
I have been reading this forum with lots of interesting information. Im just looking for a few opinions for my project. I recently bought an L98 from a wreckers to put into a boat. After getting it home and onto a stand I could see it needed a sump gasket and rocker gaskets but looked ok so I did those, then I took the exhaust manifolds of and could see that a valve stem seal had failed. I took it back to the wreckers and they sourced another engine for me as they didnt have another in the yard. I took it home and put it on the stand pulled the fly wheel and balancer to find the front main seal leaking. Now I could fix this and move forward but as it is going into a boat I dont really want an engine that is already having problems, I don't know enough about the LS to know if this is a normal issue for a 107,000 km engine or if I have a potential dud. This was not cheap either. I could buy a crate engine for another $4000 and be done with it. Are seal problems a run of the mill issue with LS engines? Are they caused by any other issues such as overheating? Or is it likely that if I fix the seals (and new sump gasket) that the engine will otherwise run fine for the forseable future. I am most concerned as this boat has 1 engine which needs to be reliable to take us home from offshore, and adding all the auxilleries and getting it into the boat is a major time effort and hence having to pull it for ongoing issues is very undesirable. I am tempted just to buy a crate engine to ease the anxiety but I may be overreacting. Any opinions on this?
Last edited by Timomo; 11-02-2019 at 12:17 AM.
11-02-2019, 02:21 PM
#2
9 Second Club
A seal is just a seal, could be many reasons for them to leak. A few $$$ and it's replaced.
Sump gaskets are re-usable and rarely give trouble
Crate engine will have warranty, and been built properly.....they can make an awful lot of sense vs an unknown engine.
Sump gaskets are re-usable and rarely give trouble
Crate engine will have warranty, and been built properly.....they can make an awful lot of sense vs an unknown engine.
11-02-2019, 05:17 PM
#3
Front seal leak doesn't seem normal for only 107,000km LS engine.
11-02-2019, 06:00 PM
#4
TECH Senior Member
