rear main seal question
rear main seal question I have everything out-D/S, tranny, flexplate is off etc and I have a new fel-pro rear main seal to go on. My question is this..after searching I noticed that many people not only replace the rubber piece but the whole rear main seal gasket as well. My car hasnt ran in months and is all apart so it's hard to tell where the oil is gonna come from. The intake gasket was just replaced so it's not that. I really don't even have the money or time to get the rear main seal gasket..Shouldn't the rubber piece be the source of the problem? Anyone that's had a rear main leak, what did you find?
Did you check to see if maybe the leak was coming from your oil sending unit? I know its a bit off topic but very relevant. Another place to check would be the oil cooler located just above the oil filter.
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TECH Resident
Joined: Jul 2007
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From: Spokane, WA
Not to hijack, but when I pulled my rear main seal I didn't notice a gasket in there, just a place for the seal to go and when I asked at the dealer if it was supposed to have a gasket I was told no, it wasn't even in the computer in the parts center from what I was told. As stated above I even checked all around when I pulled it and saw nothing that looked like a gasket
It's been in there since September and there is no leak but I'm a little worried now about if I was supposed to have a gasket........
It's been in there since September and there is no leak but I'm a little worried now about if I was supposed to have a gasket........ Last edited by nighthawk15; Jan 6, 2008 at 03:53 AM.
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Verdad Gallardo Sorry for any confusion I guess I was just referring to the rubber seal as the gasket. And thanks gatorhead. I am gonna put a new seal in, clean the car up everywhere and let it run and see if I still have a problem and where.
I know you recently replaced your intake manifold, but reach out to the back of the intake manifold where it meets with block/cylinderheads for fresh oil. This is the infamous LT1 oil leak area. If it is, redo intake, and apply liberal amount of silicone to the area. Let it sit 24 hrs before startup. Good luck.
I do have a question, how much oil is going to come out when I take off the rear main housing, I see I have to there is no way the seal is popping out with a flat-head.
You should probably drain your oil unless you like to work in a puddle of used oil. Even when its drained there will be some residual oil that will come out. Just be sure the mating surfaces are dry and CLEAN when you put it back together.
Wondering how in the heck I can get the housing assembly off as pictured there's two contradicting screws here. I took a lot of bolts off the oil pan as well but it isn't going to budge. It's dark but you can see the lower screw looks the same on the other side.
The studs that are pictured have an inverted torx area at the tip. Use a small 6-point socket (I don't recall the size at the moment but it's a 1/4", very small socket) to remove all three of the studs you're talking about. They will come out without a lot of trouble. The oil pan will still need to be separated from the seal housing but at least the studs will be out of the way.
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Joined: Jul 2007
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From: Spokane, WA
ohhhhhhhhh that gasket.....crap, when I had heard of rear main seal gaskets before I thought it would be a gasket that went in right before or after the seal.....for some reason I didn't even realize that was a gasket Oh well, hopefully it won't give me any problems before my clutch goes, which won't be for a while since its pretty dam new. Is this likely to cause me problems? My car has 83k on it.
Sory again about hijacking, I swear I'm done after this post
Oh well, hopefully it won't give me any problems before my clutch goes, which won't be for a while since its pretty dam new. Is this likely to cause me problems? My car has 83k on it. Sory again about hijacking, I swear I'm done after this post
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Just like the timing chain cover, you're going to have to drop the pan down quite a bit to get the rear main seal housing off. If you don't, you'll damage the oil pan gasket. Take all the oil pan bolts out, except for the front 2 and loosen those 2. The rear main seal housing will come right out then.
Mike
Mike