okay, first off, I know this is the wrong forum. but I tried the others I've been going to and haven't had much help. but this can pertain to any other vehicle. I read some posts about my car and apparently, the front oil seal going bad and leaking is a COMMON problem. well it seemed like an easy enough task.

so I removed the belts and the crank pulley and dug the old seal out. I coated the new one with permatex hi-tach (said "good for oil seals" on the can) and tapped the new seal into the bore with a hammer and socket. started the engine without the crank pulley attached, and oil was pouring out from the middle of the crankshaft bore.

so I got a larger socket, one that was a little more suitable, and tapped the seal in a little further. started the engine again, still leaking, but a little less than before. figuring I screwed up the seal, I ran out and got another one. I took the seal out, cleaned out the bore with brake cleaner, and dipped the new seal in fresh oil. then I stuck it in the bore and tapped it in. this time, it went in a little deeper, about 1/16" below the timing cover. but I started the engine, and oil STILL pours out. I tapped the seal in a little further, and STILL, it's pouring out. these seals aren't cheap and my patience is growing less. I can't for the life of me, understand what I'm doing wrong here. I followed the directions of the FSM, the haynes, and the sticky in that forum. I don't understand what went wrong. I'm about ready to take that seal out, put some gasket glue around it, pound it in there, put everything back together and accept the fact that the car loses 1.5 quarts of oil a week.

one thing I noticed is that there's a scratch in the back of the bore, probably from when I dug the old seal out. but it's not very deep and there's no way it can cause oil to POUR out of there. this is frusturating and I need to get this back on the road ASAP.

does ANYBODY have ANY suggestions at all?

Dan

 

First off, why are you dunking the entire seal in oil? All you need to do is rub the inside of the seal with engine oil, as well as around the shaft. When you put it in, the socket you use to install it must push in on that outer most of the seal. You don't want it pushing on the inside. Next thing is, did you knick the crankshaft digging out the old seals? If you did...that's bad news.

S

 

nah I don't think I did. but it wasn't smart of me to run the engine with the crank pulley off. it occurred to me that the inner lip of the pulley mates with the seal duh.

well I'm off to try this again.

Dan