Rear Main Seal Leak

[NOTPRETTY]

Okay...tired of the leak. So I remove everything...loosen the crankshaft bolts drop it down, remove the upper seal. I cleaned out the silicone that was put in there by the prior owner as best I could. Bought the new seal, installed it in the right direction, clocked it a bit so the seal ends were offset from the cap/block...about 1/4 inch, put a couple dabs of sealant on the ends of the seals where they meet and reinstalled button it up.

Still leaks...now worse. I now think there was a reason the prior owner loaded up the gasket with silicone. is there anything else I can do? Tricks, Ideas?? FYI...the crank has a line on it where the seal rides, but I would not describe it as worn into the crank. And yes, again, I installed the seal in the correct direction.

Marlon

[DirtDonk]

Do you think there's a chance that it's not the seal? I wonder if it's one of the galley plugs or perhaps even the pan gasket now, where it meets the rear seal part?
Just thinking out loud basically. Most likely it's the seal, but not sure why it would leak worse now.
Good luck.

Paul

[NOTPRETTY]

These have occurred to me. I have the one piece oil pan gasket now. I just installed it. When I take things apart I'll know the answer to your questions better, but I doubt they are the source of the issue. I think I'll load it up with silicone and pray...

[Fordfreak]

have you eliminated excess crankcase pressure/pcv problems? you could put some dye in the oil and use a detection light before taking it apart again. i have one and work in folsom.

[kwspony]

I remember Carl saying something about oil leaking fron the flywheel bolts where it attaches to the crank. Could it be leaking there?



Hey Paul, long time no see. You know, I still have that yoke off the third member I got from you.

Karl

[NOTPRETTY]

I know where it is leaking from...just don't know why the seal is not working.

Has anyone done a conversion to a one piece seal...I saw something about that on Ford-truck.

One piece round deal you put on the crank... They make claims that it works, but I don't see it.

[Sierra Backwoods]

When I bought my EB, the previous owner just had the engine rebuilt (302). The seal leaked pretty good. After a while, the leak went away. Maybe the seal swelled a bit or some gunk got in there, I don't know, but it did go away. Sometimes, procrastination works!

[earlybronco72]

I know you said you know where the oil is coming from, but once I had the freeze plug at the back of the cam come loose and it produced a oil leak that seamed like a rear main. That one sucked.

[NOTPRETTY]

Yeah...not that.

I like the procrastination thing. I should have stuck to that. The leak before I "Fixed" it was not as bad. It is still only a drip every couple hours, but that is quite a bit over time.

[earlybronco72]

Yeah...not that.

I like the procrastination thing. I should have stuck to that. The leak before I "Fixed" it was not as bad. It is still only a drip every couple hours, but that is quite a bit over time.

I'm with you on the procrastination thing, but boy do I hate oil leaks also. I did have one good oil leak once though. On my way to SOB my dipstick broke off right where it went into the front cover. Soaked the whole underside of my bronco on the way there. When I got home there wasn't one bit of surface rust under there.

[RandyatBBY]

I will pull this and put in chit chat . I guess you do not a little humor with your oil leak

[RandyatBBY]

I get it, sorry

[Delta 4 Wheel]

Okay...tired of the leak. So I remove everything...loosen the crankshaft bolts drop it down, remove the upper seal. I cleaned out the silicone that was put in there by the prior owner as best I could. Bought the new seal, installed it in the right direction, clocked it a bit so the seal ends were offset from the cap/block...about 1/4 inch, put a couple dabs of sealant on the ends of the seals where they meet and reinstalled button it up.

Still leaks...now worse. I now think there was a reason the prior owner loaded up the gasket with silicone. is there anything else I can do? Tricks, Ideas?? FYI...the crank has a line on it where the seal rides, but I would not describe it as worn into the crank. And yes, again, I installed the seal in the correct direction.

Marlon

I never install the seal offset. I like to have the ends even with the bearing cap. I put the seal in and put a thin layer of Right Stuff silicon onto the seal ends as well as the valley where the cap fits (block side) When you torque it down this seals all of it. I would think if the seal is cocked like you have it, you will not get the squish in between the seal ends like you need.

[NOTPRETTY]

I thought the same thing concerning the offset/cocked placement of the seal, but went with the advise of a couple mechanics. And I agree with sealing the upper/block half with sealant. That is how it was when I pulled it out. I think I will redo it not clocked, more sealant and hope for the best. It is a pain in the a$$ just to get in that far for me...the following has to be removed:

Exhaust, T-case, Tranny, Bellhousing, clutch, flywheel, starter, center hump, shifter, clutch linkage, crossmember, oil pan, oil, loosen crankshaft bolts, rear main cap, in my case the track bar....ahhhhhhh.

Once you get that far you want it to know its going to work and not be hoping for best.

[Delta 4 Wheel]

It's almost better to pull the motor at that point. How did the rear main bearing look when you pulled it? If you use plenty of sealant under the rear cap, and it still leaks, my guess is that groove in the crank you are talking about is deeper than it should be. I wonder if anybody makes a double seal or one that has an offset seal in it to ride outside of the groove?