Rear Main Seal Replacement
- Thread starter sambishop
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sambishop
New member
Yea the more I think about it the more I may do that. I have it still all apart in my garage.
Tyler James Inc
Senior Member
"This is the worst way to do this. Haha"
Hahahaha oh shit, that was funny.
Hahahaha oh shit, that was funny.
TheDurk
Elite Member
That's the way I did it because that's how my FSM says to do it. It was not that hard. I was doing it as PM during a clutch change.
I just finished a rear main on an 06 4.0 with auto. I couldnt remember how far the seal was in the retainer cover. I pulled the cover and all. But when I put the cover back on I tapped seal all the way in until it stopped. Got the thing all back together THEN starting thinking and researching. Yep. Its supposed to be flush with the outside of the cover. Yall think i should take it all apart and redo? Probably huh? Man that chaps my ass. If it was mine i'd just see if it leaks. But its a friends and she drives a lot.
99% of the time if it's leaking from back there. It's the rear main seal and not the RTV. The RTV back there will probably outlast the life of the engine.
Don't mess/fix it if it's not broken.
Can always CAREFULLY screw in a small drywall screw into the seal. And then just use it to pull out.
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RTV is just as likely to fail as any oil seal. Why do you think valve covers, oil pans, and etc leak over time? It's not only friction that kills rubber seals, but heat and time as well.
If you're in there, you might as well change it especially on a job as time consuming as this.
I hated to revive the old post. But i needed those pictures up there. Ive got the car all back together. Aside from filling the transmission fluid. Put the seal in too far. Im just gonna take it all back apart and pull cover to push seal out 1/8 inch then reassemble. Unless someone is running a seal this way. I cant believe they do it this way. Most the time seals have a stop so you drive it to the stopping point and done. No chance of it being crooked.
I'm sorry. I'll just have to disagree. Never heard or seen oil leak from that plate. Most valve covers are rubber gaskets. But I agree. It does fail. Just no reason to remove a OEM rtv when it is 100% perfect.
Have a manual transmission with 250k plus miles. No leaks where there is RTV. But a seal did leak.
Sorry but this is absolutely terrible advice. If you aren't changing yours that's fine, but to suggest that for others is just irresponsible. $10 in parts and another hour to the job is worth it for peace of mind. Elastomers and rubbers (seals, RTV) degrade with time and heat, period.
If you ever get a chance to compare the rear main, crankshaft, and camshaft seals on an old engine you'll notice the color is different. The lower seals (crankshaft and rear main) will be much darker than the upper camshaft seals even though they are originally the same color. This is due to the amount of heat they are exposed to over time. If you've ever peeled off RTV you'll know that 20 year old RTV is rock hard vs 1 month old RTV.
I respect your advice. I simply disagree. Like I said. Never heard or seen those plates leak. And no reason to remove something that is "not" leaking. Just my personal opinion. I didn't touch it when I did my rear main seal. Many haven't either. And it's perfectly fine.
19963.4lsr5
New member
For the record I just pop'd my rear main out with a screwdriver and tapped a new one in prior to putting the engine in the 97 project I bought. The plates RTV actually looked pretty fresh. No leaks at 2000 miles so far.
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