Replacing Rear Main Oil Seal

[Tim]

The nasty oil leak in my Blue Festiva was caused by the failure of the Rear Main Oil Seal.

I've heard these things are a real pain to replace, and the job doesn't sound too fun.

Do any of you veterans have some good tips and tricks for getting the old seal off and installing the new one so it won't leak?


Regards,

Tim

[Safety Guy]

I'm no "veteran" but I had no problems replacing my B6 rear seal. It's big but not difficult, IMO.

I need to specifically check the bottom shield area between engine and tranny though. Maybe it's leaking and I haven't noticed!

I say that because I need to retighten my ATX pan bolts again to stop the spotting under my car.

Karl

[Daryl Baines]

Tim,

You might think about using Auto-Rx it works well if the seal is not broken good luck.

[Tim]

Thanks guys!

Unfortunately it's a bit late for the Auto-RX treatment because I already tore the engine out of the car and have it partially disassembled.

And guess what? My front main seal leaks too! Great!

Looks like I'm going to replace every seal and gasket in this engine...


Regards,

Tim

[darkdan]

I was going to suggest Auto-rx the other day, but I figured he's already heard it from me 20 times. LOL.

Front main is easy.

[Tim]

I was going to suggest Auto-rx the other day, but I figured he's already heard it from me 20 times. LOL.

Gonna buy me a bottle soon to put in my daily driver Festiva to see if I can cure it of its oil drinking habit...

A quart every 700 miles or so - unacceptable.



Regards,

Tim

[FB71]

try Uncle Fester's thirst of 2 quarts about 400-500 miles....

that's why he's getting a rebuild!

[25Horseplay]

try Uncle Fester's thirst of 2 quarts about 400-500 miles....

that's why he's getting a rebuild!

Wasn't that out the tail pipe though?

[FB71]

why, yes, it is! James Bond's smokescreen's got nuthin' on Fester!

[Tim]

try Uncle Fester's thirst of 2 quarts about 400-500 miles....

that's why he's getting a rebuild!

Wow! :shock:


The Festiva I'm currently working on has blown out just about every gasket and seal, has poor compression, and leaves a trail of oil behind it. Almost as bad as poor Uncle Fester...


How far are you on the rebuild? At the moment I'm still disassembling my B3. Tomorrow I plan to clean the engine, replace the bottom end gaskets, and maybe remove the head (depends on my Coca Cola consumption...)

Regards,

Tim

[Tim]

try Uncle Fester's thirst of 2 quarts about 400-500 miles....

that's why he's getting a rebuild!

Wasn't that out the tail pipe though?

Mine spits oil out the exhaust, does that count?

[25Horseplay]

Jim's was so bad it killed every mosquito for 5 square miles! :lol:

[FB71]

only if you have a traffic-stopping, blue-gray cloud behind you!

In fairness, its because I mercilessly flog Fester at speeds in excess of 85mph with a 4spd trans. Once he warms up, no smoke is visible. But running at 4500rpm for almost an hour straight does tend to be a bit stressful for him.

I've already hot-tanked my block and head (got a BE ViperJet at work ) honed the cylinders, polished the crank (insert joke here), installed new core plugs and main bearings, set the crank and torqued the caps, installed rear main, and rechecked all assembly. I have oil clearance just within spec, and even with the new rear main, I can get the crank to spin two full revs under inertia! Gotta love the Japanese engineering and Federal Mogul bearings!

Hopefully I'll get back to it tomorrow night.

[Tim]

Jim's was so bad it killed every mosquito for 5 square miles! :lol:

:shock:

Can't top that!

Altough I'm sure my oil fumes make life extremely unpleasent for those behind me at a stoplight....

[25Horseplay]

There were 2 kids that came to the first Ohiostiva that had a vacuum line from the intake to the interior of the car(capped off). When anybody got to close to them they would remove the cap and stick it in a bottle of tranny fluid. It was hilarious, they did it getting back on the freeway!