Front main seal

[Kindred]

Hey guys,

After about a week of chasing down the oil spewing around my engine bay, I've decided that it's coming from my front crank seal. I don't have a manual handy, so I'll ask you guys. Is there a way of replacing the front main without dropping the engine from the car? I don't have the time to rip the engine out and throw it back in. If I have to, I might as well just go to a junkyard and buy a B6 instead of fix my seal.

So, can the seal be replaced without dropping the motor?

Thanks
George

[mattswabb]

Remove the timing cover. Then put the car on a jackstand and remove the front wheel. Support the engine under the oil pan and remove the motor mount. Now you should be able to remove the timing belt and then lower the motor and gain access to the crank pulley. Remove the pulley (it will be tight) and you'll see the seal. There was a groove in the crank on the last one I did. Check your crank carefully. If it is damaged they sell a repair sleeve and seal.

matt

[darkdan]

Yeah, you don't have to remove the engine, just need to drop it down about an inch.

[Kindred]

All right, my engine must be getting bound on something then. When I did my head job I wanted to get rid of my outer (AC compressor) crank pulley, but I couldn't get the engine low enough to get a socket on those outer bolts. Thanks a bunch for the info guys. I hope this solves my oil problem. I'm losing about a quart every 50 miles of driving.

[mattswabb]

You could try to raise the engine with a jack after you get the mount off to remove the pulley. The regular pulley comes off fine, not sure about the ac pulley.

matt

[Kindred]

I'm going to attack it this saturday, so here's hoping. If worse comes to worst, I'll just grab my cutoff wheel and cut a section out of the fenderwell. As far as getting the seal off and on, it should be the same as a cam seal, eh?

[darkdan]

Yeah, it was easy. Took me 3 seconds to get the old one out with a screw driver.

Took about 10 minutes trying to find the right sized socket to drive in the new one. =) LOL

[mattswabb]

On my BP I used the timing gear to push the seal on. Just be careful.

matt

[Kindred]

Sounds like this should be pretty painless. If I run into some kind of problem, I'll be sure to come and bitch here.

[rotinaj13]

How much are you paying for the seal? I have to do this as well... Should I just get the seal or the sleave aswell? here are 2 links for autozone... If i got the right one picked out, it seems expensive for a seal!

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?UseCase=C001&UserAction=performSearch&Parameters=Auto+Store%7C%7EREGULAR+PARTS+LOOK+UP%7C%7ECRANKSHAFT+SEAL

[69shelby]

Does anyone know the correct part number for this seal, the 223750 is too narrow, but the right id and od

[getnhi1]

On the Aspire the motor mount bracket has to be removed from the body, the mount bracket on the motor catches on it. The seal is the same as T-belt job just one more step. Buy the TCS gasket set, it comes with the correct seal, and its only $12

[gdawgs]

I've changed that seal out several times and have never lowered the motor(I do not have A/C however).

Be careful when re-tightening the pulley bolts, they snap quite easily. The next time I change the seal, I think I will buy new bolts.

[getnhi1]

Why do the pully bolts have to come out, I took mine off in one piece.

[takeone51]

how hard is it to change the oil pan gasket? i would probably have to lift the engine huh?