I have a severe real oil seal leak. I wanted to know if anyone here has replaced the rear seal without yankin the engine. My brother in law said it can be done on his Challenger. Has anyone got any suggestions for me? I really do not want to yank the engine. I have a 302 with Hooker headers on my 1973 Grabber. It was a pain in the --- getting the headers to seal I pray there is away to do this without pullin the engine! Please help with any ideas!
Gotta pull the tranny of course ... not sure why you need to pull the engine ... I was able to pull my toploader tranny out without removing the headers - but I removed the tranny first and then the bellhousing. If you got a C4 in there not sure if you will be able to pull it out with the headers installed ...
Are we talking about the rear main seal or the oil pan gasket? Can be changed in the car but you must raise the engine up to remove the pan. Loosen #4 main cap and remove #5, assuming it has a rubber type seal, the upper can be pushed out with an appropiate tool mfg. by yourself. If by chance it has a rope seal, there is a tool we called a "sneaky pete" to use on it. Is not an easy job but can be done this way, headers may cause some prob's too. New pan gasket installed and be sure and torque the main cap bolts. If the front seal on the tranny is leaking then it has to come out to change it. Personnaly I think it's easier to pull the engine and inspect it on an engine stand for bearing wear etc. Might want to install a new oil pump while your inside the beast too. Good luck on it anyway.
It is the rear main seal. It is a rebuilt engine with less than 500 miles on it. It was rebuilt by a very dependable shop, I feel the two chevy guys who helped me may have screwed up on installing seal. Car has leaked since engine was dropped in. Thanks for replies so far.
I was able to remove my oil pan without raising the engine by dropping the idler arm and removing the cross member below the pan.
You need to find out if it is a one piece or 2 piece seal. The older engines use a rope type 2 piece seal that you can replace with the engine and trans in tact with tool called a sneaky pete. You will just have to drop the rear main. Many parts stores carry them here a link to one. http://www.toolsource.com/ost1/product.asp?sourceid=&dept_id=500&pf_id=67889&mscssid=8BC00DSUWSS92GMU00J74FSANRTCBG0A I am not sure what year they changed over to a one piece pressed in type(someone else might know that) but for that you will have to at least pull the trans back and install a new one
is it a one piece late model seal, or an early type of 2 piece one? if 2 piece type, is it neoprene or rope type? (this you might not know off hand, but need to take the pan and cap down.) first, did they forget to put some type of sealer between the flat part of the cap and the block? if so, then a simple thing to fix. if neoprene type, did they install it backwards? if only cap piece is backwards, you luck out and turn it around. if block piece is backwards, then you might be able to slip it out and turn it around. if rope type, did they forget to trim it flush with the block? you stand a shot at fixing it in the car, but first you need to try to figure out what the problem really is. most common problem is no sealer between cap and block. good luck.
Also when you replace the rope with the neoprene, there is a little pointy piece of metal that sticks out in the upper slot where the rope goes. This is to keep the rope from spinning. You need to remove this pin when going to neoprene or it will distort the seal and will leak. You also want to offset the seal a little so the seam between the 2 seal halves are not on the same plane as the bearing cap seam.
IMO its just as easy to pull the engine and check everything than to crawl under the car to do the main seal "upside down" with limited access and visibility. At least for us BIG guys . Personally I could pull an engine and fix a main seal faster than trying to do it in the car, at least in a Maverick. Thats me though. You gotta do what works best for you. Good luck
I think Mavaholic is on the right track, The engine builder (chevy guys) probably didn't remove the metal pin and used the neoprene seal which is the more popular replacement today. And with only 500 miles on the rebuild it makes sense.
