Rear Main Oil Seal

[Larryjb]

Some of you may have found this series, but here's a link to it for anyone else crazy enough to tackle a rear main seal:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1fGEpsCNIpYvzBAGlyDMgkiQ1OZjXOn1

 

[Rocket Man]

It’s not really that hard as in difficulty rating, it just takes a long time. It’s a lot of work due to pulling the trans. Luckily (or not, depending on how you look at it) I had a blown trans at the time and I did mine as preventative maintenance at about 150k. It wasn’t leaking but the opportunity was there. It took me about 20-30 minutes lol.

 

[petethepug]

Rear main seal lesson learned here, especially for AWD & 4WD ...

After trans is out ...

Do what Larry listed in post # 14 and pull pan because it’s so ez to do when accessible. May as well hit the oil pick up tube o ring too.

Lube the trans output spline too [emoji14]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[OR VietVet]

It's a nice 10-15°C during the day here. That's probably about 55-60°F.

Brake fluid I'll do when I fix my ABS module. I'm probably going to have to disconnect the lines because the torx screws are rusted and stripped out. I have a 2-way scantool that will allow me to bleed the ABS pump when the time comes. If I have time, I'll do the diffs. It will depend on what happens with the schools around here. We have a 2 week break so far, and with all the other things on my to-do list, I'll have to see. Diff fluid is easy to do anytime. I also have a heater pipe to fix on the Explorer, a garage to clean out, my father needs a parking brake foot pedal replaced as well, my sister's car needs the parking brake adjusted. As you can see, there are lots of priorities.

If I had done diffs before, and knew I could do it in 15 minutes, sure I'd do it. The reality is that I work very slowly and the job would take me a couple of hours.

Wait, Ron, you're a hop skip and a jump away in OR. Come on up. Oh wait, Trudeau said no visitors

'Mericans are exempt. We can come across but don't hold your breath. I still wanna know about the passenger side rear hood corner. Did that get fixed?

 

[Larryjb]

'Mericans are exempt. We can come across but don't hold your breath. I still wanna know about the passenger side rear hood corner. Did that get fixed?

Adrian Dix doesn't want you guys!

About the bent hood hinge bracket, that is so low down on my totem pull, that's in the ground! I doubt I'll ever get around to fixing that, especially being an 18 year old truck. There's a dent in it from the previous owner as well.


Anyway, i was looking at the design of the rear main and also the oil pan. I can now see how difficult it is to tell the difference between a leaking rear main and a leaking oil pan gasket. I may do the oil pan first and see if that solves the leak. So far, I can't find a method to determine what is leaking back there without actually taking things apart. Perhaps once I get the oil pan off I can get a mirror in there and look at the rear main seal.

Just so everyone knows, my oil pressure sender is new, replaced when going my heads, so I doubt that is leaking. The valley pan seal is relatively new as well. The oil that is leaking is nice and clear, running down the back of the oil pan, visible through the bell housing inspection plate.

 

[OR VietVet]

You can spray some cleaner in there and get them blown dry if you have air or use canned air. Then add dye and drive for 5-10 miles and recheck with infra-red light for the signs of dye.

 

[Larryjb]

Is it even possible to look up through the bell housing far enough to see if the oil is leaking from the oil pan gasket or the rear main?

 

[OR VietVet]

Well, you could use a small flexible mirror and a bright light or if anyone you know has anything like a bore scope you could use that. If you are inclined to not have to do the rear main seal if not needed, I would try anything to pin point for sure.

 

[Larryjb]

Okay, it is possible to see the rear main seal itself, you just have to rotate the flex plate so one of the holes lines up in view.

After running the engine for a short time at 2000 rpm, I could see a little wetness on the rear main, and a lot of seepage at the rear pan gasket. I suppose it could be slowly running down from the rear main and pooling there, but it may be worth it to do the pan first and then put things back together. The only major repeated work would be the front drive shaft removal if I do have to remove the transmission.

I'll try to get a picture, but it's difficult to focus in there.

 

[OR VietVet]

It's worth a shot. Do the pan unless you absolutely know for sure is coming from rear seal.