Brand New Rear Main Seal Leaking ?

Is there any way to tell if the seal has been installed properly without having to bolt everything back up ?

 

If it looks visually fubar'd, then yes.

 

The one I put in looked good to me, guess I got played for a fool...

 

It's a little more involved but you could remove the seal carrier, install new seal in carrier and install assembly. Garter spring usually dislodged when seal is distorted.

 

To remove the seal carrier it should be fairly easy right ? just need to re-apply sealant when making it back up ?

 

In an earlier post, you mentioned that the seal was in deeper than flush. Is it possible that the inner seal lip went past the crank flange sealing surface? The outer lip is just a dust seal. The inner lip is what keeps the oil in.

 

When i put the new seal in it did go deeper than flush. I will have to keep an eye out for this during my "do over"

 

I'm putting the new seal in, does this look right? I have the inner lip of the seal flush with the crank but sticking out past the cover. Is this fine or does it need to be sitting flush with the cover? @Torspd can I get our opinion on this ?

 

In more. Flush with cover

 

Any updates on how this worked out for you? did you tap it in further than in this picture or leave it how it was, and did that solve your leaking issues? About to tackle a clutch on mine and after reading through your story, im debating whether I want to replace the rear main at all since it isn't leaking right now and my truck only has 55k on it. Im also supercharged like you, which led to the early demise of my stock clutch. Any insight would be greatly appreciated

 

Every main seal I've done including the Tacoma has been tapped flush. Had an experience on a Honda where the seal was past flush (sunken slightly) and it caused a leak. My Rear main seal came pre lubed with a clear grease... just tap her in flush and you should be good.

 

This ^

 

A very important step when replacing just about any seal,is to make sure the seal is lube up which helps the rubber part not to roll up when installing.

 

So is it good to grease up both sides of the seal, or only the portion with the groove in it (the side that goes towards the inside of the crank)? and do you fine folks have any tips for removing the old one, or can i just pry it out with something like a razor blade or a flat head screwdriver?

Thanks for all your input gents!

 

I'm not sure honestly on what to grease... mine was only pre-greased on the inside ring... not anywhere else. I don't remember it saying anything about grease in the FSM portion I had printed out? It installed pretty easily though with a piece of PVC or ABS pipe the same diameter. I also use a seal puller from Harbor Freight. You could use something like a flat head screw driver easily enough assuming you don't score/gouge the surface.

 

Nice, thanks for the link. Do you know if there is a special kind of grease (high temp for example) that needs to be used, or does any old regular grease work?

 

I'm no professional on this matter, however the grease used appeared to be a regular old lithium grease.

 

I took a peek at the FSM and this is what it says about the seal depth:
"Using SST and a hammer, tap in the oil seal until its
surface is flush with the rear oil seal retainer edge."

The procedure also wants you to put sealant on the first 2 or 3 threads, of the flywheel mounting bolts.

 

@rjbiii when you get down to the seal poke it gently with a pocket screwdriver or a pick. If its soft and pliable leave it alone. If it's hard replace it

Honestly I leave em alone all the time when doing clutch jobs. These seals nowadays are pretty well designed and they don't leak like they used to back in the day

 

Will do! Thank you sir