ken nelson
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2007
My 85 ttype rear main seal is leaking. anyone ever replaced one? what style seal is it and how bad of a job is it.any ideas would be a great help thanks much.
Rear main oil seal help
- Thread starter ken nelson
- Start date
RegalT-type85
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2010
Rear Main Seal Replacement
Few ways to get the oil pan off, ex wiggle it out in place, or lift the motor a bit. I lifted the motor, best way IMO. I used car ramps, then jacked up the motor a bit. The pan came right out, putting it back in tho is a bit tricky, (pickup) but not to hard.
If you have 20 bolt pan your lucky, you can get a slicone gasket. If you have a 14 bolt pan only cork, That I have seen
This should get you to the rear main seal.
I would say stock It's the rope style seal but I would use a rubber seal, most auto part stores should carry both.
Few ways to get the oil pan off, ex wiggle it out in place, or lift the motor a bit. I lifted the motor, best way IMO. I used car ramps, then jacked up the motor a bit. The pan came right out, putting it back in tho is a bit tricky, (pickup) but not to hard.
If you have 20 bolt pan your lucky, you can get a slicone gasket. If you have a 14 bolt pan only cork, That I have seen
This should get you to the rear main seal.
I would say stock It's the rope style seal but I would use a rubber seal, most auto part stores should carry both.
do a search, there is about 100 threads on this. its pretty straight forward to do and let me tell you, its not that fun. take your time and make sure you get everything clean and oil free. use the Right Stuff gasket maker for the sealent. as for getting the pan off, that depends on how bad your motor mounts are. on my car i can unbolt the pan and pull it out, you have to rotate the crank around to get the crank out of the way but it will come right off. if need be lift the motor a hair to get it out. good luck and enjoy
My experience is with a 14-bolt pan. You can probably get it out, but probably won't get it back in without raising the motor about 1/2" to 1" on one side.
1. Turn the crank to TDC on cylinder #1, to get the balance out of the way.
2. Remove the crossover pipe. This was my first adventure as a bolt snapped on the passenger side and I wound up having to remove the manifold to get it drilled and helicoiled.
3. On one side loosen the engine mount through-bolt, on the other side remove the through-bolt.
4. If you have a shop crane it's (presumably) easy to raise the motor with the stock lift bracket. At my own shade tree shop, we jacked on a front corner of the transmission, which did leave scratches. I now have a shop crane and would not choose to jack the tranny again, but it works.
5. With the engine raised far enough, re-insert the engine mount through-bolt you removed, so the mount rests on the bolt to keep that side of the motor raised.
6. Have at the oil pan. Clean the alarming metal silt out of the bottom.
7. The bolts on the rear main cap are torqued to 100 ft-lb. Dealing with them under a car on stands can be fun. With some difficulty I used a breaker bar and a long torque wrench. One curious note: I tried to use an impact style socket because that was the only 6-point I could find, but the walls were too thick to clear the cap casting around one of the bolts and barely cleared around the other.
8. The seal itself seemed easy. As they say, use the rubber set, not the rope.
9. Putting it back together is simply the reverse, unless you've left it up on stands for a month the way I did. Then you've probably drained your oil pump and need to prime it by pouring oil in through one of the oil cooler lines or, if you don't have the lines for some reason, taking the pump apart and packing it with Vaseline the old fashioned way.
--Jim Howard
1. Turn the crank to TDC on cylinder #1, to get the balance out of the way.
2. Remove the crossover pipe. This was my first adventure as a bolt snapped on the passenger side and I wound up having to remove the manifold to get it drilled and helicoiled.
3. On one side loosen the engine mount through-bolt, on the other side remove the through-bolt.
4. If you have a shop crane it's (presumably) easy to raise the motor with the stock lift bracket. At my own shade tree shop, we jacked on a front corner of the transmission, which did leave scratches. I now have a shop crane and would not choose to jack the tranny again, but it works.
5. With the engine raised far enough, re-insert the engine mount through-bolt you removed, so the mount rests on the bolt to keep that side of the motor raised.
6. Have at the oil pan. Clean the alarming metal silt out of the bottom.
7. The bolts on the rear main cap are torqued to 100 ft-lb. Dealing with them under a car on stands can be fun. With some difficulty I used a breaker bar and a long torque wrench. One curious note: I tried to use an impact style socket because that was the only 6-point I could find, but the walls were too thick to clear the cap casting around one of the bolts and barely cleared around the other.
8. The seal itself seemed easy. As they say, use the rubber set, not the rope.
9. Putting it back together is simply the reverse, unless you've left it up on stands for a month the way I did. Then you've probably drained your oil pump and need to prime it by pouring oil in through one of the oil cooler lines or, if you don't have the lines for some reason, taking the pump apart and packing it with Vaseline the old fashioned way.
--Jim Howard
