Oil leak - Oil pan gasket or main seal?
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Oil leak - Oil pan gasket or main seal?
Ok, I have a z6 motor in my car now that I just rebuilt myself. This is the first engine I have ever touched, but so far it seems to run good The only drawback so far is a small oil leak from the clutch housing area. Its not much, but its dripping down on the exhaust, and smells quite bad, so I need to fix it asap.
My question is how I can tell if its the oil pan gasket or the main seal? Its so tight between the block and flywheel that its difficult to see anything. I have written down the things I have noticed about the leak, but if you know how to separate an oil pan gasket leak and a main seal leak I guess you dont have to read all that crap to answer my question
After I drove it for about 2-300 miles, I took off the oil pan and cleaned the mating surfaces and the gasket, put on new sealant, and the oil burning smell was gone - for about 5 miles
I had to drive the car for a long trip this week, about 500 miles, so I kept checking the oil level. After 500 miles, the oil level went down from right beneath the upper hole to right between the two holes on the oil pin. I noticed when I had to run the engine hard over a long time (going over a mountain) and the oil got hotter, the burning oil smell from the exhaust was constant there, and when I was just cruising, it was only occasional. When I stopped, a few drops would hit the ground, and then nothing more.
I figured it was the main seal, so today I prepared for pulling out the tranny, but when I took off the flywheel cover, I noticed I had overtouqued the oil pan when I put it back on, and the oil pan gasket had ripped. So I know for a fact that the oil pan gasket is leaking this time, but I dont know if it was OK before, so I dont know what to do now. Pull out the tranny or not. Its a pain without the lifting tools and all that, so I'd really hate to find a dry main seal after pulling out the tranny
A friend of mine said that when the main seal is bad, the leak will get worse after a short time. Is this true? My oil leak has not been worse, so I'm hoping for the best.
Sorry for a long, boring post, but if it saves me from poulling out the tranny, I guess its worth it...
My question is how I can tell if its the oil pan gasket or the main seal? Its so tight between the block and flywheel that its difficult to see anything. I have written down the things I have noticed about the leak, but if you know how to separate an oil pan gasket leak and a main seal leak I guess you dont have to read all that crap to answer my question
After I drove it for about 2-300 miles, I took off the oil pan and cleaned the mating surfaces and the gasket, put on new sealant, and the oil burning smell was gone - for about 5 miles
I had to drive the car for a long trip this week, about 500 miles, so I kept checking the oil level. After 500 miles, the oil level went down from right beneath the upper hole to right between the two holes on the oil pin. I noticed when I had to run the engine hard over a long time (going over a mountain) and the oil got hotter, the burning oil smell from the exhaust was constant there, and when I was just cruising, it was only occasional. When I stopped, a few drops would hit the ground, and then nothing more.
I figured it was the main seal, so today I prepared for pulling out the tranny, but when I took off the flywheel cover, I noticed I had overtouqued the oil pan when I put it back on, and the oil pan gasket had ripped. So I know for a fact that the oil pan gasket is leaking this time, but I dont know if it was OK before, so I dont know what to do now. Pull out the tranny or not. Its a pain without the lifting tools and all that, so I'd really hate to find a dry main seal after pulling out the tranny
A friend of mine said that when the main seal is bad, the leak will get worse after a short time. Is this true? My oil leak has not been worse, so I'm hoping for the best.
Sorry for a long, boring post, but if it saves me from poulling out the tranny, I guess its worth it...
#2
Re: Oil leak - Oil pan gasket or main seal? (steinar)
I drove around with a bad main seal for 15,000 miles. the first 5 thousand miles or so the leak wasnt too bad, but then it progressed realitvly fast getting worse and worse as I drove more and more, I eventually ended up replacing it.
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The crank seal on the right side of the motor, its between the block and flywheel.
Rear main seal, crank seal, people seem to call it different things. Idk, I dont usually speak this language
Rear main seal, crank seal, people seem to call it different things. Idk, I dont usually speak this language
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07-04-2009 02:03 PM