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...

 

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.

 

I see.

Guess I'll just pull the tranny and change the seal, then. That sucks...

 

what do u mean by main seal, are u talking about the headgasket or the tranny gasket?

 

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