Hopefully this guide will help you complete this long task and do it right the first time. FYI, this is my first how-to.

Engine: D16y8

First start with a clean work place and organizing all of your tools. You will need the following:

OEM Honda Rear Main Seal Part Number: 91214-PAA-A01
- Ratchet
- 10 mm socket, extended and short.
- 12 mm socket, extended and short.
- 14 mm socket, extended and short.
- 17 mm socket, extended and short, along with 6 pt and 12 pt.
- 19 mm socket, extended and short.
- 32 mm axle nut socket
- 10mm, 12mm, 14mm, 17mm, and 19mm Wrenches
- Various extensions
- Breaker Bar
- Pry Bar
- Assorted flat head screwdrivers
- Medium size Philips screwdriver
- Hammer
- needle Nose Pliers
- Ball Joint Popper
- Jack stands
- Jack
- Pieces of wood
- Locktite
- Gasket maker (hondabond)

Ung, the beast! Now for the fun part....


1. Break the lug nuts on the front wheels first.


2. Unbolt the negative terminal on the battery to be on the safe side.


3. Put your vehicle safely up on jack stands using the floor jack. I put mine up on all sides.


4. Remove the rims and store them along with the lugs in a safe place. Here is what you'll have:


5. Begin by destaking the axle nut, use a friend to mash on the brakes and break loose the axle nut with a 32 mm socket and a breaker bar.


6. Remove the lower shock bolt to the lca. Its a 17 mm bolt and a 17 mm nut.


7. Remove the cotter pin from the lower ball joint, and break loose the 17 mm nut.


8. Pop the lower ball joint loose where the two joints meet. (not shown)


9. Remove the 14 mm fork-to-shock pinch bolt.
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10. With a hammer, hit the flat part of the bulge on the fork where it arcs out, to remove the fork from the shock. Sometimes you need to lift on the shock while you pull down on the fork to get it to come out because of the axle. (Not shown)

11. Lift the hub out of the lower control arm, and with the axle nut removed, pull on the axle from the hub.


12. Drain the transmission fluid. (not shown)

13. Remove the intake assembly using a Philips screwdriver. Unplug associated sensors.


14. After the tranny fluid is drained, take a large flat head screwdriver or a crow bar and wedge it between the tranny and the axle. Pry the axles loose.


15. remove the lower exhaust section (if you have a one piece header, remove the entire header) to gain access to the tranny support bolts. Unplug the o2 sensor.




16. unbolt the support brackets around the bottom of the bellhousing to the block. Should be 14mm and 12mm.



17. Unbolt the 17mm bolt that is by itself on the back of the block above the driver axle seal (somewhat hidden).
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18. Remove the two 19 mm bolts that bolt the rear T bracket to the transmission.


19. remove the two 12mm bolts holding on the clutch slave cylinder. move over to the side and out of the way.


20. Take your piece of plywood and put that between the jack and the oilpan, and support the engine from there.


21. Go to the top of the motor. Remove the ground wire to the body. 10 mm bolt.


22. Remove the two 14 mm bolts holding the torque mount to the body.


23. unplug the Vehicle speed sensor.


24. Unplug the starter signal wire, and unbolt the power wire from it.



25. Remove the two starter bolts, 14mm and 17 mm I believe. (not shown)

26. Unplug the reverse light switch plug.
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27. Begin removing the 17 mm tranny bolts. Start with the one below the slave cylinder, and work your way counter clockwise around the engine. Should e two more above the slave and one below the dizzy.



28. Remove the 19 mm bolt that connects the rear T bracket to the tranny on the top, to the left of the starter.


29. Get back under the car and remove the shift linkage support rod bolt to the tranny. 12 mm bolt.


30. Remove the lower bolt from the shift linkage rod to the shifter.


31. Back up top, remove the 2 17 mm nuts, and 1 17 mm nut for the tranny bracket. Along with the long 17 mm bolt to the bushing. Remove the bracket.


**** 32. Double and triple check to make sure all bolts have been removed. I learned the hard way when I first removed the tranny. I forgot one bolt, and while the whole load of the tranny was on the one bolt, I tried to break it loose and rounded the head off. What a mess. *****

33. Lower the tranny a bit and begin to pry between the bell housing and the block. It might take a bit for it to separate depending on how old it is, but if all the bolts are removed it shouldn't take much effort.

34. Lower the jack a bit more, enough to slide the successfully seperated tranny off of the motor. It might take some twisting to persuade it. If it refuses to come off, check all your bolts again, especially the dust shield bolts. Try not to drop the tranny onto the ground either.

35. With it on the ground, slide it out from under the vehicle to give you more room to work. This is what you should end up with.


36. With a 12 point 10mm socket and a friend holding the flywheel steady by wedging a flat head screwdriver between the block and the flywheel teeth, remove the 6 bolts. Carefully remove the pressure plate without dropping the clutch disk!


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37. Next, while your friend is still holding the flywheel, take your 17 mm 12 point socket and remove the 6 bolts. Careful! These are easy to strip.


This is what you should be looking at now:


38. Take your screwdriver and press it in with your hand on the inside of the seal. Pry it towards the outside of the housing and work your way around the seal until it starts to pry out.


Seal removed:


Installation:

39. Clean the oil residue out of the crank and surrounding areas.

40. Take the new seal and put gasket maker around the outside of the seal and Lube the inside of the seal and the actual crank with bushing lube to help prevent folding of the gasket.



41. Align the seal up and take the old seal, invert it, and use that as protection. Using a hammer, tap in the new gasket by slowly working your way around. Careful not to deform it. It might take a bit of effort but this method works and was recommended by actual honda techs.


Done:


I put a small bead of gasket maker around the outside of the gasket, near the outside edges as insurance to make sure it wont leak.


**** CAUTION: If after installing the gasket and it looks like the following picture, DO NOT CONTINUE. The gasket was improperly installed and it WILL leak. Get a new gasket and try again. Notice the circle in red. ******
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This was the result of my poor installation the first time, after not even five minutes of running. Had to pull EVERYTHING apart again:


42. Reinstall the flywheel. Use a clean rag and gas to clean it of your fingerprints. Torque the bolts back to 87 LBS/FT, in a criss-cross, uniform fashion.

**** Use LOCKTITE on the threads of the bolts, this is added insurance. My buddy forgot this step and a few bolts backed out, trashing his clutch and shooting a bolt through the bell housing. *****

43. Clean the clutch and the pressure plate contact patch with the rag/fuel mixture. Install the combo, making sure you put the clutch in facing the right way. Use a clutch alignment tool, it helps a ton. Torque the bolts to 19 LBS/FT, in a criss-cross, uniform fashion.

AGAIN:

**** Use LOCKTITE on the threads of the bolts, this is added insurance.*****

44. Lube the pivot and contact points on the shift fork before you reinstall the tranny. Mine rattled a lot until I did this, so don't forget.

45. Reinstall everything in reverse order.

What I did to help myself get the tranny back on the motor was slide it underneath, then lift it up onto a steelie, that way I didn't have to lift it that high. It took two people to get it on.

Suspension Torque Specs:

Lower Ball Joint: 36-43 lbs/ft
Shock Fork Pinch Bolt: 32 lbs/ft
Shock Fork to LCA: 47 lbs/ft
Axle Nut: 134 lbs/ft
Lug Nuts: 80 lbs/ft

Remember to double check everything. Make sure all bolts are tight/torqued to spec, everything is plugged in, all cotter pins are replaced, and all the fluids are topped off correctly.

*Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for anything that goes wrong when following this guide. You do this at your own risk. This is only a guide to help you out. A service manual should be present when doing this job. *

If you see something wrong please let me know so I can fix it. Hopefully this has helped many of you out. Its not too bad, as long as your thorough and don't have to do it twice, lol.

-Drew

 

Good stuff right here.

 

This is good and should be added to the sticky. Although its doable its a lot of work and Id rather have someone else do it. Its usually a 350.00 job though.

 

The hanes manual suggests using a socket extension to press in the new seal. If you lube the new one up well with grease, it does go in easily by hand though. Just slowly work the seal on with your thumbs.

 

Very good writeup. If you're doing all this, it's also a good time to replace your clutch if needed, but yours looks pretty good.

 

its hard to tell from the picture if the outer part of the seal sits flush with the block or does it sit in alittle more? let me know, thanks

 

i'm wondering the same thing.

 

nice write up, will use this one most deffinately

 

This is a big no-no. NEVER pry against the crank seal surface like that with a steel
tool. Nick or gouge the crank and it could leak perminently.

 

Makes sense. What's your preferred method?

 

Also I'm sure that no sealant is suppose to be used for the rear main seal. Only a light coat of oil.

 

Sorry I meant a steel tool, edited.

I have a small thin brass punch I use. Just use a tool made of softer metal.

You're right.

 

Threading a little screw into the old oil seal prevents any chance of damaging the machined sealing surfaces and makes removal a snap.

 

looks good minus the gasket sealer and the prying. Im curious why you didnt just take off the rear main cover?

I just did this and used a press to slowly install the main seal into the rear main cover.

good work though.

 

Bump. I'm replacing mine, good writeup!

 

Do you need to drain the trans fluid?

Also, if a shop did it how long would it take?

 

Saw a post saying its a $350 job?
I guess today I lucked out since i had my clutch disk, pressure plate, throwout bearing, pilot bearing and rear main seal all done by a shop for only $130 plus 80 for parts i provided.

 

$350 sounds about right. at $130 in labor you did good.

 

I've done this multiple times. I also suggest that if you aren't sure you know how to pry without using gorilla force, take an old screw, screw it into the old seal, and grab it with pliers and yank. If this is proving to be hard, Grab the screw with a pair of vice grips and hit the side of them with a hammer.

Ive done this myself, and remounting the transmission can be done with one person, but I don't reccomend it if its your first try. I lifted it, got the mainshaft in, and pushed the transmission against the engine. Then I tried to work my two hands toward the narrow end of the tranny (by the passenger's rail) and eventually got it to hold the trans against the engine with one hand. With the other hand, I picked up a bolt and pushed it through the casing hole into the engine block, and twisted a few times. So long as your bolts and holes arent stripped, this method works.

FYI, the d-series 5-speed manual transmissions are appx. 65lbs.

If its your first time or are physically not strong enough, lift, and get a friend to put that bolt in for you. If this is still hard, line the transmission up under the car and start to tilt it side to side and work in some planks of wood or something, to reduce how high you have to lift it.

The right front engine mount is a torque mount for the transmission, do not try and use this and the breakaway mount on the driver's side alone to hold the engine/tranny up with! Bolt the side mount (solid bracket) and torque it first before you try and lower the jack under the oil pan.

If you undo the wiring by the throttle body, the TPS and MAP are IDENTICAL shaped plugs. Label these beforehand.

I reccomend regreasing the throwout bearing and fork. if you don't keep it clean at least. Recheck the slave cylinder when its all over with to make sure theres no leaking brakefluid (Honda clutches uses DOT3 brake fluid). If you see some, you may want to bleed the clutch if its not a firm disengagement of the clutch.

Nice write up.

 

Nice write up, I have the tranny out and will go ahead and pick up a new seal.
Thanks.

 

Legit thread. bumpin an old thread.

 

nice job on the details

 

I just did my rear main on D16Y8 and i was wondering wif the seal is flush with the housing or does it go a little past :s

 

Great write up...I came out this morning and noticed a puddle under my car when I pulled out. I know its the rear seal. Still have to make it to work two more days but I was going to do my clutch and TOB this weekend. Didn't realize it was so easy. Keep writing em up!!!

 

Pics are gone-if the OP is here could he/she please rehost them?