rear main seal help (1 Viewer)

[agent orange]

Well, after several years of having a little puddle under my truck each morning my main has finally let go. In the space of an hour i had about a dinner plate sized puddle under the truck. To be honest i havent really determined that its not the rear of my oil pan but its cmoing from inside the bellhousing and dripping out the inspection cover so im pretty sure thats what it is. I wanted to run my plan of attack past you guys and see if it sounds good and if you had any tips for making this more bearable.

1. Replace the oil pan gasket and change the oil, clean everything down there off in the process and fire her up and check to see if its still leaking.

2. Flip out if oil is still pouring out.

3. Spend another brutal evening pulling that beast of a tranny out and replace the seal (ive got a very good mechanic who will be helping me out with all this so im not too concerned about it the actual work, i just know there has to be ways to make it go faster/easier).

Sound like a good plan to you guys? Suggestions? I just replaced the valve cover gasket so i know its not that leaking down the back of the motor like it used to.

Matt

 

[chicago]

Hey Agentorange,
Mine is doing the same thing, but not as drastic. I get a drip every couple of days. I picked up an oil pan gasket too yesterday. Im going to hit that up either this weekend or next. Im also going to try running some mystery oil too, and maybe that will keep it at bay for a bit till Im ready to either rebuild or swap the engine.
Leaning toward the V8 conversion.

Good luck,

Chicago

 

[agent orange]

My motor has had some fairly significant work done to it over the years, including new cam, pretty sure my dad got it re-ringed (he thinks he got some pistons replaced, im not sure hes not really a gearhead type of guy, just loves the LC). He said that the rear main has been replaced like 2 times before, im wondering if crank bearing play might be causing it to fail like this. Pretty much ive got enough money sunk into my current drivetrain (aforementioned motor work, freshly rebuilt tranny/t-case) that all i want to do is get the bitch to stop dumping oil everywhere.

I was just thinking, the rear main is above the oil level with the engine off right? I wondering if maybe it could be my pan, ive checked it out before and i remember deciding it was the main but would a leaking main keep pouring oil long after the engine was shut off? I mean it could just be draining what had already leaked but im wondering/hoping it could be my pan gasket.

 

[chicago]

Do the small stuff first!
I do fire sprinklers for a living, and I HATE LEAKS ...It is driving me absolutely NUTZ even having a dripper under my rig, so I feel your pain, though NOT as extensive as yours.
Im going to replace the pan gasket and see what that does...If im still leaking after that. Then Ill consider the bigger stuff. If I have to pull one big component...It is highly likely I wont stop there, cuz I dont wanna have to do it twice if I dont have to.

Lemme know how it goes.

Chicago

 

[agent orange]

Well, i ended up having to overnight ship my rear main seal and gasket, my local stealership didnt have any in stock. I dont have a repair manual for my 3f, can anybody enlighten me on the torque specs i might need to replace the rear main and oil pan gasket?

I think i need specs for: oil pan bolts, bellhousing to block torque, torque converter to flexplate (if i can even get a torque wrench on it), flexplate to crank(?)...

See any i missed?

Matt