Help..... Sos!!!

[Jed]

You're not missing the dowels that hold the rear main housing on there are you?

[JET]

I do not use RTV on the seals, but it really shouldn't matter. It should squish out when putting it together.

[Onefast99gsx]

I took the oil seal out of the housng and put it on the crank by itself as suggested by the machine shop. Same thing, looks to be a gap. New rear main time. I dented it a bit taking it out of the housing so it's unusable now. Nobody in a 75 mile radius has these rear mains, not even a Napa, Checker, Advance Auto, CarQuest. I wish I knew of where I could get a rear main on a Saturday afternoon :(

[Onefast99gsx]

Ok, I'll have a new seal tomorrow afternoon. Question... must you bolt the rear main housing on the block and then install the oil seal OR can you do like I did and install the new oil seal in the rear main housing and then bolt it onto the block as one?

Thanks.

[JET]

I don't see why either way wouldn't work, it still goes in the same place.

[Onefast99gsx]

Yep, that's the answer I was looking for.... Thank you. I'm going to machine the billet aluminum that I used to install the oil seal the first time so that it goes from the outer edge of the seal to just before that dust lip, roughly about 1/4". Right now the aluminum piece that I used is completely flat. I don't think it should make a difference but I'm going to do it anyways.
Well see how tomorrow night goes.

[1ViciousGSX]

Are the dowls there?
Put the rear main seal in the housing with a very thin film of sealant around it, then put the housing on with a very thin film of sealant and let the crank line it up for you, then tighten it down. Let it fully cure. Then bolt down the oil pan.

p.s. And don't use so much sealant on the surface. All you need is a slight film on it.

[Pushit2.0]

I say dowl pins are missing, was the block line honed?

~John

[Onefast99gsx]

Hi John, block was not line honed at all. Both dowel pins are there for the rear main housing. I finally received a brand new OEM rear main seal yesterday. I put it in the housing and mounted it to the block. Same thing, the outer lip does not touch in certain spots. I even made sure the seal was pushed all the way down into the housing. I flipped it around backwards and the inner lip(the one that actually does the sealing), does touch all the way around. At this point, i'm just assuming that the outer lip is only a dust cover and not necessarily a lip that holds back oil. The inner lip(the one that you don't see) is the one that has the spring going around it on the inside of the seal.

I just now got the motor in the car about 45 minutes ago. Somebody PLEASE tell me I'm right on the above!!!!


EDIT: I found this on a non DSM site. It does not say anything about the outer lip holding back oil.

".....the rubber inner lip of the seal rides on the end of the crankshaft and keeps the oil inside the engine. There's a spiral-wound circular spring around the lip of the seal to help keep tension against the crankshaft."

[Pushit2.0]

The inner part with the spring seals the crank case.

~John