i am changing my clutch, and my rear main seal looks like it is leaking. so i am going to chang it. any tips or tricks on replacing it. i always hear of people changing it and it still leaks. i dont want this to happen to me. do i use rtv on the seal??
The easiest way I've found to get the old one out is to thread a couple screws into it, and pull the screws with pliers to yank it out. Over time, contamination in the oil can wear the crank down around the seal, so there's always a chance the new seal will leak. I've never used any RTV on a rear main seal.
The RTV would go on the outside of the seal (the metal edge) that slides into the block.
If your old seal vulcanized and cut the crank, you can sleeve the crank. A teflon RMS is a cool way to go too, but they can be a pain to install.
And lastly, if your PCV/crankcase ventillation isnt up to par, that can cause an otherwise healthy RMS to leak. Folks have replaced the RMS to still have issues, which were traced back to the PCV.
A friend and I drilled a 1/8 hole in the metal body of the seal, then threaded a sheet-metal screw into the hole. Then attached vise-grips to the screw and used a prybar against the visegrips and engine and it came out like buttah baby!!!
Scott
As far as putting it back in, just use a seal installer...its a round cup with which you use a hammer to tap it into place evenly.
Along the same lines, my rear main seal leaks, but it only leaks while running and right afterwards, but if it sits for a while, the leak stops. Could this mean a problem with my PCV system or perhaps too much blowby?
Just adding my two cents to some previous posts ...
Using RTV on a rear main seal is never a good idea. If you need to seal the leak using RTV its time to look into what's causing the leak to begin with.
PCVs aren't (usually) the culprit for rear main leaks, though it never hurts to have a clean PCV in your pony.