Thread: Question for our engine experts.

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Just get a box of these and forget about that dinky drip. One of mine lasts for weeks :

I knew you did your homework and were very thorough. When you describe the dampness is it around the crank itself? The oil cannot be possibly that high - you'd have leaks all around the pan lip and the crank would barely roll over. Once it did get running the oil would be whiplashed by the throws of the crank and be so aereated that it'll have very little lubricating effect - know what i mean? I can't see that going on, you'd be fixing more than an oil leak.
I gues i'm not being much help - the simple suggestion would be to weld some kind of baffle to keep the oil from the seal area. I doubt if that is possible, just a thought. oj

If you know anyone that drives fuel tankers we use the same pads IC2 sugested.
The only differance is the ones we get are white and we call them spill pads.
If you see a tanker at a station go up and ask him if he has a couple extra he can give you. Usally they will give you a couple if they have them, we always do that to each other. Kurt

ford uses a splash guard at the front of the engine ..wonder why they didn`t see that problem occuring at the rear

Don,
I'm not doubting your analysis of the rear seal, but I chased what I thought was a rear seal leak on my SBF stroker for a couple of weeks. Mine ended up being a combination of no baffles on the breather/fill ports on the valve covers, poor fit of the valve cover/head interface, and no PCV (twin breather caps only). I changed out my valve covers for a fabricated set with baffle plates, added a direct port PCV for grins and what I thought was a rear seal leak was gone. Clean oil is very hard to see, and I found mine when I noticed a puff of smoke from the header one day - walked around and watched for a minute and saw the drip forming.

one pc seals cranks can get a worn-in seal line and can leak with a new seal . some one pc rear main seals engines is not hard to make hi points or crack seal hub thru fly wheel bolt holes making them leak never put fly wheel on with a inpact wrench set for kill ... the hub should never be over smooth when i polish a crank i do not over polish the seal face no more then with 320 grit some times you can put a speed sleeve on crank if seal face is bad . you can grind some off the seal face when crank is ground...not much ...if rust pits you can clean the pitts out and fill with j b weld and hit with a fresh belt . some seals you can buy with off set to get to a better spot were there no worn spots from seal . some seal s come STD and REV for marine.. engine getting the wrong seal will rope oil out of seal it has hash marks on them not the crank like some or rope seal cranks there line s like this /////// or \\\\\\ wrong seal in a engine can you say leaker . engine can take alot of a line bore and not leak alot more then .005 of drop. seals self center to the crank but to a point. if caps over cut and I.D of seals not cleaned at time of line boring the seal can be pinch then there will be a weak at block to cap parting spots. crank seal will take some.. out of alignment.. from crank center line but may not put up with hub seal run out to. so that you want to check that and all bolt holes should be blind if not sealer helps and if a hollow dowel pin /roll pin check for oil . the back of crank will not need any slinger as the rear main is smaller then seal so there a wall that makes this job happen . there is older engines that never had a rear main seal just a slinger and channels cut in to the block with a drain back to oil pan a tube off the main cap in to the oil pan 36 caddy is built this way. seal may not be leaking on some fords you have a upper oil tap by the bell 1/8 npt .two oil galleys plugs in bell by cam . many other things .back of intake china walls .valve covers . the crank damper bolt can weep i allways seal the damper to crank with RTV before damper bolt with washer is put on the RTV keep oil from wicking the damper keyway

Don have you put a dial indicator on the shaft and rotated it?

Originally Posted by cffisher

Don have you put a dial indicator on the shaft and rotated it?

well he would have to pul the oil pan and back main cap to check runout on seal face as there not much hanging out of the crank hub . alot hubs are back angled so very hard to get a run out check on it from the out side with pan on .i look at a ford at the shop to day and a scat crank out of a 351 fly wheel holes should be blind there alot of meat there so someone would have really gone at it to brake thru .still good to check it. as for checking run out there is about 3/4 of hub hanging out of the back of block so if you hanged dial indicator with a very long extenion a foot or so . to thread in the dial indicator tip so maybe it could be done so cffisher was right it just would not be very fun job you first need to make up a extenion that threads in the dial and watch the weigth of the extenion as this will move the gauge

Don, Are you running synthetic oil?

what kind of sealer are you using on the bolts?

This leak tracing brings up a thought - there used to be a dye 'way back then' that you could put in the engine/transmission/power steering to trace the source. Does this stuff still exist? Is it safe to use??

Sorry guys I missed seeing that some of you had posted more questions and suggestions.

No, haven't put a dial indicator on it, and the crank only has about 300 miles on it so I don't think there is any groove worn where the seal rides, at least there wasn't when I replaced the first seal several months ago. I'll check that closely and really polish the crank hub before the new one goes in.

I am not using synthetic oil, but Rotella T Plus, 10-40. As for sealer on the bolts Jerry, so you mean the flywheel to crank mounting bolts? If so, I am using loctite blue on those. I wondered if the oil was wicking through them, but it is on the seal to crank area definitely.

It isn't like gallons of oil drip out when the car sits, but just enough that I can see a little puddle under it. Oil leaks annoy me, I hate to think a car you spend good time and money on should leak at all. My 23 had a few drips, mainly out of the 350 shift shaft seal. I replaced that and it still leaked, but I think the shaft may have been worn a little when they built the transmission.

Tuesday I should have the new seal from Summit and am going to start putting the engine back together. Don bought me some lower valve covers (the Edelbrocks are so high I can't get them off when the motor is in the car) so we will see how these new ones work as far as clearing the roller rockers to get them off without the need to pull the engine.

Thanks again for all the suggestions, guys.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Sorry guys I missed seeing that some of you had posted more questions and suggestions.

No, haven't put a dial indicator on it, and the crank only has about 300 miles on it so I don't think there is any groove worn where the seal rides, at least there wasn't when I replaced the first seal several months ago. I'll check that closely and really polish the crank hub before the new one goes in.

I am not using synthetic oil, but Rotella T Plus, 10-40. As for sealer on the bolts Jerry, so you mean the flywheel to crank mounting bolts? If so, I am using loctite blue on those. I wondered if the oil was wicking through them, but it is on the seal to crank area definitely.

It isn't like gallons of oil drip out when the car sits, but just enough that I can see a little puddle under it. Oil leaks annoy me, I hate to think a car you spend good time and money on should leak at all. My 23 had a few drips, mainly out of the 350 shift shaft seal. I replaced that and it still leaked, but I think the shaft may have been worn a little when they built the transmission.

Tuesday I should have the new seal from Summit and am going to start putting the engine back together. Don bought me some lower valve covers (the Edelbrocks are so high I can't get them off when the motor is in the car) so we will see how these new ones work as far as clearing the roller rockers to get them off without the need to pull the engine.

Thanks again for all the suggestions, guys.

Don

took the time to make a list for you and you do not read it ? you do not really polish the seal face you did not read post 26?

Originally Posted by pat mccarthy

took the time to make a list for you and you do not read it ? you do not really polish the seal face you did not read post 26?

I did Pat, thank you. I've just been running today getting stuff done and didn't have the time to do the proper response.

Don

Ok pat, football game is over, now I have time to digest all the great ideas you posted.

I didn't use an impact, I always torque in increments and moving around the pattern, so I don't think I overstressed any holes. I will take your suggestion and use 320 instead of a scotchbrite pad this time to clean up the surface. I am hoping the slightly tighter seal coming helps this problem, and the fact it is from the FelPro Performance line leads me to believe it is of higher quality than their regular stuff...........for $ 45 it better be!

Thanks Pat, I was hoping you would be one of the guys responding as your info is always first rate. I just didn't have time to take it all in with my hectic day today.

Don