My 2000 Firebird w/ 3800 V6 seems to be eating timing chain cover seals. The engine was freshened about 70,000 miles / 4 years ago and the front seal leaked right away. Put in a new seal and it held for about a year. Leaking again, I replaced the seal and put a repair sleeve on the balancer. Within a year it was leaking slightly and has steadily gotten worse. Another seal last year did nothing to help. It's not gushing oil by any means, just enough to coat the underside of the motor and make it look like a bigger issue than it really is.
Issue #2 is the pinion seal. In almost the same pattern, I replaced a leaky seal, was good for 2 years, then leaked again. New seal and a repair sleeve on the yoke. Held for a year or so before it began leaking again.
I swear this car wants to be British.....Its taking pointers from the Land Rovers it shares the parking lot with at work.
How much endplay is in the crankshaft? If this is excessive, oil that collects between the oil pump and front seal will have nowhere to go but out. Usually this results in the seal getting physically removed from the cover, but it's something to consider.
Are you greasing them when you install them? I have a tube of CV joint grease from some long-ago project and every seal I install gets a hefty smear between the sealing lip and the dust lip.
Pinion seals on 10-bolts just seem to like to drool a lot. I'm thinking it is because 10-bolts tend to fill up the gear oil with metal, which grinds away the seal.
I've used National and OE Delco.
It is not leaking. It is marking it's territory. Does it just not like its' stable mates? There was a GM recall about the oil leaks but it looks like didn't the include Firebird. It looks like it was the FWD cars. I did read where the problem COULD be the balancer snort not being long enough, the sleeve not being lng enough to cover the crank snout wear groove, or excessive oil blow by. Sorry, other than that, I have nothing else.
When the motor was "Freshened" did the oil deflector make it back on the crank? Leave that out the seal will do its job a while but the hot oil constantly hitting it makes it leak after a while. The deflector trys to keep the oil from direct contact with the seal and lets the seal deal with the vapor. Hows your PVC valve and passages in the head? If your oil return passages are gunked up you may not be removing the crank case pressure as well as you'd think.
