I'm pretty sure that the majority of the oil leak on the 64 is from the front crank seal. It's an 89 one piece rear mail block.
Can I change the seal without pulling the oil pan and timing chain cover? Any tips?
I hate engine work. I'm trying to avoid pulling it out to drop the oil pan to pull the cover.
yes.. very easy to do... pull the balancer, pop the seal out, hammer new seal in- making sure to put a little oil on the sealing surface- reinstall balancer..
if the balancer has a groove in it, get a sleeve kit for it..
Tips on "pop the seal out"? I see no way to do it with the crank there.
seal puller or a pick
flat screwdriver hammered into the seal's metal ring, then pry out from there. relatively simple job.
There are many ways to skin that cat, another way is to drive a screw into it and pull on that. I like to carefully bash in the outer edge like patgizz states, this shrinks the effective OD and it pretty much falls out after that.
If you haven't already, take the fan off. Do you own a 3 bolt harmonic balancer/steering wheel puller? Do you have 3- 2" 3/8 nf bolts to connect the puller to the balancer? Don't use a 3 jaw puller, you will just remove the damper ring from the outside...learned that when I was 15...
Don't be too abusive, since the timing cover is fairly fragile. You should be able to see the edge of the seal, where it meets up with the cover. A screwdriver and hammer should let you fold the outer edge in towards the crankshaft. Reinstalling the seal, I always put a wee bit of sealer on the steel portion of the seal to seal it to the steel timing cover. Installing, it is a bit tough to get it started evenly into the cover. You will tap it in on one side, and it will pop out the other. Small hammer, tap on the outside edge so you don't fold the lip in, chase it around until it starts in evenly.
Can you borrow a pusher to put the damper back on the crank? It can be done with a hammer and a block of wood, but shocking the damper by hitting it with a hammer is not really a great plan. Miss and hit the outer ring, it will break...learned that when I was 20...
The rental tools/balancer is fairly straightforward. When I replaced this seal before installing the engine, I had to yard the cover and beat the old one out from the backside. I ASSUMED that I would have to do it this way again.
Apparently not.
Thanks guys. Hopefully this all but cures the massive oil leak. It appears to all be coming from there. It always leaked a few drops since I put the new engine in, but got humongous.
I'll remember to pre-lube the seal this time and hopefully not burn this one up.
I'll also look for a groove on the balancer. If present, I'll sleeve it.
Some manufactures put an external lip on the out side so you can't over drive the seal.
If you have the puller you can make a seal puller too. Just grab 3) 5/16 long enough to go behind the seal and through the puller. You'll need to grind 1/3 the head off to be able to Hook the bolt head under the seal. with the shank of the bolt running up the crank.
In reply to 44Dwarf:
That's genius. Thank you!
If you replaced it once and it got worse quickly, have a good critical look at the damper surface where the seal rides. As mentioned above, if there is a grove, the new seal is not going to last. You can buy a "speedi sleeve" to repair it.
I'd also look really close and make sure the oil isn't running down from the front of the intake manifold.
It's definitely not higher than crank seal. The bottom of the water pump is coated from the balancer slinging it everywhere. I can't tell if the pan gasket is leaking as well though. I also suspect leaks from o-rings on power steering pump, but the fluid level had not dropped hardly at all compared to the engine oil.
The crank seal has leaked since I put the engine in. Used to be a drop after driving, but now we've got the Exxon vadeez going on.
Could the harmonic balancer have backed off causing the problem? Had that thought while driving this morning.
if the balancer backed out enough to cause a leak, your pulley alignment would be noticeably off and the bolt that holds the balancer to the crank would be gone.
They are pretty darn snug, too. Chevrolet didn't drill the crank for a retaining bolt until after my 67 Impala's 283- It was press fit only.
Ok. Well, there goes the simple fix. Hopefully I'll get it torn down tomorrow night after work.
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