97' 4.3 LTR. 4X4, 142K Miles. Have the old little puddle of oil on the concrete, underneaththe rear of themotor after I pull in the garage for the night. I've read some posts on this and I will check the pan bolts. Is this a common problem with these vehicles?Question I have is.......is there enough room to pull the trans. back from the motor to get at the seal? I do not feel like pulling the motor out. Any other tips on this project would be appreciated, thanks.

 

I know there is enough room to slide the tranny back far enough to get the flexplate off. I used 4 long bolts to replace the regular tranny bellhousing bolts. Disconnect what I had to and slide the tranny back to replace a cracked flexplate. Once the flexplate is out, then you can access the rear main seal. I haven't replace one of those yet so I got no info on that part of your question.

Its a lot of work, verify your oil isn't coming from somehere else first, like the backside of the intake manifold. They ahve been known to leak at the intake manifold gasket. I guess the eaasiest way to tell is if the oil is inside the bellhousing or outside the bell housing.