Rear main seal replacement oil or not to oil?

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11-02-2010, 08:43 AM

Mr.T

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Join Date: Jan 2010

Posts: 28

Rear main seal replacement oil or not to oil?

I have a 96 blazer 4x4 4 door, in the process of replacing my transmission I figured it would be a good time to replace the rear main seal. The install instructions that came with the seal said to install it dry, but iirc the Chilton book said to lubricate it with some oil to prevent a dry start. So not knowing which way to go, I put a little oil on the crank shaft and then put the seal on. After getting everything back together and ran it for a short time, the seal is leaking.

So the transmission is back out again to replace the seal but I am wondering, what is the correct way to install the seal? If that was the correct way to install it then I think the flywheel bolts might have been slightly over torqued so that could have also caused the problem.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

11-02-2010, 06:26 PM

swartlkk

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Join Date: May 2005

Location: Waterloo, NY

Posts: 41,137

Quote:

Do not apply or use any oil lubrication on the crankshaft rear oil seal or the seal installer. Do not touch the sealing lip of the oil seal once the protective sleeve is removed. Doing so will damage or deform the seal.

Clean the crankshaft sealing surface with a clean, lint free towel. Inspect the lead-in edge of the crankshaft for burrs or sharp edges that could damage the rear main oil seal. Remove any burrs or sharp edges with crocus cloth or equivalent before proceeding.

Also, did your replacement seal come with any text on it like 'this side out'? I know that in the smaller v6 engines, the rear main seal was revised and the new seals were installed reversed from the old design with the lip in.

There is also a special seal installer (J-35621) that makes installing the new seal much easier and sets it to the proper depth.