Need Tips On Replacing The Pulley Seal

[lucittm]

Hi,
I am going to replace the crankshaft pulley seal while the engine is out. Any tips?

How do I loosen the bolt on the pulley? Do I need a special tool to get the pulley off? Loctite on the seal?

I'm sure many folks out there have done this and I don't want to mess it up for obvious reasons.

Thanks,
Mark

[Henry Schmidt]

You can remove the pulley bolt with a 17 mm socket, a breaker bar and clutch cover bolt and a 13 mm combo wrench.
You put the clutch cover bolt in the flywheel, slide the 13 mm combo wrench (box end) over the clutch bolt and rest the open end on the bell housing stud.
This will lock the crank so you can loosen the pulley bolt. You can tighten the bolt by reversing the process.
Now that the bolt is loose, remove the pulley.
Pry the seal out being care not to scratch the crank or damage the #8 main bearing.
Clean the seal mounting area with carb or break spray. Dry thoroughly and install the seal with your fingers. The seal will need to be pressed the rest of the way in and you can use a 32 mm or a 1 5/8, 1/2' drive socket and a long 12x1.50 as a seal installer. You should use some light oil or o-ring lube on the inner lip but the outer portion of the seal should be dry. No sealant at all.

This sealing technique should never be used. If you find yourself contemplating this technique, close your tool box, go to the refrigerator for a beer and tell your wife you will not be working on your Porsche ever again.

[lucittm]

Thanks Henry,
I printed that picture out and it hangs in my toolbox. If I ever get frustrated, I just look at it and smile.

Somebody was having a bad day when that mess was made.

The seal is on the way from our sponsor and I will pull it in with a socket as you suggested. I usually tap them in with a small hammer and a socket. I like your method better.

Thanks,
Mark

[Kroggers]

Bringing an old thread back to life!

I first have to kick myself, as I obviously did not do my homework properly before installing the pulley seal on my engine, and I am now trying to find out if I need to remove it and star again (would like to avoid this now that the pulley bolt is properly torques up etc...

When I installed the seal I put oil on it to help it slide and seat in properly. reading the comment above by Henry and a warning from another, it would seam that I might have the seal spin out again when I try to start the engine as it was not installed dry.

Can someone please confirm if this is the case, or if I am safe to continue even though I put oil on the seal...

[Eagledriver]

Only you can decide if it will work or not. If the seal went in tight and straight, then you will probably be alright. If it just slipped in with minimal effort then it will probably come loose the same way and you will have a problem.

-Andy

[Walt Fricke]

Paul

I'd chance it. The last time I did this I put some Curil T on the OD of the seal because it was clear that the previous seal was leaking around its perimeter. I'd always installed them dry before.

To my astonishment I was able to seat it with my fingers (not the usual rodeo of pushing in on one side, only to have the other lift out).

I've got about 10 track hours on the engine after doing this, and all is well (no leak, either).

The seal lip really puts only miniscule torque on the seal, and the drain back passages ought to keep the oil pressure against it very low. The act of insertion ought to have allowed the ribs of the seal to squeege off enough oil so that the ribs are against bare aluminum.

No guarantees, of course. But this seal you can actually change with the engine in the car (bit of bother cleariing stuff out of the way to get to it, of course), so not as much risk as the main seal.

Walt

[Kroggers]

Thank you both for the comments. After posting my question I did a lot more reading, asking and talking with Porsche mechanics and friends who have rebuilt both Porsche engines and other engines.

The interesting thing is that I never got a clear definitive answer on this one. Close to half of the people I spoke to said that they would also install that seal wet - including some respected Porsche mechanics, and others told me my engine will explode oil everywhere as soon as I start it!

The seal did not just slip in, I still had to help it in with a hammer and effort - so I will chance it. And as Walt said, this side can be replaced again with a partial engine drop...

[cstreit]

While Curil=T may seem like a good idea and may work for some, I advise against it. I tried it a few times. Little curil-t, tap the seal in, sit down and have a beer. 5 minutes later, POP, out comes the seal.

I install them dry.

FYI sometimes the leak can come from a groove in the crank surface itself. You might try checking the crank sealing surface and if it's grooved, install the seal a little deeper or shallower than perviously to avoid the groove.


HENRY - Did that one leak still?

[Henry Schmidt]

Originally Posted by cstreit

...snip....

HENRY - Did that one leak still?

The engine in the picture was never run. The owner paid to have it overhauled, got it back in that condition and chose to have us completely rebuild the engine.
IIRC, the internal assembly was pretty close.
Used Ps&Cs but allot of new parts and most of the machine work was done.
It really looked like the builder had experienced some previous failures in his assembly and wasn't taking any chances. Who knows?

[Walt Fricke]

Chris

Despite our host advising using some Curil in his fine books, I had always resisted doing it. And when I thought I had a leak in this area and decided on using some, I did have the pulley end seal want to pop out! I rigged up something this last time to hold it in for a while (overnight or longer), and it stayed put.

As it turns out, I then found the leak was coming form the IS shaft cover despite there being a fine gasket there. This case was a combination of two cases, remachined. I think that was well done overall, but - - -. So I used some JB weld inside of where the cover goes, and orange Loctite on both sides of the gasket, and that seems solved. Maybe still a bit of a dust catcher in that area, but no dripping.

I'm frustrated about the crank seal, though. I got ready to replace the seal. After fretting about the possible issues trying to use the sleeves (how to cut to the right length to install on a crank in an assembled motor, which I decided to skip as the crank seemed fine), and tightening the garter spring just in case (which I did with the new seal), I realized the leaking was coming from around the bottom of the seal, not along the crank. Curil T seems to have helped, but not stopped, this leak. It looked like maybe the case joint prevented a good seal, though the old seal had an extrusion consistent with having compressed itself into the little dip there. I had hoped Curil would just fill the depression in. It was very slight.

My current scheme is a real kludge - a tray I welded up bolted under there to try to catch the stuff from a running engine. The fact that the drip continues for some days after the engine is off means, to me, that oil under no real pressure is coming out by capillary action, or something of the sort. We'll see how that works.