can you fix a 3.0 front seal w/o taking apart the engine

i am looking at a 3.0 82 with a leaky front seal...can that item be changed without splitting the case....? it is leaking at about 1 drop every 20 seconds....thnks

I assume the "front" is the end nearest the rear bumper. I changed a rear seal and of course the engine has to come out, but there is no splitting of cases involved. If the front seal is an ordinary seal situation, you might be able to change it without removing the engine. But I haven't done it.

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'83 SC

I generally think of front meaning the 'front' of the car, so you would be talking about the flywheel crank seal, right? It doesn't matter, though, because either pulley or flywheel seal can be changed without splitting the case!

Some people do it without special tools, but the recommended procedure is to use a tool to uniformly put pressure on the replacement seal, after thoroughly cleaning the bore in the block, and applying Loctite 574 sealant on the periphery of the new seal.

To do the flywheel seal, you have to pull the engine ... the pulley seal requires jacking up and supporting the rear of the engine, and removing the rear engine mounting bracket and cross-piece bolted to the engine mounts.

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Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa

Warren do you really use loctite on those seals?

I would not use any sealant on the front or rear seals, maybe just a bit of clean engine oil. They are designed to be used with no sealant.

Newer (last 10 years) crank seals have an elastomeric O.D. and do not require sealant of any kind. Most seal manufacturers (Ferderal Mogul, Freudenberg-NOK, CR Industries, Kaco, etc. would advise against using any type of sealant on an elastomeric O.D. seal. Older seal designs with an exposed metal case used a "bore coat" but due to problems with co-efficient of thermal expansion problems (steel seal insert/aluminum housing) and seals "falling out" the industry switched to the rubber O.D. design. The rubber used is a flouro-elastomer also known as Viton. The stuff is very durable, resistant to the majority of oil additives, and the material of choice up until recently. To remove the seal several techniques exist, 1) drill two holes into the seals metal insert (small holes) 180 degree's apart, thread a small sheet metal screw into the holes and pull the seal out, or 2) using a brass pick (assures that you do not scratch the crank sealing surfaces) reach under the sealing lip, grab the "L shaped seal insert" and pry the seal out. Study the replacement, you will quickly see the construction I described. Take exreme care not to damage the shaft sealing surfaces. they are critical to long seal life. Good luck.

I also do not pu anything on the outside edge of seals when I put them in. Just a little grease on the inside. Trouble is, seals seem to always leak for me. The one I put in recently, behind the flywheel. leaks. Actually, the old one did not. I've never seen a seal leak aroudn the outside though, just the inside.

What am I doing wrong?

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'83 SC

The procedure I gave was paraprased from Vol. 1 of the factory service manual, and was intended for the older bare metal shell seal. And, I would have used my unopened bottle of Loctite 574 if I had to do a replacement with the old style seal ... but, haven't had to worry about leaks at either end of the crank on my engine, so far! I just checked my factory gasket set, and it has a '93 inventory tag, and the seals are the elastomer OD version, just like Tinker said! Guess my memory is going, because I thought that gasket set was 10 years old!

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Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa

Here is something that appeared on the Rennlist 914/6 board about 3 or 4 months ago. This guy had his Engine out 3 or 4 times before he was able to stop the leak. Just something to keep in mind when purchasing your seals.
Good Luck
Joe A.
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"Problem Solved!! (Rick was right)
Brian Kumamoto -- Friday, 26 November 1999, at 11:49 p.m.

The problem was apparently the seals I was using, which, by the way, appeared to be factory parts. There are, however, apparently 2 different factory numbers for these seals. One is an all black seal, the other is black on the outside, but brown viton on the inner part that sits on the crank.

Using the viton seal solved the problem!

This was a tough lesson to learn! Also one that is apparently not not very well known.

Brian "

Thanx, Joe. I recall seeing that post and checked to see taht my seal had brown "guts." It does.

But the leakign seems to be slowing down. My fingers are crossed. Still, there seems to be something about me and rear main seals. We don't get along.

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'83 SC