Case/Flywheel Q's

[Poor-sche Lover]

As you may or may not know by now, I have just gotten my flywheel off. I am now to the nitty gritty. I am sure my rear main seal is leaking, but I have a couple of other questions. After I took out the seal, I found three washers that fit around the crankshaft. Are those supposed to be there? Why are they there? Also, below the crankshaft is a small circle. It seems to have some sort of silicone around it. What is this? Will JB Weld fix it?

[Griznant]

Those set your crankshaft end play. They are flywheel shims and MUST BE THERE! Put them back in. If you are rebuilding your engine you would need to reset the endplay using a combination of washers, but if you are just replacing the seal you shouldn't have to change anything.

I'm not sure what the "small circle" is. Is it below the crank, in line with the cam and oil pump? If that's what you are referring to, it's the cam plug, and the only way to fix that is to split the case and reseal the whole works. Not fun.

Later,

G

[Poor-sche Lover]

Yes, it is the camshaft plug.

New question, though-

There is a large hole at the top of my engine case, about 1 o'clock. Is there a plug or something that is supposed to keep crap out of there or what? I am trying to find my oil leak(s) and this seems like it would be quite an oil leak. Thanks a lot.
http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/914_clutch_replace/914_clutch_replace_pic17_big.jpg

[sean_V8_914]

that is for a crank position sensor not used on 914. its a VW bus thang